[Coral-List] Reassessing Coral Reef Scientists

[Magnus Johnson]

Hi All,

I agree with both Judith and Quentin - I'd like to see every conference fee including a carbon offset or tree planted as part of the deal.

I think Quentin is pointing us towards realising that we are in the Anthropocene and need to deal with it rather than running around shouting "No, no, no, stop, stop, stop", harking back to the Pleistocene and building Fortress/Battleship Conservation for minority areas we consider special while at the same time continuing to lay waste to the rest of the planet.

Coral reefs are special (in my opinion) but they do not exist in isolation.  Climate change, war, plastics, invasive species, coastal development, acidification and over consumption will affect them all.  As Quentin says we need to think outside of our narrow spheres.

I have found some of the articles in http://thebreakthrough.org/journal to be very thought provoking.

cheers, Magnus
________________________________________
From: Judith Lang [jlang at riposi.net]
Sent: 06 April 2015 14:27
To: Magnus  Johnson; coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov list
Subject: Re: Reassessing Coral Reef Scientists

Hi Magnus and Listers,
I know of a few NGOs and foundations that currently mitigate for work-related air travel, but many, or perhaps most, organizations choose to ignore these societal costs. Those of us who commute to reefs from temperate regions and also have geographically scatterered family obligations are especially guilty of generating far more than our share of global carbon emissions!

Here are some suggestions  to minimize the "professional hyprocisy" related to our travel: try to combine several projects, activities or meetings in each trip; personally contribute to a carbon offset program when funders don't provide such compensation; help build local capacity, both in person and via the Internet.

Best wishes,
Judy Lang

On Apr 4, 2015, at 12:41 PM, Magnus Johnson <m.johnson at hull.ac.uk> wrote:

> You could say the same about scientists who preach about climate change, damage to reefs etc but enjoy travelling the world to do field work . .and often dive to do it! (I'm one of them).  Perhaps we share a degree of professional hypocrisy?
>
> What we should be doing is ensuring that local scientists have the capacity and infrastructure to do their own research.  Should there be such an animal as a coral reef expert from temperate regions?  I cant remember the last time I met a Mongolian expert in temperate intertidal ecology . .
>
> Just sayin' . . .
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