[Coral-List] Insults to scientists

[Ulf Erlingsson]

I'm sorry for al of you who are told things like that. But I'd like to give you all some serious advise. 

My previous company, Hydroconsult AB, was an early environmental monitoring company in Sweden, and in the early 1960's our instruments were destroyed by the polluters of the rivers. By the 1970's the business climate had changed, and the companies came to us because they wanted help to save the environment without going out of business.

When I came aboard in the 1990's, the old guys (the average age was over 70) told me: Our job is to help the industry stay in business without destroying the environment. And that is what we did. When the environmentalists argued that something must be stopped, and industry argued that they had to do it, then it was our job to use our scientific expertise to come up with a solution that allowed industry to reach their overarching goal without hurting the environment.

What I see here in the U.S. is a big lack of willingness to FIND SOLUTIONS. It's locked positions: Dredge, or not dredge, when the solution would be to find a way to dredge without harming the coral reefs.

Don't tell me it's impossible, I KNOW that it is possible. 



Ulf Erlingsson, Ph.D.
President and CEO
Lindorm, Inc.
10699 NW 123 St Rd
Medley, FL 33178

http://lindorm.com
ceo at lindorm.com
+1-305 888 0762 office
+1-305 308 6334 mobile




> On 2017-03-06, at 22:10 , Sheppard, Charles <Charles.Sheppard at warwick.ac.uk> wrote:
> 
> Sarah Frias-Torres says she has been called an ‘Environmental Nazi’ when she tells people what sort of things need to be done to help reefs (or indeed any of the oceans’ habitats).   Let us on Coral-List have a competition for the most imaginative insult.  I would like to offer two entries: I have been called in public:
> 
> a ‘scientific fascist’ (by a lawyer representing a vested interest) for using data to demonstrate an unwelcome point – clearly a shocking thing to try and do!  Also, a ‘people killer’ when pointing out in a keynote at a sustainable development conference that the number of people already living on the island that the conference was held in was not sustainable.
> 
> Our competition might award a ‘Virtual Coral’ prize to the recipient of the most absurd or imaginative insult.  Then, seriously, we should use the list in a well-placed article on this whole head-in-the-sand and denial problem.   
> 
> Best wishes
> Charles Sheppard
> Professor Emeritus
> 
> 
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