[Coral-List] In Memory of Ruth D. Gates

[Ouida Meier]

Dear Friends,

It has been very hard to say goodbye to the incomparable Ruth D. Gates.

Her ashes were taken aboard the Hōkūleʻa and released into Kāneʻohe Bay,
Hawaiʻi in a ceremony on November 18, 2018.

If you miss her voice, as we do, the Gates Coral Lab site (
http://gatescorallab.com) has links to some videos featuring Ruth as well
as her publications (http://gatescorallab.com/publications).

If you wish to read them, links to some *in memoriam* articles and
obituaries from multiple perspectives are posted at http://crescyntblog.org
(where a version of this note also appears, with links).

When asked by an audience member at a screening of Chasing Coral, “What
should I do to help corals and reduce human impact on reefs?” her response
was essentially: 1 – Pick Something, and 2 – Start. She believed in the
power of every human being to step up and make a difference in some way,
knew the diversity of talents and skills and people essential to moving
forward, and through the radiance of her brilliance and passion, inspired
us all to do more.

The Gates Coral Lab projects that were already in motion will continue with
the students, postdocs and staff  whose growth she fostered. We know we
share with you this common yoke and dedication to the work of inquiry and
protection for coral reefs and the planet.  Those of us left behind may not
have Ruth’s spectacular eloquence, insight, brilliance and spark, but we
all can and must do what we are capable of doing to advocate for coral
reefs, the planet, and its people.

Ruth had a vision of coral reef science as deeply collaborative, deeply
integrative and multidisciplinary, and essentially multiscale. She also
loved seeing scientists, managers, data and technical people working
together and alongside educators, artists, and citizens for the good of
coral reefs and the planet. We are all part of her collective legacy.

We’ll close with Ruth’s own words, taken from an interview posted at Paul
G. Allen Philanthropies. In addition to the scientific acuity and
perceptiveness of her research, Ruth’s practical and forward-looking
philosophy is part of how she inspired so many.

*What would you recommend we do in our daily lives to stem the loss or
support the survival of corals? *

"We can all play a part in a solution to the problem on reefs and the
solution for the planet. It really depends on what *you* want to do. We’re
all discussing green energy, the move towards electric cars, the embracing
of solar technology that is a much cleaner source to offset the burning of
fossil fuels. If you’re somebody who’s politically active you could lobby
your local politician to support all action that would advance an agenda
that would really help protect the coral reef. Maybe you’re somebody who
wants to go out and clean up a beach because everything that we take off
that beach will no longer wash onto the reef and potentially damage it.
Maybe you’re a boater who drops an anchor, and instead of dropping an
anchor you could talk to your local managers and ask for them to put a
permanent mooring in so that when you tie up your boat you don’t drag your
anchor across a reef. I think what I always say to people is choose a
solution that is best for you. And start doing it."

*What makes you most optimistic about the work you are doing?*

"I’m a believer that people can pretty much do anything. Unfortunately, we
seem to prefer to fix problems than to stop the problem in the first place.
But we have a problem. It’s a challenge and there are many young scientists
who are committed to solving the challenge of “can we save the reefs?” I’m
really invigorated by the energy from the young scientists I work with. I’m
invigorated by the amount of creativity that a problem of this magnitude
forces in the scientific communities. I feel we can solve any problem. But
to do that we have to collaborate with people that we potentially don’t
usually work with. It forces us really to change the way we as scientists
do business, I think. To me that’s a very exciting framework."

______
Aloha,
Ouida
-- 
Ouida W. Meier, Ph.D.
omeier at hawaii.edu
Progr Data Mgmt Assoc, EarthCube Coral Reef Science & Cyberinfrastructure
Network
Hawai'i Inst of Marine Biology, Univ of Hawai'i
crescynt.org | crescyntblog.org <http://crescyntblog.wordpress.com>
Data Discovery Studio
datadiscoverystudio.org