[Coral-List] media and important issues - reefs!

[Nicole Crane]

Hi everyone,
our discussions on coral list caught the eye of some media (I was
interviewed live on the issue and used the opportunity to discuss my point
below...)
Take a look at this link to a Washington post article.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/sunscreen-bans-aimed-at-protecting-coral-reefs-spark-debate--among-scientists/2019/03/15/b35d4030-4512-11e9-8aab-95b8d80a1e4f_story.html?utm_term=.a224afb54e61

Here is what worried me.  In order to make the headlines sound good, there
is a twist to the story - this one implies scientists are on different
sides of an important issue.  This harkens back to the early days of
climate change when mis representation by the media implied that scientists
couldn't agree or were on different sides of this critical issue.  That
took 20 years to turn around and we are still struggling with it.  As soon
as people thing that scientists may be 'divided' on ann issue it leaves
room for them to assume that because scientists can't agree, it must not be
an important issue as it isn't even substantiated.

As we all know, science is driven by healthy discussion, critical feedback,
and careful process.  This does not mean we don't agree on issues, and it
does not imply debate (which is a word that has a connotation of polarized
views).  I tried to emphasize this in my interview.

Scientists do not need more negative labeling.

Nicole L. Crane
Faculty, Cabrillo College
Natural and Applied Sciences
www.cabrillo.edu/~ncrane

Senior Conservation Scientist, Project co-lead
One People One Reef
onepeopleonereef.ucsc.edu