Thank you for all your comments, folks. I wasn't expecting my idle musings of the morning before the meeting started to quite attract so much traffic to my blog. I seem to have hit a nerve - and hope that serves some purpose. In addition to comments on the blog and here, I appreciate in particular the response from Nadine Lymn, ESA's Director of Public Affairs. She attributes the lack of media coverage to the general conference embargo, so coverage should pick up in the coming days. The navel-bacteria story broke out early because someone apparently broke the embargo! So let us look forward to better media coverage over the coming days as more studies emerge from behind the embargo shield.
I'm still puzzled by the lack of notice in the local papers about the opening plenary and the concert on thursday, both of which are meant to be free and open to the public! Did you (if you attended the opening plenary) notice many members of the general public in the audience (I didn't, from my limited view)? Another question for all of us ecologists: how many of us actively try to "push" our stories to mainstream media outlets, whether at conferences or upon publication? I'm genuinely curious. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Madhusudan Katti Associate Professor of Vertebrate Biology Department of Biology, M/S SB73 California State University, Fresno Fresno, CA 93740-8034 Email: [email protected] Tel: 559.278.2460 Fax: 559.278.3963 Lab: http://www.reconciliationecology.org/ ULTRA: http://urban-faces.org/ Blog: http://leafwarbler.posterous.com/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On Aug 7, 2011, at 6:49 PM, David L. McNeely wrote: > Wayne and others, > > I don't think ESA will be ignored in Austin -- just as it has not been > ignored in other cities where it has met in the past. I think the media will > have reportage on the meeting once it is underway. > > So far as "fingerwagging" by " ecologists: ESA could do a much better job of > teaching the public who and what ecologists are, but a goodly fraction of the > public has been mislead about that, and minds are hard to change. Now, if by > "fingerwagging" you mean that some folks, whether they are ecologists or not, > but are such under the public view, have been reminding government, industry, > and the public that we have real problems, hmmmmmm ........ . We do have > real problems. They need fixing. Not telling government, industry, and the > public about the problems is certain to result in them not getting fixed. > > I may be a "fingerwagger." So may a lot of other responsible folks. > > David McNeely > > ---- Wayne Tyson <[email protected]> wrote: >> Ecolog and Madhu: >> >> Next to sociologists, "ecologists" take the cake for finger-wagging; thus >> they end up ignored. Maybe if "they" did less preaching and more explaining >> in terms others can understand, "things" would BEGIN to change. But don't >> expect "it" to flip overnight, it will take time to heal the mental scars >> that thousands of insults have ground into the public psyche, not to mention >> the misinformation. >> >> One way might be a fact-check source that reporters and Joe Sixpacks could >> depend upon. However, given the limited ability of "ecologists" to iron out >> rather simple matters among themselves, what chance would such a source >> have? >> >> Brainstorm that! >> >> WT >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Madhusudan Katti" <[email protected]> >> To: <[email protected]> >> Sent: Sunday, August 07, 2011 9:46 AM >> Subject: [ECOLOG-L] A few thousand ecologists meet in the city to discuss >> Earth stewardship... but does anybody know or care? - a leaf warbler's >> gleanings >> >> >>> Hello from Austin, folks! >>> >>> I would like to share some thoughts from my blog as I prepare for the ESA >>> 2011 meeting starting here today, and wonder why this big meeting isn't in >>> the news - anywhere: >>> >>> http://leafwarbler.posterous.com/a-few-thousand-ecologists-meet-in-the-city-to >>> >>> I would appreciate any feedback, on why ESA isn't more in the news, or >>> whether it is just my misperception. >>> >>> Madhu >>> >>> >>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >>> Madhusudan Katti >>> Associate Professor of Vertebrate Biology >>> Department of Biology, M/S SB73 >>> California State University, Fresno >>> Fresno, CA 93740-8034 >>> >>> Email: [email protected] >>> Tel: 559.278.2460 >>> Fax: 559.278.3963 >>> Lab: http://www.reconciliationecology.org/ >>> ULTRA: http://urban-faces.org/ >>> Blog: http://leafwarbler.posterous.com/ >>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >>> >>> >>> ----- >>> No virus found in this message. >>> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com >>> Version: 10.0.1391 / Virus Database: 1520/3819 - Release Date: 08/07/11 >>> > > -- > David McNeely
