[NOTE: I have pasted this together because two attempts to "Reply to All" failed. I hope this works.]
Y'all: There's hope. Not that hope's a strategy, but that young people are beginning to penetrate the veil and call 'em the way they see 'em. WT PS: Pray, let us not pick Kali's specifics apart and drown her in excuses, but celebrate her spirit by moving forward rather than sputtering into the trenches. As to the "economics," there was a time, back at the turn of the millennium (e.g., the on-line Year of the Mountain worldwide "conference," sponsored by, of all things, the World Bank), that a trend was started toward broad participation in matters of real consequence in a truly discipline-integrated way that did not bar the unwashed from participation--yea, contributions were generally assessed on merit rather than "position." It died. Back to jetting 'round the world to "cool" places in hot spots; only the institutionally-privileged need apply, even though technically "open" to all. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kali Bird" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, August 08, 2011 9:57 AM Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Reply to: 'a few thousand ecologists meet... does anybody know or care?' -- A perhaps radical suggestion >I have never posted to Ecolog before, but I felt I couldn't keep my mouth > shut about this one. > > First, I don't think we can necessarily know why the news doesn't pick > up > on ESA more. Likely, it's because the general public doesn't care, but > perhaps it may be that they are tired feeling like ecologists tell them > that > their lifestyles and values are wrong. Personally, I think it's because > people don't care. In my experience speaking with the public, I always > proffer an explanation of what I do immediately after saying that I am a > 'microbial ecologist,' because most people I speak with don't even know > what > ecology is. > > Second, if these thousands of ecologists really want to engage the > public, how about letting the locals come to ESA? I know that non-members > are invited to attend, but honestly, you have to be wealthy or have a > wealthy grant pay for you to come to be able to pay 500$ and take off days > to a week from work to be involved in the meeting. My mother reads my > Frontiers magazine religiously. She loves it. She is also part of a > 'sustainability' group at her international corporation. She lives very > close to Austin, has the ability to take time off of work, but as a > middle-class citizen, simply cannot afford it. If these thousands of > ecologists are really interested in engaging with the public, how about > creating events at ESA for the locals that are affordable? My mother has > no > scientific background, but is smart, learns fast, and loves to learn. > There > are a lot of people like this everywhere we have meetings. Yet we preach > engagement with the public from our over-air-conditioned conference rooms, > doors closed and barred to those we wish to engage with. Phenomenal. > I know our over-air conditioned convention centers cost a lot of money > to > rent and ESA is an expensive venture to host, but surely we can create > some > sort of scholarship fund for locals, special free events for public > engagement (THIS is how you get in the news), or even a lottery for > one-day > passes to attend talks. Let's help people understand what in the world it > is we do. If I could have afforded to send my mom to ESA, I would have > done > it in a heartbeat. She would have loved it and told all her friends, > co-workers, and her church group all the things she learned. Do we want to > engage more with people across religious boundaries? In the heart of a > red > state, what a boon actually engaging with the religious public would be. > > > > Kali Bird > > Graduate Student > Kellogg Biological Station, > Michigan State University
