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    A few thousand ecologists meet in the city to discuss Earth stewardship... but does anybody know or care?

    Screen_shot_2011-08-07_at_11

    I woke up in Austin, Texas this morning, a bright and sunny one, looking forward to the start of the 96th annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America. The society has chosen "Earth Stewardship" as its theme this year, and the meeting launches not with a lecture or a keynote speech by an eminent ecologist - but an interdisciplinary panel discussion on the topic of earth stewardship! The conference program is appropriately filled with sessions and talks on the topic of how we might be better stewards of spaceship earth even as we continue to do a lousy job of it right now. Drop by on Wednesday, Aug 10, 2011, for example, to catch two symposia (and an evening workshop) I'm co-organizing on Stewardship of Urban Systems:

    1. Ecosystem Services and Processes in the ULTRA Network
    2. Socio-ecology, Governance, and Equity in the ULTRA Network

    There is, obviously, plenty more about all areas of ecology - this is, after all, the largest annual gathering of ecologists in North America. I don't see any meeting stats readily available on the website yet, but know that this meeting will feature a few thousand attendees. If you want to visualize how big this conference is, note this: every morning and afternoon from Mon-Fri, there will be as many as 25 parallel sessions of talks - some organized like my symposia, others consisting of papers contributed by authors. 

    Think of the scale again: there may be as many as 25 different sessions of talks for you to choose from at any given time!!! Followed by evening poster sessions with thousands of posters. And workshops, and field trips filling up every available interstice of time. On Thursday evening, we even have an ESA sponsored music concert!

    So I sit here this morning, trying to wrap my head around the scope of this meeting, trying to reconcile what I want to attend and what I can, realistically, given my own commitments and meetings with friends, colleagues, and collaborators. Overwhelming as the program is, I am also contemplating the broader context of this meeting. We ecologists are meeting in Austin, the state capitol of Texas. We meet a day after the state governor, Rick Perry, held the Response, a massive prayer meeting "for a Nation in Crisis", in nearby Houston. In addition to the political, social, economic crises facing this country (whether you view them from the left or right perspectives, you will agree we have crises), Texas itself has been in a drought this year, with associated ecological problems for an agricultural state. Texas is also a state with very little in the way of public lands: it is a model state for private ownership of all land! One would think, therefore, that this ESA meeting about earth stewardship has massive relevance to the community, both locally and nationally. Kudos, therefore, to the ESA for choosing the theme of Earth Stewardship, and attempting to include non-academic perspectives in today's opening panel discussion.

    So it occurs to me to do something I haven't really done a lot at conferences before: see if there is any news story about this meeting anywhere in the local or national media. I fire up the google to first find local newspapers. There are two: the Austin Statesman and the Austin Chronicle. Neither, it seems, has heard of the ESA or our big meeting happening right under their noses this week. Not even the concert "An Austin Night for Nature" is on their event calendars!

    Hmm...

    A broader search on Google - its news and blog searches in particular - yields links to but one story: a study about bellybutton bacterial diversity to be presented at ESA on Friday. 

    One study in the news. That's it. Surely we ecologists are not all navel-gazers? Not at a meeting about nothing less than the stewardship of this entire planet? So why is their nothing else at all about this meeting in any of the mainstream media? The conference website even has a special section for the press. Surely not everything happening at the meeting is embargoed! Or is it?! Will there be more media coverage in the coming days? I sure hope so...

    I've seen much better news coverage at other scientific meetings, but the ESA has generally always felt behind the curve. There isn't much blog coverage - not much that I've read in any prominent blogs with high traffic. Nor is there much chatter on twitter, yet - but follow #earthsteward and #ESA11 if you're on twitter, as I expect traffic will increase in the coming days. Although I'd be amazed if we can make either hashtags trend. Where, o where, is our public outreach, ESA??!!

    So a few thousand ecologists are meeting in the capitol of the second biggest state (after Alaska) in the US of A, one with most of its lands in private hands, to discuss how we might become better stewards of the earth... does anybody care?

    Tags » conference ecology media reconciliation ecology science urban
    • 7 August 2011
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    10 months ago Wayne Tyson responded:
    157 views and no comments? What does that tell you? This is not a rhetorical question.
    10 months ago Quresh Latif responded:
    Recently, I have had interactions with a friend of mine that is in business and sales. He has become a global warming doubter, which frustrates me to no end whenever this topic comes up between us. He shared with me his internet sources. The arguments made by the skeptics from the perspective of a trained scientist are very crude, but some are nevertheless good questions. For instance, one skeptical documentary looks at the famous graph used by Al Gore showing temperature and CO2 variation across years derived from the fossil record. The narrator points out that temperature changes usually precede CO2 changes, raising doubt in their mind that CO2 is an important driver of temperature variation. Having some sense of the complexity of global climate and the sophistication of climate models, I don't take this argument very seriously, but I can see why it might raise doubt in others. I compiled a list of arguments raised by skeptics and tried to find scientific responses to these arguments. I was unsuccessful. I suspect if I tried harder, I could probably find something, but my impression from this experience is that there is a lack of direct dialog between the general public and the scientific community on this issue. There are sites where scientists make their arguments available to the general public, but climate scientists don't necessarily seem to be answering all of the questions being raised in the public arena regarding climate change. Perhaps if ecologists put more effort into addressing the questions that are on the mind of the public, the public might take a greater interest in ecological discourse.
    10 months ago megritude (Twitter) responded:
    3851092239_84d65353d9_normal
    People will probably respond more when they read something that resonates with them, and, as WT pointed out, finger-wagging doesn't inspire change.
    We are here in Austin to have a conversation. I think most ecologists at this meeting would concur that they prefer to have this conversation in a city with breathtaking tacos and exciting amphibians.
    10 months ago Tim Wheeler responded:
    Instead of lamenting the lack of news coverage, I urge you to get out there and plug your meeting. I've covered ESA meetings in Baltimore before, so it's not impossible to get press. And it's not too late in Austin - reach out to the mainstream media and also to blogs, both regional and national.
    10 months ago Cheryl responded:
    The official opening to the meeting was just this evening. ESA does put some news out, and some schools are better at sending press releases than others -- but they're usually the day of or the day after a presentation. I wouldn't get too upset just yet.
    10 months ago Madhusudan Katti responded:
    Madhusudan Katti
    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 here. I seem to have hit a nerve - and hope that serves some purpose. In addition to feedback here, I appreciate in particular the response from Nadine Lymn, ESA's Director of Public Affairs, which she posted on Ecolog-L. 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 broke the embargo, it seems! So I 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.

    10 months ago Liz Perkin responded:
    Maybe this is petty, but I feel it is important to be accurate--Texas is NOT the largest state in the USA. That title would go to Alaska, and by a long shot (Alaska has a total area of ~1,718,000 km^2, while Texas comes in at ~696,000 km^2).
    10 months ago Madhusudan Katti responded:
    Madhusudan Katti
    Oops... Sorry Liz! Guilty of the parochialism of the lower 48, I guess! Thanks for setting me straight.


    10 months ago JP responded:
    I found this post via a RT on Twitter, and being a science journalist in Austin, it did motivate me to go out and see if I could cover this event. I quickly got the assignment, but as I'm attempting to get in touch with the press room for a press pass, I found the reason why this might not be the most covered event.

    The press contact no longer works at ESA. Apparently, she's gone as of two days before the event. But she's listed in the press guide as THE person to contact. No other options. No other phone numbers.

    Being journalists, of course, we dig deeper. The person she's instructed us to contact in her permanent absence is the Public Information Officer. But when you email her, you get an out of office auto reply. When you call, you don't get a cellphone number. You just have to wait. And journalists on deadline can't wait.

    I've attended a number of scientific conferences, and it is the organization and promotion of the press office that determines how much coverage a conference gets. There's a reason why AAAS gets the most coverage even though scientists regard it as having the least new science. There's a fantastic amount of organization that goes into it. The ESA has no press conferences. It has no short symposia. It doesn't lend itself to science that local publications feel they need to cover. And it doesn't have a public science day, so why does the public need to know that it's happening? We in Austin can see Alejandro Escavado any week.

    In summary, there has to be a lot of outreach - aggressive outreach - and a campaign to tell media why they need to cover this, rather than just saying this is important (and it is!) and then bemoaning lack of coverage and the sorry state of science journalism (but it is certainly sorry).

    10 months ago Madhusudan Katti responded:
    Madhusudan Katti
    Thank you for sharing your experience, JP - which seems to confirm what I was worried about, that ESA isn't being aggressive in its outreach! If you don't mind, I would like to share your response on the listserv Ecolog-L which is where the ESA officer responded yesterday. Or you may want to post it there yourself. I will also go by the press room and see if someone there can respond. How would they get in touch with you? Assuming I can get someone to respond.


    10 months ago biocreativity (Twitter) responded:
    Photo_on_2011-06-13_at_08
    Below is a message pre-registered press got before the meeting, if this helps. I've had a great experience so far in the press room, but there does seem to be a lack of local coverage in general. There was, however, a big ad in the Austin Chronicle for the Austin Night for Nature concert on Thursday. I don't read the Statesman very often, so I'm not sure if they ran and ad too.

    I'd encourage anyone who's interested to write a letter to the editor of the Austin American Statesman (daily;http://www.statesman.com/search/content/feedback/lettersubmit.html), the Austin Chronicle (which comes out each Thursday; http://www.austinchronicle.com/postmarks/), The Texas Observer (http://www.texasobserver.org/contact) and/or the Texas Tribune (http://www.texastribune.org/contact/)

    __________here's the press message we got ___________:
    Hi all!

    Thank you again for your interest in attending/covering ESA’s 96th Annual Meeting in Austin. For those who are covering remotely, should you need to get in touch for any reason during the meeting, please email Nadine Lymn, ESA Director of Public Affairs, at nadine@esa.org.

    For those who are attending the meeting, please pick up your badge and materials at the press office (Room Two, near ESA registration desk and exhibit hall) in the Austin Convention Center when you arrive. The hours are EDT Sunday from 1:00pm-5:00pm, Monday-Thursday from 7:30am-5:30pm and Friday from 7:30am-noon.

    Attached is an early version of the press book that will be available along with other press releases and related materials in the press room. Please remember that all research is embargoed until 12:00am EDT the morning of the presentation. Everything kicks off with the Opening Plenary Panel—entitled A Panel Discussion of Earth Stewardship—on Sunday, August 7 from 5:00-6:30pm. Panelists include Matthew Anderson-Stembridge, executive director of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, Susan Clayton, professor of social psychology at the College of Wooster, and Richard Morgan, Green Building & Sustainability Manager.

    If you have any questions or requests after August 5, please contact Nadine at nadine@esa.org—who will be overseeing the press room with Terence Houston, ESA Science Policy Analyst—as I am unable to attend the meeting.

    Thanks again for your interest and safe travels!

    Katie Kline
    Communications Officer

    10 months ago biocreativity (Twitter) responded:
    Photo_on_2011-06-13_at_08
    Also, the local phone for the press office here at the Convention Center (that they gave me this morning) is 512-404-4701 and 512-404-4706.
    10 months ago sandramchung (Twitter) responded:
    Myphoto2_normal
    Another reason why ecological news isn't selling well is because it's ecological news. As a science journalist who transitioned from covering tech and health science to covering ecology, I've had a hard time selling ecology and environmental science stories outside of niche eco-conscious markets in the Western U.S. I'm still a rookie, but while it seems like ecological outreach could be much stronger, ecological outreach staff also have their work cut out for them.

    A lot of people get that there's some intrinsic value to having a healthy biosphere, but they don't read a lot of ecosystem science as being relevant to them. The ecological research community is not exactly demographically diverse, so it's hard for many readers to relate to ecologist voices and values. In addition, it's not immediately clear to many people how useful ecological science really is and can be. Rather, in my experience, much of the public seems to equate "ecology" with "tree-hugging hippies."

    Many ecologists (with journalist and outreach staff help) could do a better job making it clear what they do how their work benefits human society. The relevance of my old beats was obvious: medical studies produce drugs and treatments that save lives, tech innovation creates nifty gadgets designed to change the way we work and play. But even for huge issues like climate change and environmental degradation, the effects are all but invisible to many people who spend most of their time in cities and suburbs. (On a related note, here's an interesting recent radio segment on how the personalization of news may lead to even more people ignoring news about environmental issues: http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=11-P13-00028&segmentID=5)

    Most people aren't that worried about disappearing grassland species and they haven't a clue about major revisions in the precipitation component of a climate model. But tie it to the rising cost of food and energy and to outbreaks of vector-borne disease, and then you'll have something more people can relate to and get riled up about. At least, that's what I'm hoping will be the case.

    10 months ago JP responded:
    Thanks so much for that information, biocreativity. It's extremely helpful! I hadn't gotten a response back yet from the press officer. I heard on Twitter that Ms. Kline had resigned - it's odd that in that email she says she will be unable to attend even though her contact info is still the current information on the ESA website. While they may not have been able to change the whole press guide on such short notice, it's extremely concerning that they didn't update that information online. They could have added those local press numbers. I would think that would be the very first step, if ESA was at all concerned with getting coverage. But I suspect that's not a big priority.

    And right on, sandramchung! That is exactly my experience with both pitching ecological stories and talking to ecologists. Some ecologists are beautifully spoken, some less so, but the bottom line is to make it clear to the public how their work benefits society as a whole, and not just the tree-hugging hippie population. Also, there's gotta be a better phrase than "ecosystem services."

    Please feel free to repost my earlier response.

    10 months ago ESA_org (Twitter) responded:
    Esa_normal
    To JP, the Austin science journalist. Sorry if you had trouble--you are welcome to come by Room 2 of the Convention Center and get your free media pass. ESA requires the usual credentials such as membership in NASW, SEJ or similar. Press Room phone is 512.404.4701. Press Room hours: 7:30 am to 5:30 PM except for Friday when meeting ends we will close the Press Room at Noon.
    10 months ago Verla Ryder responded:
    Do ecologists really have credibility with the public anymore? Ecologists are the butt of commedian jokes due to their decades and decades of failed predictions about the collapse of the earths amphibians, pollinators, food chains and so forth. Plus the public is gradually becoming more and more aware of the fact that ecologists favor big homes and vehicles just like the rest of society hence they are actually part of the ongoing problems like sprawl and carbon emissions.
    10 months ago hanareddy responded:
    hanareddy
    Having moved away from your realm, I can say without hesitation that ALOT of educated people are still stuck with an understanding of nature v human and seem to lack the basic understanding that most of the Earth is managed space. Whether it's managed for conservation or for development, there is a market for both. It seems to me that ecologists could help alleviate misunderstandings and the subsequent lack of interest by more aggressively communicating to public audiences. And I don't think this means relying on science journalists to do it, especially since those folks need to sell their stories.

    Aside from that, folks on the social and economic sides of public policy also need to gain a better understanding of why ecology matters and how it is connected to the aspects of their interests that matter. The policy realm is so stuck in a silo model that they often fail to recognize interconnectedness. Thankfully, there has been some effort to change that with the HUD-DOT-EPA partnership, but even that is couched in the concept of sustainability (ugh).

    Good Luck!

    9 months ago Wayne Tyson responded:
    "Sustainability" may be one more reason for public skepticism about ecology. Ugh!
    9 months ago Sally responded:
    I agree with Wayne about "sustainability." Really, with 7 billion people?? It's become little more than a buzzword.

    But here's my pet peeve: maybe it would help, just a little, if those of us who do care would capitalize the Name of our Planet-- it's Earth, not "earth." It's a proper name!! One small, highly symbolic, step.

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    I'm a reconciliation ecologist studying the responses of wildlife to human influences through an evolutionary lens. I seek ways to apply evolutionary ecology towards reconciling biodiversity conservation with human development. Also a father of two girls; photographer; birdwatcher; bookworm; cinephile; and explorer of the internets.

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    I'm a reconciliation ecologist studying the responses of wildlife to human influences through an evolutionary lens. I seek ways to apply evolutionary ecology towards reconciling biodiversity conservation with human development. Also a father of two girls; photographer; birdwatcher; bookworm; cinephile; and explorer of the internets.

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