A cattle-call for those willing to shill for federal regulators and Green activist groups is hardly deserving of a giddy write-up in the journal Science. Moreover, Science editors do their readers a disservice by omitting many facts about this deplorable initiative.
The Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellows Program (see the full press release, following the Science article) seeks to recruit a new cadre of "communicators" from the ranks of hype and scare. Its aim is for these "scientists" to promote global warming to the news media, to pressure the private sector on environmental issues, and to work with Green activist groups to openly lobby for federal regulation.
In this, the involvement (noted in the press release) of "representatives" of the taxpayer-funded Smithsonian Institution, National Public Radio, and the National Science Foundation is unethical and possibly illegal.
The involvement of a "representative" of Time magazine, just weeks after its coverage of Operation Tailwind erupted in scandal, further degrades the credibility of the popular press and demonstrates that Time's editors have learned nothing, repent nothing.
Don't bother writing the "Letters Editor" at Time. Mail a comment directly to Managing Editor Walter Isaacson at Time Inc., Time & Life Building, Rockefeller Center, New York, New York 10020-1393
There is certainly no dearth of scientists who see incomplete studies and inconclusive results as their ticket to stardom. Ask Mr. Isaacson how he justifies the involvement of his magazine in this fiasco?
Here's the article, and the press release:
Copyright 1998 SCIENCE Magazine
"Breeding Science Communicators" August 7, 1998
Tired of the same old talking heads lecturing you about species extinction and global warming? Expect some fresh faces out of a new initiative to turn established environmental scientists into "scientist communicators."
Dubbed the Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellows, the program, announced on 4 August at the annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America in Baltimore, has $1.5 million from the David and Lucille Packard Foundation to train 60 experts over 3 years in the arts of lobbying, testifying, giving explanations to reporters, and writing letters to the editor.
"We desperately need" more competent scientists who know how to communicate to non-scientists, says zoologist Jane Lubchenco of Oregon State
University in Corvalis, a prime mover behind the project. She herself gets "hundreds" of invitations a year to give speeches or otherwise share her expertise.
Any tenured academic scientist is welcome to apply; the first 20 winners will be announced in January. Those chosen will receive 2 weeks of intensive training and will participate regularly in various "communications and outreach" fora.
Lubchenco expects no problem in finding recruits. At workshops held at two recent professional society meetings, she says, "we were just swamped with people saying 'where can I sign up'."
PRESS RELEASE: OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY NEWS SERVICE August 4, 1998
Headline: "OSU to run new program to improve communication"
BALTIMORE - Scientists this week announced an innovative new program to train "scientist communicators" for the future and hopefully improve the flow of accurate, credible scientific information to policy makers and the general public on critical issues of the environment.
Under this concept, some of the nation's leading environmental scientists will become "Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellows" and more actively share their expertise in water and air quality, diseases, fisheries, agriculture, contaminants, global climate change, endangered species and other critical issues with local communities, the news media, political leaders and local, state and federal policy makers.
The program is named for Aldo Leopold, a famous environmental scientist known for effectively communicating his scientific knowledge.
Oregon State University will operate the new program on behalf of the Ecological Society of America, supported by a $1.5 million, five-year grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
"The current rate of ecological change is unprecedented in the history of the Earth," said Judith Vergun of OSU, the project director.
For instance, on the issue of global warming, many people may be confused by complicated studies and pseudo-scientific critics who argue the phenomenon is an unproven theory of no particular importance, Vergun said.
But the vast majority of credible scientists say global warming is now a reality, that the time for action is here and that the looming crisis is very real, with implications for everything from severe weather events, to the spread of disease, disruptions of agriculture and forestry, rising sea levels and habitat loss.
That gap between common perceptions and scientific reality has to be bridged, experts say. The new program is designed to make professional communicators out of researchers who usually think more in terms of professional journals than newspapers or legislative committees.
"We envision a leadership and communication training program designed to help environmental scientists become more effective communicators of science to the public and policy makers," said Jane Lubchenco, an OSU distinguished professor of zoology. "The need for clearly presented, scientifically credible information on environmental issues is greater now than ever before. We're very grateful that the David and Lucile Packard Foundation shares the vision and is making this program possible."
A past president of both the Ecological Society of America and the American Association for the Advancement of Science and chair of the steering committtee for the Leopold Leadership Program, Lubchenco outlined the new program at the ESA's annual meeting in Baltimore.
Twenty tenured, academic scientists from a range of environmental fields of study will be chosen during each of the next three years to attend one-week workshops for intensive study in five areas:
# Providing leadership within the scientific community; # Providing scientific input to the policy process; # Communicating with the news media; # Interacting with the corporate sector; # Working with non-governmental organizations.[Note from SEPP: in other words, Green activist groups]
Members of the steering committee or advisory board for the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program include representatives from leading universities, governmental and private agencies, and the news media. They include OSU, Stanford University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Time Magazine, National Public Radio, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Smithsonian Institution, National Science Foundation, and a former member of the U.S. Senate.
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