that’s no secret from issues of mass
extinction to the threat of extinction
of entire ecosystems within our lifetime
no longer may ecologists and
environmental scientists have the
relative luxury to spend a lifetime or
career in the forest as it’s cut down
around them or scuba diving over a reef
as it recedes beneath them this new crop
of environmental scientists will be
required to have excellent communication
skills right they’re going to have to
have the ability to effectively
communicate their science because the
public often funds them this will
require new skills as well as new
culture in the field in this new era of
environmental science we will have to
decide as a scientific community on our
ecological baselines and goals what do
we truly believe we can achieve and
maintain in terms of ecosystem quality
you know the the oceans are getting
warmer and more acidic what do we
realistically think we can achieve in
terms of coral reef restoration as an
example do we stubbornly shoot for some
glorious phantom ecosystem despite
changing physical conditions armed with
innovation or do we can see the fact
that the earth has changed and adapt our
expectations accordingly
either way we as a community will have
to start making some decisions genetics
and biotechnology we should start to
explore more explicitly the role of
biotechnology and genetics and solving
our environmental problems we also need
to grapple with the ethics of
biotechnology but we’re going to have to
start making some decisions right ideas
involving biotech range to the extreme
you know in terms of cloning and
de-extinction you know a process in
which we bring
you know species back from the dead so
to speak my son back there William he
wants to be a dinosaur scientist right
and his lifelong goal he’s only seven
but he wants to bring bring dinosaurs
back so you know far-fetched but you
know I haven’t seen wooden yet so he’s
coming there have been few advances
regarding the use of genetics and
conservation you know we have made some
steps but I don’t sense a tremendous
drive or momentum in this area should
man genetically engineer reefs through
new advances I don’t know
although I suspect our future
environmental sciences can increase
their value in the job market if they
attain some of these skills science and
policy are becoming ever more important
in environmental science right
communicating our science to the general
public and our policymakers our
scientists must become skilled
communicators and willing to engage
anyone and that means anyone what we see
in the White House today is it pertains
to science is all about fall right
that’s not a political statement not
necessarily but many solutions to
environmental problems involve
convincing people to change their
behavior as well as convincing
governments to change the way they do
business no matter how tremendous our
scientific advances no matter how
brilliant they are if we don’t
communicate them and people if people
don’t trust what we do they fall flat
let’s take climate change as a case
study much of the world is operating is
as if climate change is true because it
is right as an example you know China is
racing to be the the you know dominant
in the space of solar panel production
while we’re still trying to figure out
if this stuff is real but I must say
that we as scientists you know we must
communicate to the general public
you
what it takes to be a scientist you know
so on you know Washington the news right
watching the cable news segment about
climate change may not even understand
how to you know evaluate the
qualifications of the panelists a lot of
people don’t know what it takes to
become a scientist let’s say a research
Sciences at University a lot of people
don’t know believe it or not that it
takes four or five years of
undergraduate work usually five right in
a basic science they don’t know it takes
another two or three to get that
master’s degree two years is what it
says in the brochure but we know we know
better right you know when I was working
on my master’s in the Florida Keys
I had set up all my plots in the
subtropical forests in upper key largo
when Hurricane Katrina came right back
down and right back down so I had to go
back another excuse to go to paradise
right but then after that right
it’s another four or five years to a PhD
often okay same issues organisms died
experiments failed takes time after that
you often you know spending two years as
a postdoc okay some roughly thirteen
years plus I just outlined in trying to
become a scientist usually willfully
being in poverty right all because you
love your field right okay
there’s uh this there’s not a lot of
money at that stage general public
doesn’t understand that but they also
don’t understand oftentimes is that
scientists aren’t driven to agree right
they’re not driven to agree on climate
change I used to work for the federal
government the National Science
Foundation and one of the most enjoyable
aspects of that job was going to panels
right because you can see sciences
arguing over you know proposals and
ideas okay if I could be the smartypants
to debunk climate change it’s probably
gonna be good for my career when you say
right scientists aren’t driven to agree
though we no no no
no field is perfect data although
environmental science has always been
interdisciplinary the collection of
skills the next generation of
environmental sciences may need may be
vastly different than the former an
immense amount of data is being
collected by our universities by our
scientific agencies and very little is
being analyzed in this new era of
environmental science it has a big seat
at the table for people with great
quantitative skills even programming
skills as an example coral surveys or
trip typically done using scuba and
transects right although NASA has just
deployed new technology new imaging
technology that you know straps onto an
airplane and thereby they can cover a
much larger expanse in a relatively
shorter period of time whether it’s
counting whales from space crunching
ocean data using artificial intelligence
software finding patterns and unexplored
datasets some some of the most impactful
environmental sciences of the future may
never leave their desks diversity oh
here we go so when a student goes to a
school right they shouldn’t feel like
the words in that page alone okay not in
this great melting plot with all these
resources but even more than being alone
with that that word represents is a lack
of distribution of resources okay I had
a lot of my colleagues in academia you
know discussing the current
administration’s lack of diversity
initiatives and I would I would agree
with a lot of that right but then I
think hold on now I remember walking in
in those those hallways alone I remember
being told I can’t or I won’t write you
see reaching out to everyone is not just
the moral decision it’s also a prac
to Cologne you know if we don’t discuss
our way of thinking with everybody
then our way of thinking may not be
around anymore remember the scientific
enterprise enterprise is dependent on
public funding okay so if the public is
not part of your way of life or thinking
then your way of life may cease to exist
we must engage everyone it’s picture of
Appalachia there why the science is
branded so strongly liberal remember the
biggest you know spokesperson for
climate change was Al Gore and I’m not
saying he didn’t do great work but I
think we should be careful with the way
we brand ourselves right we can’t be
seen on one side or the other today I
believe we pay for our own failure to
relate some of our policies you know
across the spectrum for example as
environmental sciences we need to emit a
few things to the general public right
we need to admit to them as eco dudes
that we drive right we need to admit
that you know my my iPhone has the same
deleterious compounds as yours I
probably fly more than you do my lab
uses a tremendous amount of water right
and we can also explain to the general
public why we do some of these things
but count ourselves as part of the
problem as well as we work together as
part of the solution rather than making
the general public feel like we’re
pointing fingers okay we need to be more
inclusive because no matter how smart we
think we are evidently we can’t do it
alone the decline of the Great Eastern
force represents that the decline of
reefs all around the world represent
that now dr. King spoke obviously about
the plight of African Americans okay but
he also spoke about the poverty in
Appalachia
appalachia is one of the world’s oldest
mountain ranges and it has a different
and diverse culture but today has been
reduced to a punchline right how many of
us told some of those West Virginia
jokes
well West Virginia helped put those
scientific policies in office as did
Pennsylvania and Ohio and so on and so
forth okay so time to prove it right
time to prove it
lastly in the environmental sciences we
need to establish an insatiable Silicon
Valley like fervor to solve problems
okay I included this picture here of a
footprint on the moon from one of the
Apollo missions because America’s desire
in reaching a goal like that must be
matched by our desire to save the Amazon
save the Great Eastern forests of the
United States states save the reef we
must establish clear clear goals capture
the public’s imagination and you know
after all this is the only planet we
call home thank you [Applause]