Resistance Is Futile: Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Network Effect

There’s no getting around it, science is a social enterprise. Go ahead, try and do some by your lonesome. Oh, you may putter and dial-twirl and churn out some damn fine solo research. But you’ll undoubtedly rely upon the prior research of others to get anywhere (that whole “standing on the shoulders of giants” business). And if you have any hope of your research rippling further than your lab, you need to avail yourself of a peer review process that opens-up your work to global scrutiny and verification.

Yup, science is a group effort.

And so, it seems, is science blogging. This IS social media, after all!

I’ve had a pretty solid and satisfying solo run here at Malaria, Bedbugs, Sea Lice, and Sunsets… four years, nearly 1000 substantive posts, hundreds of thousands of visitors from 196 countries. Not too shabby for a mostly coral reef conservation-focused blog written with a decidedly queer agenda. But no man is an island. Not even an ocean blogging man.

I’m pleased as punch to now join the close-knit family of ocean science colleagues over at Deep Sea News. I’ve admired the writing, humor, and camaraderie on display there for years; I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t gushing with pride when Craig invited me to join the crew. And I truly love that the folks behind Deep Sea News know their audience and work hard to maintain a highly social and interactive platform.

Over the years, I’ve come to call Craig, Kevin, and Miriam dear friends. Yet while I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Kevin and Miriam in the flesh (hell, we’ve quaffed a goodly amount of booze and broken bread together on several occasions), I’ve somehow not managed to meet Craig yet. I suspect this will soon change. And I’m thrilled at the prospect of now collaborating with Holly as well. I just hope I do them all proud!

For my part, I’ll continue to provide my particular take on ocean science issues. Expect a heavy focus on coral reefs, marine biodiversity conservation, marine protected area science, and the politics and practicalities of ocean resource management (which is more about managing humans than managing the resource). And I’ll try to keep the snark to a minimum.

But please do your part too! Tell me what you like, don’t like, what piques your interest or spurs your thoughts along the way. This is a two-way conversation.

Enough with the overture. As the plebe around there I’ve got a lot of heads to scrub. Craig said that if I do a good job, I won’t have to use my own toothbrush.

Conservation Transformational

Conservation International, one of the largest (by budget and size) biodiversity conservation NGOs on the planet, has given itself a facelift. Gone is the familiar green rainforest silhouette (left) that has represented the organization for the past 23 years. In its place is a modern, minimalist expression of CI's new mission. A simple blue circle atop a green base represents, according to Peter Seligmann, Chairman and CEO of Conservation International, "A healthy blue planet supported by a green development path."

CI's new logo isn't merely cosmetic. The organization with marine and terrestrial projects in 31 countries has been transforming itself over the past two years to be the one-stop, all climate change all the time NGO for a new conservation reality. CI is now retooling its structure in order to safeguard all the ecosystem services (or what it's calling securities) we receive from nature.

All of CI's existing programmatic activities are being reviewed, evaluated, and retrofitted to fit within the identified global priority areas of climate change, food security, freshwater security, human health, cultural services and biodiversity protection. In some cases, longstanding focus areas, such as CI's Center for Environmental Leadership in Business Travel and Leisure Division--which in part hoped to steer cruise ships towards environmentally sustainable practices--are being reduced in capacity or phased-out entirely.

It's hard to argue the rationale for CI's shift in focus, particularly considering my own area of conservation focus. Human exacerbated climate change is responsible for some of the largest scale coral reef destruction currently threatening the existence of an entire marine ecosystem. As a result of bleaching events correlated to elevated sea surface temperatures, live coral cover in the Caribbean has declined by 80 percent and throughout the Indo-Pacific by 50 percent. And the creeping threat of acidified oceans as a result of CO2-saturated seawater portends the literal dissolution of reefs before our very eyes.

But I've got to wonder at what cost transformation. The logo, the redesign of existing work groups, the future of some long-standing conservation investments, and the air transportation back-and-forth of global field staff and senior staff over the past two years as CI re-imagined itself. And considering that CI has faced strong criticism in the past on big budgets-big PR-small outcomes, I would hope this metamorphosis is not just about capitalizing on a shifting conservation funding landscape that seem to be favoring a shovel-ready climate change focus.

For the moment, I'll harbor hope in the bold risk-taking.

Non-Normative Ocean Conceptions Week At Southern Fried Science

Okay, that's quite the mouthful. What I meant to say was OoPS, as in Ocean of Pseudoscience Week.

The hillbillies over at Southern Fried Science have cooked up more than just beer in a coffee pot this time. To quote Andrew:

Over the next week we'll be tackling our favorite ocean myths, challenging conventional (yet strangely unsupported) wisdom about effective marine management and policy, smacking down some bad ocean science, blatant greenwashing, and straight up bull.

We'll also be counting down our favorite sea monsters all week long.

This could get ugly real fast, folks. So I'm planning on grabbing front row seats to the freak show.

I just hope they don't burst my bubble on that old chestnut, "The ocean is blue because it reflects the color of the sky." For mercy's sake, leave me something to hold on to!

The Game Is Afoot!

What looks like my blog posts here at MBSL&S, walks like my blog posts here at MBSL&S, and quacks like my blog posts here at MBSL&S, yet ISN'T MBSL&S?