Figuring out the what, where and when of disease outbreaks By Nadine Lymn, ESA director of public affairs Plague, Lyme disease, Hantavirus, West Nile Virus—these bacteria and viruses are zoonotic diseases that can be transmitted to people from animals like ticks, mosquitoes and rodents and were the subject of a recent Ecological Society of America (ESA) congressional briefing. Disease transmission…
By Nadine Lymn, ESA director of public affairs As someone who is mostly immersed in the world of science and environmental policy, either sharing ecological research related to climate change or tracking congressional efforts (or lack thereof) to develop policy to mitigate and adapt to global warming, it came as an eye-opening and pleasant change of pace to me this…
By Nadine Lymn, ESA director of public affairs “Just watch these students—watch for their names. They will continue to shine and you will keep coming across their names. Some are already taking leadership roles and after this meeting will be doing even more to help bring ecology alive.” Teresa Mourad is talking about the undergraduate students who will gather next…
By Nadine Lymn, ESA director of public affairs In honor of our national holiday, here’s a look at some current and past blog posts on the subject. The Chicago Botanic Garden’s blog earlier this week offered a reminder of the three Sisters—the three crops grown together by the Iroquois: corn, beans and squash. According to the post, “the Iroquois called…
By Nadine Lymn, ESA director of public affairs When 5,000 individuals from across the United States and around the globe convene for a scientific conference such as the Ecological Society of America’s (ESA) recent meeting in Portland, Oregon it takes an environmental toll: The energy required to power the planes, trains and automobiles people use to travel to and from…
By Nadine Lymn, director of public affairs Social scientists have been weathering repeated attacks lately from congressional leaders deriding the value and validity of their work. The scientific community has responded. The Ecological Society of America is one of several scientific societies serving as a collaborator to show support for social science and its contributions to other fields and to…
Ahu Tongariki, the largest platform on the island, features fifteen restored Moais. The Moai in the foreground was likely damaged in transit and never erected. Credit: Brian Wee. This post contributed by Brian Wee, chief of external affairs for NEON, Inc. The July 2012 edition of National Geographic features Easter Island – known also as Isla de Pascua in Spanish…
By Nadine Lymn, ESA director of public affairs Imagine you get up one morning and go outside to fetch your paper. As you reach to pick it up, a strange spider bites you. Your neighbor is bitten too. Now you’re both dying because no one can identify these spiders and therefore can’t administer anti-venom that might save you. This was…
By Nadine Lymn, ESA director of public affairs Many of us recognize that a large part of the solution to environmental problems lies in getting people to change their behavior. Unfortunately, altering the habits of the human animal can be especially challenging—we are intelligent but we can also be irrational and our age-old tendency to focus on immediate needs frequently…
By Nadine Lymn, ESA Director of Public Affairs Directly following a recent showing of the new film Green fire about Aldo Leopold, a woman in the audience confessed that she had “never heard of the man,” in spite of being an active member of several environmental organizations that Leopold had either helped establish or heavily influenced. That’s just one of…
This post contributed by Terence Houston, ESA Science Policy Analyst Many political observers would liken the current climate on Capitol Hill to a virtual total breakdown of civil communication where differing sides have become increasingly entrenched in their own ideological philosophies, either unwilling or incapable of meeting in the middle. The latest calamity concerning the failure of the so-called “supercommittee”…
This post contributed by Nadine Lymn, ESA Director of Public Affairs Now that mid-October has arrived, many of us notice the shortening days, dark mornings, and new chill in the air. Thoughts turn to cozy indoor activities, hot beverages, and away from such outdoor hobbies such as gardening. But while we have the luxury of moving many of our activities…