Monday, June 30, 2014

"In Nature Nothing Exists Alone" R. Carson

By: Judi Stuart
Port Discover: Visitor Services Manager
After dinner, she was having one of those terrible moments that five year olds have when they miss their mother.  I decided to whisk my granddaughter off to the pier for an “I spy nature” diversion. 
            We sat there quietly listening to birds singing as they looked for a place to spend the night and watching water bugs surface on the glassy river.  I told her about the dove’s call, the whippoorwill’s song, and the wren’s chirping.  Her mind was calm now, but the sight and buzz of a pesky yellow fly chased us back into the house.
What if the birds’ songs were silenced? 
            Last month, Rachel Louise Carson was the subject of a Google doodle.  Maybe you looked at it as I did and asked, “Who is that?”  The sketch was of a woman standing beside a body of water with a notebook, binoculars, and backpack as she observed the swarm of wildlife around her.

            The doodle commemorated the 107th birthday of the eminent scientist, author, and activist.  Her book Silent Spring was published in 1962 and led to the global environmental movement and in 1972 the banning of the pesticide DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane).  A global ban soon followed.
            Carson was born in 1907 on a small farm in Springdale, PA and grew-up as a keen observer of nature who developed an early talent for writing.  Among her favorite authors were Herman Melville and Robert Louis Stevenson who wrote novels about the sea.  She became a marine scientist and published a trilogy (Under the Sea, The Sea around US, and The Edge of the Sea,) of books about the sea. ‘
             Then she turned her attention to conservation and the widespread use of synthetic pesticides and their effects on birds and wildlife.  Silent Spring’s publication in 1962 caused a public outcry for control of all pesticides and chemicals.  
 She was viciously attacked by the chemical industry, and the New Yorker Magazine called her “an alarmist” and accused her of “overstepping her place as a woman.”  After a year, the protests from citizens overcame the detractors.  When the American Bald Eagle was found to be a victim of the chemicals, the tide turned.
            One million copies of the landmark book were sold before her death of cancer in 1964.    President John F. Kennedy was an avid supporter and had her claims investigated for further proof. 
            The furor that began in the sixties gave rise to the formation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1980.  President Jimmy Carter posthumously awarded Carson the Medal of Freedom.  Recently, TIME magazine named her one of the most influential people of the 20th Century.  
            Protests of the ban continue today in third world countries where the mosquito population which carries malaria has continued to rise.  Today, researchers work to find ways to control the insect population without harming wildlife and people.
            As Carson said in her landmark work, “Chemical war is never won, and all life is caught in its crossfire.”

Monday, June 16, 2014

Belief in Science

Don’t take my word for it, but scientific method is sound
By: Judi Stuart
Port Discover: Visitor Services Manager
What is the truth?
Do you know it when you hear it?
Can you believe it when you see it? Does it even exist?
An ancient Greek philosopher, Diogenes, reputedly wandered the land carrying a lantern looking for a truly honest man. His quest was the beginning of cynicism.
A 2012 survey published by the National Science Foundation revealed that, “4-in-10 American adults doubt evolution, over half are confident that the Big Bang took place, just under 40 percent don’t believe that pollution is causing climate change, and 15 percent don’t believe in the safety of vaccines.”
Why do Americans sometimes reject scientific theories?
Perhaps people have become more cynical because they are bombarded with shocking news every day which is presented as factual. Last week there was news that the sweeteners made from stevia might have an organism that might be harmful to humans. There was no data, no studies that followed the correct protocol, and no information on who put forth the findings.
Science started out as stories which were told in an attempt to answer the question “why.” Much later, thinking became more sophisticated, and as observations became theories, testing, experimenting, and exploration followed.
Science gained respectability in some circles, but there have always been people who have fought new ideas. Fiction favorites like “Frankenstein,” “2001 A Space Odyssey,” and “The Andromeda Strain” suggested that science might one day take us a step too far.
Of course, there is what is known as “junk science” which is presented as authentic science. Usually, the information touted by those presenting these types of studies is not sound and has not adhered to the tried and true scientific method. Rejection of scientific findings can be based on religious, political or personal beliefs.
Students and parents both complain about the yearly school mandated science project which requires that students learn and follow the scientific method. However, knowledge of the process is a tool which can be valuable throughout the student’s life.
The steps of questioning, hypothesis, procedure, experimentation, data analysis, and conclusion are a sound method for analyzing many of life’s problems. The process is orderly and based on logical, time-tested reasoning.
How do we tell the difference between junk science and authentic science?
There are several questions to be considered:
• Is a reputable organization such as a university presenting the information?
• Who will benefit from the general public believing the conclusions?
• Who paid for the research?
• Was the scientific method followed?
• Were there sufficient trials to make the study valid?
• Were the groups being studied large enough?
• Are there words like might, possibly, and could in the presentation?
As consumers of information, we must be extremely critical of what is given to us. Junk science is often the type of science practiced when politics and business enter the picture. The result is that the facts desired by one group or another get emphasized over others.
Like Diogenes, we must seek the truth.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Birds bring beauty and superstitions into our lives

Birds bring beauty and superstitions into our lives
By: Judi Stuart
Port Discover: Visitor Services Manager
One of the delights of retirement is that you have time to notice things in nature that escaped you when you were working.
We’ve been feeding two goose families that regularly visit our backyard and have made themselves quite at home. After their dinner, they just sit down in the grass, and the babies snuggle up under the mother’s wing for a rest.
Being a witness to nature is addictive, and it makes you think and then draw conclusions about what you observe. Sometimes, those conclusions can be more superstition than fact.
People have often viewed birds as messengers with news about future events, and they have tied their appearance to spiritual things. If a death occurred after seeing an owl during the daytime, people wondered. If it happened again, it became a superstition. No doubt you have heard several myths about birds that you might have repeated.
Author Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” in 1797. In the narrative poem, a haunted seafarer tells the tale of his horrifying experience on a doomed ship. It involves an albatross that is killed, thus bringing bad luck to the vessel and its crew.
Some people believe that albatrosses contain the souls of sailors and bring bad weather and high winds.
Legend tells of robins trying to remove the thorns from Christ’s crown at his crucifixion, and the result was that blood stained their breast red.
If you make a wish when you see the first robin in spring, you will have good luck. Something of yours will be broken, if you break a robin’s egg. You will marry a sailor if the first bird you see on Valentine’s Day is a robin.
Peacocks, though beautiful, are considered by some to bring bad luck because of the evil eye at tip of their feathers. In the theater world, costumes adorned with peacock feathers or set decoration including them are believed to bring bad luck to the production, so they are avoided.
Owls are well-known for their symbolism. Mythology claims that the hoot of an owl occurred before the deaths of Agrippa, Julius Caesar, and Augustus Caesar.
Screech owls supposedly bring bad news. An owl skin nailed to a barn wards off bad luck. Eating owl broth will help with whooping cough, and eating their eggs improves vision, epileptic seizures, and drunkenness.
Doves are viewed as spiritual in nature. Because they mate for life and carry the spirits of lovers, they are often released at weddings to ensure a long and faithful marriages. Old timers believe that the dove is the one bird that the devil cannot change into, and miners worry if they see doves at the opening of a mineshaft.
Chickens have many beliefs attached to them. Bringing eggs into the house after sunset causes bad luck, while a chicken entering a house means a visitor is coming.
All of these beliefs bring new meaning to the practice of bird watching.
Source: “Eerie Bird Superstitions,” by Emma Springfield, Nature Center Magazine.
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