Medical Health

The Fisheries Turnoff

I was watching David Suzuki’s “One Ocean” on CBC Television last night, and I was again struck by one fisheries biologist’s arrogance–his choice of words, his tone of voice, his meaning. When he spoke of forcing a smile onto his face at public meetings and inquiries, he was not only insulting his audience, he was admitting insincerity. And why would anyone want to cooperate with an arrogant, insincere fisheries biologist?

Fisheries biology is an interesting field of study, but it often attracts (and subsequently recruits) autocratic individuals who as teenagers and young adults failed to muster enough smarts to succeed at jobs requiring higher levels of creativity, originality, and diplomacy.

Related Posts:

World Health and Arrogant Ecologists

Science, Ethics, and Abuse

Global Warming and Publish or Perish

Hiking Photos from Bruce Trail and Grand Canyon

Here are a few of the photos I took on my hikes in Arizona and Ontario. I use a small Japanese-made Minolta. You will find more of my photographs on http://www.flixya.com/user/affiliatebin.

I took the Arizona shot on the Tanner Trail in the Grand Canyon and the Ontario shots on the Beaver Valley and Sydenham sections of the Bruce Trail (Maps 28 and 29 of the Bruce Trail Reference: Edition 25), about 10 km south of Meaford, Ontario. (Did you know that John Muir once lived in Meaford?). Compared to Arizona, the Bruce Trail does not present large elevation changes, but its moss-covered rocks and boulders are extremely slippery.

Colorado River, Tanner, Grand Canyon

Light in Forest — Photos from the Bruce Trail

Water Fall — Photos from the Bruce Trail

Rock Outcrop — Photos from the Bruce Trail

Bruce Trail Bumble Bee

Also see:

Petition to Save Arizona’s State Parks

Arizona’s politicians are set to close thirteen state parks. Here is a link to a petition to save Arizona’s state parks. You may sign this petition.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/save-arizona-state-parks

The organizers will send the petition to Governor Brewer and the state legislators on February 1st, 2010.

You will find a slide show of Arizona hiking destinations on our Flash Gallery, our Arizona Gallery, and our Grand Canyon Trails Page.

Also see the post The Grand Canyon State: Arizona Set to Close and Sell State Parks?

The Grand Canyon State: Arizona Set to Close and Sell State Parks?

The world flies in and takes a long look at Arizona, the Grand Canyon State (see our Photo Gallery, our Arizona Gallery, and our Grand Canyon Trails Page). And soon after arriving in Phoenix, they fall in love with all the other gems Arizona has to offer: preserved yet accessible desert wilderness areas and wildlife refuges, such as the Lost Dutchman State Park in Apache Junction.

But now Arizona’s lawmakers are preparing to vote on budget cuts that could shut down the entire state parks system by July 1. And that vote in January 2010 might result in the sale of state parks to the highest bidders. That’s right: I’m hearing that once an Arizona state park is closed, it must be sold: Land speculators and developers will mutilate our public gems, our community wilderness. They will restrict access, and Lost Dutchman State Park will become a gated community or a private suburb, with lot and house prices starting at $700,000 or more.

Here’s a group of hikers who will show you how to protest the closure of Arizona’s state parks: visit the Take a Hike message board and web site.

Also see Petition to Save Arizona’s State Parks

World Health and Arrogant Ecologists

We cannot assert that all ecologists and environmentalists are arrogant, but I have encountered quite a few who would have made stronger contributions had they attended compulsory courses in ethics and human kindness. In fact, I believe that many of our professional conservationists have retarded our fight against global warming. If we had replaced them long ago, we would have made more headway in our attempts to introduce preemptive environmental measures.

For example, once when I was discussing the fact that as part of one of my research projects, a rather large group of Seventh Day Adventist fishermen contributed logbooks detailing their catches of salmon, a prominent Ecology professor told me, “Those guys are perverts, the type who climb telephone poles and peep through windows at trailer parks.”

I guess that Ecology professor thought of himself as a fighter. But all he was doing was shooting himself in the foot.

Related Posts:

Science, Ethics, and Abuse

Global Warming and Publish or Perish

The Fisheries Turnoff

Global Warming and Publish or Perish

Yes, I believe that man-made global warming is a fact, but I also know that the discovery of the rise in greenhouse gases was not a major scientific breakthrough, and monitoring the greenhouse effect has not required a vast amount of scientific smarts.

And I wonder, If global warming brings about a major worldwide catastrophe, will that catastrophe prevent an even worse (and so-far unseen) man-made disaster, one that perhaps looms further out in the future. After all, it is science that brings us to these deadly turning points, and our science is the product of human nature. In fact our top scientists and academics arrive at the top though brute ambition, and in the course of their ambition, often abuse their families and students. Their public sense of ethics and moral imperative and honor is not a constant: it is something they often abandon in private, both at home and at school. Ask their sons and ex-wives. Ask the wounded and disabled they all left behind.

Science, Ethics, and Abuse

Here is the statement I gave to the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy and then e-mailed to President Bush:

One of my present concerns is that science (both in government and academia) attracts (and subsequently recruits) sinister political hacks and abject academic lackeys. I recently expressed my concern to the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy:

[originally addressed to the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy]

In your U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy Preliminary Report you state,

“The education of the 21st century ocean-related workforce will require not only a strong understanding of oceanography and other disciplines, but an ability to integrate science concepts, engineering methods, and sociopolitical considerations. Resolving complex ocean issues related to economic stability, environmental health, and national security will require a workforce with diverse skills and backgrounds. Developing and maintaining such a workforce will rely, in turn, on programs of higher education that prepare future ocean professionals at a variety of levels and in a variety of marine-related fields.”

Obviously, your educational and institutional environments and curricula must include rigorous methods for assessing codes of conduct and ethics. Mistreatment of employees, students, and constituents WILL RENDER YOUR SCIENCE SUSPECT.

Related Posts:

World Health and Arrogant Ecologists

Global Warming and Publish or Perish

The Fisheries Turnoff