Living and working in a coastal community that’s blessed with more than its fair share of scientific institutions, it’s easy to take a pro-science approach to life for granted. We try to make judgements based on evidence and facts, and support policies that generally do the same. Seems pretty logical, right?
So when rumors started to spread about proposed federal budget cuts to agencies like NOAA —not to mention climate science denial from the head of the EPA and the reinstatement of pipeline projects, offshore drilling and coal as the cornerstone of our energy policy—we tried to think of ways to help out. We’d like to think that video can make a difference to a disinterested public. Even if you’re not a scientist, you can understand the economic benefits of research jobs to the local and national economy.
We were happy to have a conversation about all this with Dr. Anne Giblin, a senior scientist and interim director of the Ecosystems Center at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole. In the succinct video that came from that conversation, Dr. Giblin describes her long-term study of the marshland ecosystem at Plum Island (just north of Boston) and why it’s so important to track changes over the long term. In over 20 years of study, she’s gotten grants that funded dozens of projects and research assistants, many of whom go on to become career scientists themselves. As Dr. Giblin put it, “People forget that science also creates jobs. And it creates good jobs!”
We released this video in time for the April 22 March for Science that’s taking place nationally, and locally here in Falmouth. But this issue will not be over on April 23. If you or someone you know would like to participate in the next installment, please get in touch!
