An Ecological Tithe

Tithing, the idea of giving some amount (often 10%) of your wealth or property to charity and/or those less fortunate, is an idea associated with the Old Testament, the Middle Ages, and many churches today. It's a great idea for us modern folks too--you feel generous and you are supporting something that you believe in. One of my own friends who tithed believed that in giving away 10% of her income, she could expect to be showered by celestial generosity in a greater portion than what she gave. We were both graduate students at the time, and as most graduate students might attest, a little celestial generosity is always appreciated. I thought she might be a little foolhardy in that she couldn’t really afford such a large contribution on such a meager income; and, it seemed ironically selfish (not to mention superstitious) to expect repayment for what was essentially intended to be a charitable act.  But that could easily have been an excuse on my part to be less generous.  I am intrigued, however, by my friend’s expectation of good things in return for her tithe as I think about a “scientific tithe” of donating 10% of my time to communicating with the public.

I’m currently in a seminar exploring ideas of how as scientists we could more effectively communicate with the public. This week we read two articles from Frontiers in Ecology on this subject.  In one article (Pace et al. 2010), the author cites Holden’s (2008) suggestion for scientists to set aside 10% of the professional effort for public outreach.  An exciting and challenging idea!  Pace et al. (2010) outlines some pros and cons of scientists communicating with the public including the potential benefit such efforts can have on public understanding but with some big cons like the tradeoffs in time between scientific pursuits and communication efforts.  The authors indicate that there is typically no means for academic institutions to evaluate or reward such efforts, while government jobs do have some criteria and rewards for outreach.  Academics do evaluate service, which can include public outreach although it is definitely an optional form of service.  But maybe there are rewards such as increased publicity, which can benefit the university and funding efforts. 

Academic life is full.  I find that I love almost all aspects of my job, but I wish there was a little less of all of it.  For me, the rubber has a hard time hitting the road when it comes to public outreach because of time—I do not have enough time even when I’m working 60 hour work weeks to accomplish everything on my to-do list.  However, a tithe sets a manageable goal and could make a big difference. 

We read another article about ways ecologists can interact with the public by Groffman et al. (2010) which asserted that scientists held a great deal of respect in society.  Well, this was a pleasant surprise! And if true, it would suggest that the public would be receptive to receiving information directly from scientists, if only we figure out how to do this effectively. Although not universally true by any means, scientists do seem to have a special capacity to bore.  I have noticed this while teaching introductory biology, when I am being just about as entertaining as I can be, I have still been advised by students to “spice it up.”  It is disheartening to admit that as exciting as I think I can be, this is not a sentiment shared by all or even most of my students.  I have noticed this at scientific meetings where scientists, even forest ecologists, can miss the forest for the trees.  And many scientists seem very confused on what a cartoon is (i.e., Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes are cartoons, a pie chart or flow chart is not). 

Interestingly, the internet is the second most common place people are getting their news (television is first).  So, this means that even blogs could make an impact.  One downside of the internet being a major venue for science information is that “the internet” can mean almost anything—reputable on-line newspapers, unreputable newspapers, scientists, citizens, madmen, or pundits.  Take your pick!!  Jay Allison who edited print editions of This I Believe gave the commencement address at our university this year and he made an interesting comment that people today didn’t really have to listen to each other because there were so many media options—you can easily just listen to people who had similar opinions to you.  Sometimes that may be a relief, but it doesn’t do much for understanding alternative viewpoints and it doesn’t help people with divergent views reach a potentially productive consensus.  The result of that has certainly become disturbingly obvious in politics.
So, we shall see where this semester leads on communicating science to the public.  On the way to the office I heard an interview of Clarence Jones on NPR (http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=132905796&m=132905831) who recently wrote a book called Behind the Dream about his time with Martin Luther King, Jr.  ML King, Jr. had visited him to try to get him to go to Birmingham, AL with him and he had apparently declined, but after hearing his sermon the next day where MLK talked about meeting a talent lawyer who would not go to Birmingham to help.  MLK said in effect that this young man had forgotten from whence he came, as had many in the audience.  He suggested they owed a debt to those on whose shoulders they had stood, those who had given each of them a chance to make it and become successful.  So, the obligation of the successful was to help those who had not made it so that life would be better for them all.  That applies to many of us working in the natural world—we owe our debt to the world that we study to make it known to those who are not so fortunate in hopes they will come to value, appreciate, and preserve it.  May not make it to Birmingham, but we’ll start with a tithe.  

Goffman, PM, C Stylinski, MC Nisbet, CM Duarte, R Jordan, A Burgin, MA Previtali, and J Coloso.  2010.  Restarting the conversation:  Challenges at the interface between ecology and society.  Frontiers in Ecology 8:284-291.


Pace, ML, SE Hampton, KE Limburg, EM Bennett, EM Cook, AE Davis, JM Grove, KY Kaneshiro, SL LaDeau, GE Likens, DM McKnight, DC Richardson, and DL Strayer.  2010.  Communicating with the public:  Opportunities and rewards for individual ecologists.  Frontiers in Ecology 8:292-298.