This Monday I had my first day at the USGS Oregon Water Science Center in downtown Portland. While most of my time will be spent volunteering for the USGS and working on informational videos that explore sedimentation and dam deconstruction in the Pacific Northwest, I have some time dedicated to working on my thesis research.
Today I stumbled across some fun resources on the USGS website that were more puzzling than anything else. They are under the Start With Science initiative that the Survey hosts and seemed to be aimed at informing the reader about all the good that science can do in the world. Here, here! I’m all for that. But I feel like anyone who has navigated to the USGS website and found this link needs no more convincing of that fact either. This begs the question: who are these resources actually for?
Check out Addressing Our Nation’s Challenges, doesn’t something feel a bit off? Maybe it feels like I’m being talked down to. These resources aren’t for Policymakers, they’re not for college students like me, and they’re certainly not for USGS employees. Maybe they’re for the science-fearing public?
It’s not yet clear how pictures of cute polar bears will really help the USGS convey the message that interdisciplinary approaches to science are necessary in order to better inform action (policy and other). Maybe to get the public on their side? But that’s only if “the public” is seeing this.
How does this fit into the Klamath Controversy and were those decisions informed by interdisciplinary approaches to science?
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