Making Science Matter

I am at the International Marine Conservation Congress (IMCC2).  The theme this year is "Making Science Matter." Though primarily a science conference they are including the press/media in a big way.

One example: a panel discussion with five prominent journalists interviewing a cross-section of marine experts. This was moderated by Nancy Baron, author of “Escape from the Ivory Tower: A Guide to Making Your Science Matter.”   If that sounds dull it's only because my description is lacking — it was an inspiring way to hear a wide variety of knowledgeable people explore issues around conveying to the public the range of very complex topics related to the oceans. 

The whole day Saturday (May 14, 2011) was dedicated to a special event titled "Beyond the Obituaries: Success Stories in Marine Conservation."  This was introduced as an antidote to all the doom and gloom.  Are there enough success stories to provide convincing evidence that we're changing the downward spiral of ocean health? 

An example of conservation science and media was a workshop about using songs about the Salish Sea to educate about marine conservation.

Another very exciting session was a presentation about how Google Earth is being used as a geo-referenced portal to ocean related stories and media.  While not providing the interactive 3D experience of virtually traveling through underwater habitats full of creatures, dynamic geologic features and shipwrecks as does NOAA's virtual underwater world in in Second Life, it does offer spatial context and a powerful method of finding and sampling a vast collection of non-trivial content about our oceans.   This feature of Google Earth was inspired by Sylvia Earle's observation that it should be called Google Ocean.

And she wasn't the only one: "How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is clearly Ocean."
— Arthur C. Clark

An introduction to the "Explore the Ocean" layer in Google Earth and a collection of other amazing virtual underwater tours can be found at:

http://earth.google.com/ocean

Look for more reports about the features of Google Earth and other surprises over the next few days as the conference unfolds.