Activism
tsmith | August 18, 2010The Skepchicks are sponsoring a pertussis vaccination clinic at Dragon*Con over Labor Day weekend. They're teaming up with the Georgia Dept. of Health, who is providing free assistance and vaccines, but they need some assistance raising funds to cover space rental, posters, and other miscellaneous charges. If you're able to assist, you can donate to their "Hug me! I'm vaccinated!" campaign at the links included in the post.
And while I'm nagging about donations, I'll also note that donations to help the flooded in Pakistan have been slow, especially compared to the Haiti earthquake. If you…
neurotopia | June 27, 2010Chris Mooney- a man with his heart in the right place and absolutely no idea what do do after that. Don't get me wrong, I like the guy. He's a force for good when dissecting a scientific issue for the public. But Mooney has been trucking out this same "communication" bullshit for a few years now. As usual, nothing much is offered other than "listen to them". I agree, communication is important, and scientists need to listen as much as talk. Ok..... then what? If, as he says, so many people only consider science as a small part of forming their opinions, what makes him think that they'…
sastyk | December 16, 2009Not long ago I was out at a dinner of climate activists, at the beginning of a conference I was at, and as we were climbing into the car of one of the program leaders, there was talk about whose car was messier. This is a competition I always win - I mentioned to them that not only do I have little kids in my car, messing it up, but I drive goats around in my Taurus.
Several people asked me why I drive goats in a car, (which even to me seems like a reasonable question). The answer is that I am a farmer with goats, but I don't have a pick up truck, so when they go to be bred or to the vet,…
bcohen | August 26, 2009Pt. 1 | Pt. 2 | Pt. 3
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Part 3 with Julie Sze, discussing her book Noxious New York, follows below. All entries in the author-meets-blogger series can be found here.
WF: What place did science play in the EJ issues of the communities you've studied? We've talked about tensions between expertise, technical knowledge, and lived community experience in other conversations. It's a vast subject, in fact, and I shouldn't cast this question so tidily. But for Noxious New York, where did scientific practices fit?
JS: Science played a large part in the story I told in New York City, a story…
bcohen | August 25, 2009Part 1 | Pt. 2 (below) | Pt. 3
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Part 2 with Julie Sze, discussing her book Noxious New York, follows below. All entries in the author-meets-blogger series can be found here.
WF: Let's do this: I know we already brought up environmental justice before, but could you define it in your terms for the readers? In your use and experience, does it differ from environmental racism, does it differ from, say, an anti-toxics activism that some link to Love Canal and Lois Gibbs?
JS: That is a huge question in the book. I define environmental justice as the social movement that emerged in response…
bcohen | August 24, 2009Part 1 (below) | Pt. 2 | Pt. 3
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The World's Fair is pleased to offer the following discussion about Noxious New York: The Racial Politics of Urban Health and Environmental Justice (MIT Press, 2007), with its author Julie Sze. Sze is an associate professor of American Studies at the University of California at Davis, an environmental justice scholar, and the founding director of the Environmental Justice Project at the John Muir Institute for the Environment.
Noxious New York "analyzes the culture, politics, and history of environmental justice activism in New York City within the…
scicurious | June 29, 2009Today is the last day in the month of June, and so the last day that you can click on these awesome blogs, and have the proceeds go to Doctors Without Borders. So click once, or twice, or many many times!
The IntersectionOn Becoming A Domestic And Laboratory GoddessAetiologyNeurotopiaBioephemeraThe Questionable AuthorityAdventures in Ethics and ScienceDrugMonkeyBlog Of The Moderate LeftSeattle Grassroots Examinerthe rugbyologistSciencewomen
And of course, a huge thank you to the many, many blogs who helped spread this around. Sci hopes that this is just the beginning, that we will be able…
bioephemera | June 10, 2009One of the challenges we faced with our new blogosphere initiative, Silence is the Enemy, was how to mobilize people to do something about the plight of rape victims. It's not that people don't have empathy for rape victims; it's that the experience of living in a war-torn nation where rape and murder are routine facts of life is so foreign and horrifying to us, we tend to tune it out. Part of the way to deal with this is to give people a clear mission - something simple they can do; in our case, donating to Doctors without Borders (as I am for the month of June), or writing to Congress, or…
tsmith | June 1, 2009"I always think someone is following me and wants to rape me. It is better to die." --Darfuri refugee
Sometimes there comes a public health issue that's so big, so overwhelming, so heinous, that you just don't know where to begin discussing it. Nevertheless, the conversation should, and must, happen just the same. Silence may be easier, but speaking out is the only way to demystify the taboos and bring attention to what's going on for those who can't bring attention to it themselves. And maybe, just maybe, bring about some change.
It's no secret that rape happens during wartime.…
neurotopia | May 4, 2009Every year the folks at the Alliance for Science have themselves an essay contest. The topic is evolution-themed, and since 2009 is so relevant to Charles Darwin-- being his 200th birthday and 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of Species-- we asked students to identify a modern scientist that exemplifies the characteristics which led Darwin to make his monumental discoveries.
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This year we had a very tight race... a 3 way tie for 3rd place. Do check out the winning essays, they are worth a read!
tsmith | March 13, 2009For those of you following our "academic freedom" bill saga here in Iowa, you'll be pleased to know that today was the last day for the bill to make it out of subcommittee, which it appears it hasn't. Hector Avalos has an overview of the history of the bill, our response, and the results at The Panda's Thumb.
grrlscientist | June 29, 2008One of the world's largest intact forest ecosystems -- the breeding grounds for many of the world's warblers, ducks and other migratory birds -- is in big trouble. Oil and gas, timber, mining, and other industries are destroying vital habitat for birds and other wildlife in Canada's boreal forest. Canada's boreal forest spans more than 1.4 billion acres and provides vital breeding habitat for many of the world's birds -- including nearly 40% of North America's ducks, geese, and swans. Lynx, grizzlies and wolves also make their home in the boreal forest. And it is one of the world's largest "…
neurotopia | February 21, 2008Abel broke the news on Scienceblogs, where he's been following the events at UCLA for a while now, and Orac has the details on why it matters. UCLA has taken the initiative to protect its researchers and hopefully kicked off a nationwide-- or maybe even global-- campaign to protect scientists and the public from the idiocy of animal rights extremists. Consider this a legal "counter offensive" on behalf of academia, if you will.
Personally, I'm happy as a pig in it's own feces. It's time somebody stood up to these so-called animal rights activists who can't seem to comprehend that people…
neurotopia | February 21, 2008They put on a fantastic Darwin Day celebration in Iowa City. Excellent camaraderie, good times good people good beer and whatnot, and the turnout for all the events was exceptional.
Massimo Pigliucci gave a nice interview for the local NPR station which you can find here.
Darwin Day with evolutionary biologist
Massimo Pigliucci
In an event co-sponsored the University of Iowa Department of Biological Sciences to celebrate Darwin Day in Iowa City featuring renowned evolutionary biologist, philosopher, and professor at SUNY Stonybrook, Dr Massimo Pigliucci. His book Denying Evolution has…
tsmith | November 18, 2007Last month, I wrote an update on the strange cancer affecting Tasmanian devils--a tumor cell that's taken on a life of its own, and is spreading through the population as the animals fight. Now, via PZ comes something you can do to help--donate and help to save this species:
Help the Tasmanian devil with 6 top funding priorities:
1. Investigating the tumour and its chromosomes, looking for clues to resistance
2.Keeping some area or areas of Tasmania free from the disease i.e. wild management
3.Maintaining backup captive populations of devils in Tasmania as 'insurance'
4.…
tsmith | November 13, 2007 Over the summer, I wrote about Vinay Chakravarthy, a doctor of South Asian descent who had been recently diagnosed (at the age of 28 and fresh out of medical school) with leukemia and was in need of a bone marrow transplant. However, as Razib and others noted, the odds of him finding a match were quite slim (~1 in 20,000), given the small donor pool that was most genetically similar. Vinay's friends and families took his misfortune and turned it into something positive, organizing bone marrow drives in several states, and concentrating on getting additional minority donors to join the…
neurotopia | November 7, 2007Those crazy folks over at the Alliance for Science are putting up the notice for their 2nd Annual Evolution Essay contest!!! The first contest, while thrown together at the very last minute, turned out to be a success. Five high school students received cash prizes and a slew of autographed science books, plus a year's subscription to Seed Magazine. The first place winner's science teacher also received a cash prize to spend on classroom supplies, and additional teaching materials.
This year, they're getting a jump on things early. The contest doesn't happen until February, but start…
neurotopia | October 26, 2007It's not a good millenium to be a monkey.
GENEVA (AFP) - Nearly a third of all non-human primates could be wiped out, threatened by illegal wildlife trade, climate change and destruction of their habitat, a new report warned on Friday.
Twenty-nine percent of all monkeys, apes and gorilla species are now in danger of going extinct, according to the report by the Swiss-based World Conservation Union (IUCN).
A complete shame because we have so many close relatives on our family bush that can teach us about evolution, how our brains work, and generally what it means to be human.
It highlighted…
tsmith | October 1, 2007Last year, a number of us here at Scienceblogs participated in a fundraising challenge to help an organization called DonorsChoose. This is a charity that brings together proposals submitted by teachers out there in the community, and individuals who are looking for a way to help out our schools and students. As the name suggests, donors can peruse the many proposals on the site, and donate to ones they find interesting.
19 of us participated in 2006, and our readers (together with a generous donation from Seed magazine, and bonuses from DonorsChoose.org itself) collectively raised over $34…
tsmith | September 14, 2007Just a quick post to note that fellow ScienceBlogger Nick Anthis has up a post on HIV denial in South Africa. Though this is a topic I've touched on, he goes into a deeper history of it, including more about the cultural reasons for denial (whereas I typically focus more on the science).
In other news, I have an editorial today in the The Times Higher Education Supplement in London. You can find it here (registration required).