I’m in the midst of a quarter-life crisis. Since I started at KU last fall, I have had a plan. I am pursuing a Bachelor of Sciences in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. I have done undergraduate research since my first semester, and my faculty mentor has started to plan for me to take on my own project. The plan is to get a publication to make myself a more impressive grad school applicant. This is how you become successful in research. But I realized that I’m preparing myself perfectly for a career that I don’t want. I don’t believe in research as it exists today.
I think that there is far too much emphasis on research in the scientific community. I suppose that’s a silly thing to say – science is research, isn’t it? And it’s not the research itself I have a problem with, but how it is communicated. In an earlier time, scientists would publish books that they hoped would be best sellers. They wanted their work to be understood and appreciated by the average citizen, not just other scientists.
We have revolutionized the mechanisms of scientific communication. Now, scientists are judged based on the number of journal publications that they have. But is this a sustainable practice? Will it continue to be efficient to focus scientific education within the scientific community, and thus alienate the general public? I think not, especially in areas such as ecology and evolutionary biology, which have such an impact on the conservation of our planet.
Photo Credit: http://www.thetahealingscience.com/nobel-winner-will-boycott-top-scienti…
Conservation is a huge global issue, and it’s one that we need to care about, because if we don’t it will literally be the death of us. This planet was around before humans, and it will be around after we are gone. Taking care of it will do our race nothing but good and it affects us all. We cannot pinpoint the effects of global climate change and pollution to one area – it is happening all around.
Because it’s a far-reaching problem, it’s going to take the contributions of the masses to solve it. Certainly, scientific discovery is indispensable. But it loses its value if the general public has no idea about the issues we are facing, and the steps that we can take to solve these problems. Science has distanced itself from the humanities, but I don’t think that this is a step in the right direction. If all people can read things about scientific and global issues in a way that is interesting and accessible, they will be interested and educated. And those are the prerequisites for change.
So I found myself a little lost. Because I don’t think that scientific research published in journals is a sustainable field, and it’s not what I want to do. I believe that in continuing with that practice we are alienating so many people necessary to maintaining the health of our planet. I believe that instead we must bridge the gap between science and the humanities. We must encourage scientists to be writers, and encourage writers to take an interest in the work of scientists. Once we have done that, we will have created a community of people who care, who have an array of unique skill sets and who are able and excited to make change. Once we have done that, we will be ready to save the world, together.