I’ve only just started listening to this podcast series but it’s already blowing my mind. Stevenson leads a growing gaggle of comedians from a diversity of countries that are not only funny but enormously thoughtful and inspiring. You should listen to Tiny Revolutions with Tiff Stevenson
If you’re interested in conservationWhy is animal conservation important? Animal conservation is important, because animals are the only mechanism to create biodiversity, which is the mechanism that creates a habitable planet for humans. Without animals, the energy from today’s plants (algae, trees, flowers etc) will eventually reach the atmosphere and ocean, much of it as carbon. The quantity of this plant-based waste is so More science and want to know how to influence people and make a difference, this could be a series for you. Why? Because there is something comedy does that’s quite unique and scientists can learn from that.
And you might be wondering what this has to do with animals … I’ll come to that.
Most comedians aren’t successful just because they are funny, they are successful because to survive talking in public, they have had to learn how to engage fairly and respectfully with a lot of people. It’s one of the few art forms that requires spending enormous amounts of time travelling and meeting people with staggeringly different opinions and motivation.
Comedians are the opposite of most scientists, who sit in front of computers in offices and when they go out, largely spend time with people like them.
In an early episode, the delightful and boisterous Desiree Burch talks about how she learnt a lot about herself from talking with other people. she says:
“All of your belief systems inside a bubble mean nothing until they are challenged. All of these people who uphold science, your hypothesis means nothing until it’s actually put to the test and the only way of putting it to the test is interacting with people”
In the last two weeks, I’ve been exposed to fallout from the film Seaspiracy and appalling attacks by scientists who don’t like to have their hypotheses tested by anyone in public. I wrote a piece where I said I was baffled by their responses … and have since then had to try to explain why and it’s partly led to this blog piece.
When news first broke, infamous fisheries scientist Ray Hillborn labelled the film’s characters as ‘vegan propagandists’, a point which has been cheerfully iterated throughout other online articles, most of which were hurriedly written by academics and I have variously criticised as full of conjecture, inflammatory (and borderline defamatory) statements, attacks on people’s character and unsubstantiated personal opinion. I suspect some will come to regret this later as they were written late at night after a few too many drinks and an encouraging rowdy conversation inside the echo-chamber.
When we label a group in order to single people out, isn’t that what we call discrimination? At best, it’s ‘what about-ism’. I thought science was supposed to be about rigorous and intelligent thought and debate? Carl Sagan once said “science is part and parcel humility” but I don’t see much humility in awful rhetoric that slams the public for having a different opinion.
So it amused me no-end to see that 44% of LadBible readers considered giving up fish after watching the film. Along with FHM Magazine, Playboy and other lad-mags, these notorious peddlers of vegan propaganda have clearly set out to destroy global fisheries!
One scientist has written an article titled ‘Don’t watch Seaspiracy’ encouraging me to tweet “Do you not think people can make up their own mind by watching it though?”, to which another scientist said: ‘Nope. Nothing any scientist tells you will change your mind.’ Wow! Have you thought about asking what could change your mind, rather than thinking you know it all already?
But there is good news. Complaints are massively more prevalent on social media than praise and I’ve received many nice comments too … I can guarantee, the haters are only ever a small vocal minority and their achilles heel is thinking that they are surrounded by supporters when it’s really a load of people so dumb-struck, they are standing speechless with their jaws open. When you post in public against the public, you might as well walk out onto the street and shout ‘I know everything and everyone else is stupid!’
Which brings me to the point about animal impactWhat is Animal Impact? Without wildlife, Earth would not be habitable for humans, because it's animals that stabilise ecosystems. It’s a fundamental law of nature that animals (and humans) exist because we are the most likely lifeforms to minimise environmental chaos. Animal impact, therefore, is a measure of how much all wildlife is collectively responsible for creating a habitable Earth. The More.
Conservation of the world’s collapsing ecosystemsHow ecosystems function An ecosystem is a community of lifeforms that interact in such an optimal way that how ecosystems function best, is when all components (including humans and other animals) can persist and live alongside each other for the longest time possible. Ecosystems are fuelled by the energy created by plants (primary producers) that convert the Sun's heat energy More depends on inspiring a global change in values. It’s the only way we are going to be able to reverse the disastrous race to extinction that threatens humanity.
To achieve this, we need people on side. Political scientists know that bias is inherent in the unanimity of groups and the way to solve this is to diversify opinions. Contrary to what we might think, better and more reliable decisions are made by being inclusive of public thought, even if you don’t agree.
James Nokise paraphrases the late artist and activist Teresia Teaiwa from New Zealand who, referring to all men and women, said “the system is built to break us down, so sometimes, surviving is a protest in and of itself”.
What this means is that sometimes, the simple act of surviving is enough without having to resort to force. It reassures everyone that we all have an individual and powerful role to play in the direction we want society to go. These words are as relevant to conservation as they are to race, equal rights and any other problem we face in today’s world.
So go and listen to the podcast! I’ve only heard three so far and I’m already hooked. And let’s all try to listen to each other a bit more.
Cheers : )
