[Andrew K Fletcher (OP)]

Dear friends

Would a new Environmental forum attract more members?

I believe it would, considering that the environment affects every single one of us, and there are many scientists and many more non-scientists working to achieve a safer cleaner more sustainable Earth for everyone to enjoy.

We don't appear to be addressing the major environmental concerns the we are all encountering, and when we do, the posts are scattered over various forums in an incoherant way.

I also believe that the new people that this proposed forum would attract will undoubtedly provide some stimulating and entertaining fresh ideas and questions for everyone to get their teeth into.

Ideas like building an eco friendly home, Alternative ceaner renewable fuels, Third World Debt, expanding deserts, global warming, pollution, reforesting, tree planting projects and events, chemical fertilisers / organic fertilisers, wildlife habitats, human waste, escessive food packaging, Eco Holidays, Health Issues, Drought, Storms, Fires, Melting Icecaps, Rising Oceans, Reasons behind Wars,

I believe giving these people a collective voice might actually lead to a ripple effect bringing in more and more like minded voices to the forum. Generally, the people that would be attracted to this type of forum have all of our interests at heart, and I dare say that many of our resident scientists have an interest in this field and could provide some stimulating answers and questions.

I do not want you to think that I am trying to take away anything that this fantastic community has achieved already. I believe everyone has done a great job here. People here are curtious, curious and often enchanting. Where else on the net can one talk to scientists as one would talk to a friend in the pub?

This forum brings science into the homes at a level that is clear and consise,

The main Scientific Governing bodies, along with the education departments could learn a great deal from the Nakedscientists approach.

I believe also that a regular mail shot to the School Science Review Editor and other educational resources, in order to enlighten them to this amazing resource we have here, would go a long way to bringing the idea of working in science, engineering and health to many as yet un-decided children looking for direction.

Andrew K Fletcher



"The explanation requiring the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct."
K.I.S. "Keep it simple!"

[VAlibrarian]

Sounds like a good idea to me. I believe that the next 100 years is a critical period in human history as our population growth finally ends
at the nervous-sounding figure of perhaps 10 billions and we (maybe?) are able to feed them all without massive climate change,extinctions of most other species, or other failures of the natural systems upon which our lives depend. In other words, sustainability is the main event.
Some will call me silly to be so obsessed by something that will just obviously take care of itself, but the reality is that it will not be easy, and it will require both money, hard work, and communication-which is where we come in.

chris wiegard

[Andrew K Fletcher (OP)]

Not many environmentalists in here I guess

"The explanation requiring the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct."
K.I.S. "Keep it simple!"

[another_someone]

Would this topic be about science, or technology, or politics?

Renewable energy sources, and eco-friendly homes, are more about technology, and not so much about pure science.

Rising sea levels, melting ice, and other changes in weather, may be regarded as science.

Third world debt and the causes of wars would normally be regarded as politics, although I suppose one could look at it from the point of view of game theory, and thus regard them as mathematical/logical problems, or look at them in terms of animal psychology.

As for whether our population will stabilise - I don't myself believe that animal populations can remain stable (everything on this planet is dynamic, never 'stable' in any long term sense).  If we stop growing, then in a short period of time, I believe we shall start to collapse.  It may well be that we are beginning to reach the limits to which we are able to expand as a species, but I do not believe that what will follow is a nice cosy period of stasis.

By definition, The Environment effects us all, just as chemistry or physics effects us all, even if we do not always understand the nature of those effects.  The Environment is now also a very popular subject in the public consciousness, but in many ways, this is not so much a matter of science as it is the new religion of the age.  The Environment has no greater effect upon our lives today than it ever had before, and nor is it a new phenomenom that humans have a massive impact upon their environment (although humans are by no means unique amongst living organisms in having an impact upon the environment).  Look around our green and pleasant land, and see exactly how much of it is the creation of human kind over the centuries.  Nature has never been natural, excepting insofar as we are also a part of nature.

Andrew Fletcher may be right that there are not many environmentalists here, I cannot tell, and I certainly would not count myself as one; but what would there be worth discussing if we were all to agree upon everything?

[Tronix]

I am more than willing to support an eviromental forum, since i am an ecologist and very interested in the systems of life and the effects of our activities on the health of our planet. in fact i ame here hoping to finf one when i found nakedscientists. i was disapointed in that you al didnt, but i stayed on knowing that there was much to be learn. i am 100% behind this and highly recomend it, since you have many life sciences forums but not ecology and enviroment, which is important and would be posted on. please put an eco forum on here.

--------------------------------------------
"If i cannot have company whose minds are clearly free, I would prefer to go alone."                  -Dr. Gideon Lincecum

The BPRD rejected my application becuase their brain-controled by Cthulhu Rip-offs. And im sure "Sparky" is sleeping with them too, kinky little firecracker she is...

[neilep]

I think it's a great idea Andrew. Would you be prepared to moderate it ?...I'm sure your answer is ' yes '.

Propose your idea to chris chris@thenakedscientists.com , he's bound to say yes too !!

Men are the same as women.... just inside out !!

[neilep]

I've just emailed Chris the link to this thread.

Men are the same as women.... just inside out !!

[Solvay_1927]

So are we going to get an environmental forum, then?

(I definitely support the idea.  I thought I'd posted a response supporting this some time ago, but I realise now that I must never have gotten around to actually posting it.  Oops.)


"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines."

[Simmer]

I'm in favour of it too, I think it's a big enough subject to warrant it and can guarantee a pretty big crowd!

My only slight concern is that it includes a lot of contentious issues that people feel strongly about. The metaphorical blood-bath that is Naked Science in discussion will seem like a tea party once this forum gets going! [:0]

Maybe we should use pseudo-pseudonyms in the environmental forum so that we can still talk to each other out of it! []

[i_have_no_idea]

I think we should have a political forum.

[another_someone]

quote:Originally posted by i_have_no_idea

I think we should have a political forum.

I don't know if this is a serious request, or just an attempt at irony, but I will assume it is the former.

I think opening up a specific 'political' forum will run the risk of losing any sort of focus.  Clearly, there are many areas of overlap between politics and other issues, but in general we have focused on politics being subservient to the other issues that we discuss here.

Certainly, an Environmental forum will have a significant political facet, but it will still be looked at with regard to how politics influences the Environmental debate, not in terms of focusing primarily upon politics for politics sake.

I certainly would see no role for discussions about party politics in this arena.  There are, I'm sure, many other arenas where that is the focus of the particular arena.  It makes no sense to try and be a jack of all trades – one has to retain some sort of focus, and character; so that people coming to this arena have some idea of how it differs from going somewhere else.

I realise that in the Chat section there are a couple of threads that have a general political character (although none, thankfully, that has gone to the point of party politics).  I think that is far as things should go in this matter.

There may be some possible argument for forum that is more clearly focused on the Politics of Science, although I suspect there would anyway be significant overlap between that and the proposed Environmental forum (I accept that the Politics of Science is broader than simply environmental issues, and can include ethics, culture, etc; but there will be such a significant overlap between those particular two forums that there may be many cases where people will not be able to properly judge whether the thread should be in Politics or in Environment).

Maybe it might be easier to have more narrowly defined forums that specifically focus on particular subsets of the Politics of Science, or instance, a specific forum on Ethics, and another on the Culture of Science, and ofcourse, the originally suggested Environment forum.  Maybe that's getting to be too many forums, but I would be wary of just having a forum labelled 'Politics', and watching a party political blood bath develop.

[neilep]

quote:Originally posted by Andrew K Fletcher

Not many environmentalists in here I guess

"The explanation requiring the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct."
K.I.S. "Keep it simple!"

http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2875

Men are the same as women.... just inside out !!

[i_have_no_idea]

Have you ever heard of the APSA another someone, it was a suggestion please don't get all upset.

[another_someone]

quote:Originally posted by i_have_no_idea

Have you ever heard of the APSA another someone, it was a suggestion please don't get all upset.

Me, upset?  You know me not, if you think I so easily get upset []

It is clear that I did not understand what you were referring to when you asked for a 'political forum', and I apologise for that.

By all means, if you wish a forum for the science of politics, or any other aspect of the social sciences, I would see no reason not to have one (although, it would of course open the door to asking for all the other social and 'soft' sciences).

[mbeychok]

I would also like to see an environmental forum.  But I think what is really needed are two forums.

(1) One would be devoted only to environmental science, environmental technology, and environmental engineering. 

(2) The other would be devoted to ecology, and non-scientific subjects such as environmental justice, environmental sustainability, greening the planet, saving endangered species, conservation of forests and wilderness areas, recycling, global warming, etc.

I think if (1) and (2) above are combined in one environmental forum, it would inevitably lead to quarreling and vituperation between the scientist/technologists/engineers and the ecologists/planet greeners/conservationists/etc.

Milton Beychok

[neilep]

We've got to get this environmental forum up an running eh andrew ?...and Chris

Men are the same as women.... just inside out !!

[Andrew K Fletcher (OP)]

Sounds like a smart move to me also Neil, how about you Chris?


"The explanation requiring the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct."
K.I.S. "Keep it simple!"

[Solvay_1927]

It would be nice if we could have an environmental forum.  There's definitely enough interest.

P.S. And how about a "food" forum too? (For all Neil's queries?) [][]

[neilep]

quote:Originally posted by Solvay_1927

It would be nice if we could have an environmental forum.  There's definitely enough interest.

P.S. And how about a "food" forum too? (For all Neil's queries?) [][]

OOPS!!..I just posted another food related query !!...

well..they are sort of science based aren't they ? []

Men are the same as women.... just inside out !!

[another_someone]

quote:Originally posted by neilep

quote:Originally posted by Solvay_1927

It would be nice if we could have an environmental forum.  There's definitely enough interest.

P.S. And how about a "food" forum too? (For all Neil's queries?) [][]

OOPS!!..I just posted another food related query !!...

well..they are sort of science based aren't they ? []

Men are the same as women.... just inside out !!

Strictly speaking, one of them was a linguistics (etymology) question.  After DoctorBeaver's earlier question, maybe we should be proposing an etymology forum (or more general linguistics forum).

As for food – cooking is chemistry, and what we consume is biochemistry.