Turning Our Words into Action

“Should scientists become advocates?”

I have heard this question several times throughout my education. Where is the line between remaining objective and having an agenda? Should scientists promote their research findings if they draw critical conclusions? The answer, I found, is no.

We do not need scientist-advocates. We just need more people like Janisse Ray.

As part of the Anthropocene series at Miami University, Janisse Ray shared her insights as a writer, naturalist, and activist in her lecture “Being Human in Wild Times.” To me, this gifted speaker could have been singing—her words were as musical as lyrics. The message of her lecture was just as mesmerizing.

Ray believes the idea of the Anthropocene is a “dead end” and represents hopelessness. Tackling the country’s environmental mess will require characteristic American traditions: “courage and open-mindedness.” Individuals need to find the courage to do their part: to walk when they can, to buy green when they can. We all need to find the courage to live sustainably.

“Big problems require small solutions.” –Mahatma Gandhi

Feeding 7 Billion People Is A Problem

No one needs a gas-guzzling, planet-killing Ford F-150. Hell, no one really needs a Prius. Hypothetically, everyone could use mass transportation or—even better—their own legs. But people need food. There’s no getting around that biological requirement.

The real problem is growing that food for seven billion people.

As a part of the Anthropocene lecture series hosted at Miami University, Wes Jackson, the founder of The Land Institute, was invited to explain “the 10,000-year-old problem of agriculture.”

To summarize an interview of Jackson on sustainable agriculture, he stated, “I’m not optimistic, I’m hopeful.” And that is hope is what Jackson shared—with me, at least—by introducing the idea of domesticating the perennial grain.

Jackson began his lecture by pointing out how feeding a growing human population is a problem. He identified “land use” as the second greatest emitter of greenhouse gases, a large contributor to global climate change. Additionally, the portion of land use devoted to agriculture emits an equal amount of greenhouse gases as that of transportation. And here I was griping about Fords!

And that’s the point, isn’t it? All throughout intermediate and high school, students like myself were given the standard example of transportation as a GHG culprit. Agriculture has seemingly flown under the radar because—let’s face it—it’s food. It’s our food; it’s our food’s food (speaking of livestock), it’s now even the gas tank’s food.

These excuses are a problem. So what do we do?