Shifting Baselines

Guilty Planet Alive and Kicking

Category: Communicating

Check out my new blog Guilty Planet and please join in with your thoughts on conservation...

Posted by Jennifer L. Jacquet at 4:00 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

The Evolution of Shifting Baselines

Category: What the...?

Hopefully you are wondering what the heck is going on.

As I mentioned in my last post (days turned to weeks and it is just moments before a whole month has gone by), I am currently a visiting researcher in the Conservation Science Unit at Cambridge University's Department of Zoology. Here, I am expanding my repertoire, stocking my modest arsenal of ideas, and making decisions about my future. I am soon to submit my dissertation to the University of British Columbia. In that process, Randy Olson and I have decided to close down the Shifting Baselines blog in favor of a new solo endeavor: a blog also here at SEED, which will be called Guilty Planet.

It will open shortly.

It has been with great pleasure that, for nearly the last two years I stood at the helm (accompanied by a very cool crew) of the Shifting Baselines blog. Randy Olson and I have had a great time on this journey (see proof below)...

But as my research evolves, I thought it was best that the topic my blog covers evolved, too. Never fear: Shifting Baselines will still exist (in perpetuity as a concept) and will continue to take shape in various media with Randy Olson's Shifting Baselines Ocean Media Project. This small branch of the project is simply being cut and grafted onto a new tree of ideas...

Guilty Planet will venture beyond the marine realm and into the most vast and complex environment of all: the human psyche. There will still be thoughts and examples of shifting baselines, but I also hope to include more analyses from experimental economics, psychology, and conservation in general.

Your patience and feedback will be much appreciated during this expansion. So please visit!

Guilty Planet. Coming soon to a blog near you...

Posted by Jennifer L. Jacquet at 12:25 PM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Ramblings on Darwin, Money, Fish, and Turkey

Category:

For the last month, I have been a visiting researcher in the conservation science unit at Cambridge University, which turns 800 (!) this year. Another impressive birthday is today: Charles Darwin's bicentennial--a grand event here in England, although they do admire Darwin daily (note the 10 pound note):

Across the nation, events are commemorating Darwin and his contribution to science, including two of my weekend plans: the British Natural History Museum's Darwin exhibit and tonight's lecture at the Bath Royal Literary & Scientific Institution by Shifting Baselines' own Daniel Pauly (this is him cutting the pre-lecture cake).

(Unfortunately, it doesn't seem I'll have time to bake my own Darwin cake (or write much more about Darwin's marine science).

At Cambridge, there is a particularly affinity for the man who wrote the treatise on natural selection. Darwin was a Cambridge scholar and studied theology at Christ College. The zoology museum has a great exhibit with fish specimens from the Voyage of the Beagle...

The University is also hosting a number of great events in association with Darwin's birthday, including Randy Olson's Flock of Dodos, the big Darwin festival in July, and (as always) a weekly lecture series out of Darwin College.

A couple weeks ago I attended one such lecture by Dr. Jim Secord. He put up a list of the years when On the Origin of Species was published for various languages (e.g. German: 1860, French: 1862, Spanish: 1877, Japanese: 1896, Arabic (9 chapters): 1918).

On the O of S was not published in Turkish until 1970. That becomes particularly interesting if one recalls the 2006 study published in Science about public acceptance of evolution. The authors found that the percentage of U.S. adults accepting the idea of evolution has declined from 45% to 40% over the last 20 years but also that, an examination of 34 countries (most of them European), Americans are the least likely to accept evolution, just after Turkey. But then Jim Secord's statistic hit me: the Turks have had fewer than 40 years to digest the theory of natural selection. Meanwhile, On the Origin of Species was published in our mother tongue. At least Turkey has an excuse.

For more blogposts on Darwin, check out the consolidated Blog for Darwin dedicated to the man and his big idea...

Posted by Jennifer L. Jacquet at 4:38 PM • 12 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

January Wrap Up

Category: Losing Track

It is already February! And I cannot believe I let so many January stories get away from me. So I would like a recap a few of shifting baselines repute now:

1) This article, Deep Sea-crets, ran in the San Diego Union Tribune about a recent expedition to explore deep undersea mounts in the Gulf of California:

What the scientists found was both exhilarating and disheartening. In some of the deeper and more remote locations, such as Las Animas, a seamount midway between the towns of Loreto and La Paz, marine life was both abundant and diverse.

Researchers recorded prosperous fish populations, including an extraordinarily rich variety of red snapper species, novel shrimp varieties and possibly several new species of sea urchins and sea cucumbers.

"Everything was amazing and surprising, said Ezcurra. "We were constantly in awe at what we found and saw."

But they were also frequently dismayed.

Far more numerous were habitats marred by evidence of human-induced harm and environmental decline.

"It was depressing to find nylon filaments entangled in highly damaged corals, lost nets entangled in whole reefs and seriously damaging the reef biota, dozens of beer cans strewn on the bottom of the sea at depths that had never been explored before," said Ezcurra.

"It gave me a shudder to think that way before we have the resources and the technological ability to seriously inventory these amazing places, we are already destroying them with lost fishing gear and trashing them with our garbage."

2) A Greenpeace team visited the Sundance Film Festival and helped create some buzz for a new feature length documentary adaptation of Charles Clover's book on overfishing, The End of the Line. Nice costumes!

3) Also, this month, a call for tougher standards for mercury levels in fish and warnings to the public on which fish are and are not safe to eat. This is a great article by an M.D. who gives a worrying introduction to the problem:

Nine years ago, dozens of patients -- some my own, some referred by fellow San Francisco physicians -- began showing up in my office with similar symptoms that included fatigue, hair loss, headache, muscle and joint pain, and various neurological ailments. My effort to solve this medical mystery, and discover the thread that united these people, has led to a decade-long investigation of one of the most toxic substances on the planet -- methylmercury -- and a slowly growing realization that the U.S. government has taken woefully inadequate steps to safeguard Americans from this health threat.

The common link among all these patients was a regular diet of fish -- and an inordinately high level of mercury in their bodies. When they stopped eating fish, their mercury levels returned to normal, and nearly all reported that their symptoms disappeared.

4) Although, sometimes, fish are naturally poisonous. Like pufferfish. Seven consumers in northern Japan fell ill last week after eating poison pufferfish in restaurants that were not licensed to serve it...

5) Fish are crucial in the oceanic carbon cycle and may be in ally in climate change, which The Sea Around Us Project's own Dr. Villy Christensen helped to point out in a recent paper in Science. Turns out, fish excrete calcium carbonate pellets called "gut rocks" in addition to poo. The question is, given the likely increase in dead zones due to climate change, whether they fish will be around to continue doing their job.

6) Between shifting baselines, overfishing, mercury, natural poisons, and their role in sequestering carbon in the oceans, I think it is obvious we need to reduce our fish consumption, particularly those of us who know about the issues. This was the topic of Dr. Giovanni Bearzi's recent editorial published this month in Conservation Biology aptly titled: When Swordfish Biologists Eat Swordfish.

7) Finally, check out this series of photographs taken off the coast of Mexico sent by a friend of a friend. It is awe-inspiring abundance but did make me wonder if the reduction of top predators could be leading to increases in rays (just as the removal of sharks led to an increase of cow-nose rays and the decline of scallops off the east coast)...

Posted by Jennifer L. Jacquet at 4:57 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Impressions from an American at the Mall

Category:

I believe in Obama. So I wanted to be part of his story. Our story.

So last Saturday, I flew from London to Washington, D.C. to spend four days celebrating and witnessing the inauguration of our 44th President.

I made my way down to the Sunday concert featuring actors and musicians. The music part was great with opening performances from The Boss and Mary J. Blige. They did what they do best: sing.

But when Steve Carell stood up and gave a short political speech with no intentions of making me laugh I became suspicious. And by the time Tom Hanks opined on Abraham Lincoln's contributions to politics as the camera held a soft-touched image of him staring out toward the Washington Monument, I was annoyed. Allen Ginsberg whined in my ear, America this is the impression I get from looking in the television set. America is this correct? Is it true our nation is so struck by stars?

Singers should sing. Actors should act--and not as if they know something about politics. As my friend put it, "That was the worst movie Tom Hanks ever made."

So I walked off the Mall and went to the National Portrait Gallery where there was a Lincoln special exhibit, which was infinitely more inspiring than anything Tom Hanks had to say about him. I quickly regained my enthusiasm, even for celebrities, several of whom made appearances the following night during Ariana Huffington's superb party at the Newseum. Sting gave an excellent performance.

All of this was preparation for Tuesday--when the nation's collective efforts would fully materialize. Bright and early, I rode the metro to the Mall with thousands of others like a jellybean in a jar.

Despite the masses, the immobility, the squeeze, the cheer was implacable. I couldn't even get worked up over the number of fur coats I saw (an uptight woman began bellyaching about my [nearly empty] coffee cup's illicit appearance on the metro but my good spirits would not desist).

And then it was time to face the above ground mob. I could not have imagined what two million people would feel like. This was an exploration of the limits of mental stability and I kept repeating one of Martin Luther King's most moving lines to keep calm: This will be a great America. We will be the participants in making it so.

I participated. I relinquished all sense of being an individual to become just one in a two million strong swarm of pride and support--and very good behavior. The mood was more cooperative and patient than I have ever felt before in America. As I stood mid-Mall and watched Obama take his oath and give his inaugural address (in which he used the words "data" and "statistics"!), tears traveled down many faces.

I made my way home amidst the organized chaos, thinking to myself that the District of Columbia had done a spectacular job and, moreover, marveling at the sight of so many Americans so well behaved. Which is perhaps why I thought the event almost seemed somehow un-American.

In some ways, it was what I imagine it is like being Dutch.

Despite that very slight crisis of identity, I went to bed Tuesday night as everyone who was on the Mall must have: tired and happy.

On Wednesday afternoon, still in awe (and a little uncertain) of the cooperative America I had seen the previous day, I hailed a cab to Dulles airport. The driver was keen to discuss the inaugural fervor. He did not see the inauguration because he had to work selling cars. He said he didn't mind who won the election as long as it was a Democrat. "The Republicans drove this economy into the ground," he said. "Somebody should go to prison. I don't know who--but somebody." He was glad because he had sold a 1996 Nissan Altima despite the event.

The he turned and caught a glimpse at a display in one of the many shops that line the streets of Georgetown and said, "Hey, that's a nice jacket. It's made for a faggot. But, still. It's a nice jacket."

Phew. A sign. America was still America.

Tuesday night, I would have said the inauguration could best be summarized by mating Dick Cheney's appearance in a wheelchair with Yo-Yo Ma's blithe cello performance.

But, looking back on it, I choose instead a moment in the Metro station. The station manager was keeping order by shouting--happily--over the intercom: Keep-It-Mov-Ing. Keep-It-Mov-Ing. As we shuffled courteously off the platform and globbed up the escalator toward daylight, we shouted the phrase back to her in unison. Keep-It-Mov-Ing. Keep-It-Mov-Ing. There was joy. Triumph. Hope. And a single voice. Of a people. For a nation.

All photos courtesy of Jason Ensler and his very beloved iPhone.

Posted by Jennifer L. Jacquet at 3:00 PM • 13 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

An Ode to Obama: Give Up Fish (for Me)

Category: Communicating • Seafood • Solutions

A Guilt Trip for Obama
I sent a million emails
Cheering you on in every line.
I watched Will.I.Am's video
About a thousand times.

I stood strong against my parents
(Both McCain supporters).
I recruited my brother:
A first time and Obama voter.

I made inspirational cds,
Sending them to friends in every state.
I bought an Obama-sized cutout
And motored him 'cross the U.S.A.--
He was kicked out in Florida,
Photo-opped in Tennessee,
And adored by all in L.A.

Knowing you were a champ,
I customized a YES WE CAN stamp.

I posted on YouTube,
I read your news every day,
I wrote many rants,
I hoped and I prayed.

I listened to podcasts,
I read both your books.
I bragged about your smarts,
Your morality, your looks.

Alongside my countrymen
I watched you win in November--
Another time of such thrill
I can hardly remember.

I will stand in the crowd
When you are sworn Head of State.
I will be prouder than ever
On that splendid Tuesday.

Now.

With all that I've done
And all that I feel,
I was thinking we might
Strike up a deal.

You have a power
That transcends the Pope and Al Gore
You say "pound puppy"
And rescue memberships soar.

So, for me, dear Obama
I have just one, tiny wish:
Would you please, please, please
Swear off eating fish?

Posted by Jennifer L. Jacquet at 7:04 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

A Better Sushi Shirt?

Category: Communicating

Posted by Jennifer L. Jacquet at 5:45 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Sushi Hater

Category: What the...?

My friend sent me a link to this t-shirt for sale at Forever 21 (the Wal-Mart of high fashion) and her email read simply: "uh oh". Yes, this is what PETA's Save the Sea Kitten campaign is up against...

Posted by Jennifer L. Jacquet at 4:45 PM • 12 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Sea Kittens: The Ultimate Renaming?

Category: Solutions • What the...?

Hm. I have mixed feelings about this ultimate example of renaming fish. PETA has a new campaign out to get people to relate to fish as animals rather than as commodities, which is a noble goal and one I very much support. There are a few snags with their Save the Sea Kittens campaign, though.

First of all, fish are not domesticated like kittens (or like chickens! So I also have a hang up about tuna being dubbed "the chicken of the sea"). And I don't think renaming fish as kittens really enhances the mythology around fish (despite all the accessories). Rather, this new campaign might just get people to think of cute and cuddly kittens or some weird hybrid like this:

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