Science and science policy in unexpected places

I'm super-excited for the panel I'm organizing at this year's Netroots Nation conference. As you may know, Netroots Nation is an annual gathering of progressive bloggers, policy wonks, policymakers, activists, and groupies. It's an amazing event, featuring senior officials in the Democratic party, and fascinating discussions of the movement's future, not to mention serious partying.

This year, the event is in Minneapolis, June 16-18. And I'll be organizing a panel on the 17th, in the afternoon. We'll be talking about ways to work science and science policy discussions into unexpected places, ideas for sneaking science up on people who think they don't care about it.

I'll be talking about things like the card game Phylo, which is a Pokemon-style game that uses real animals and habitats, to help kids learn more about the evolution and conservation of real animals and not just imaginary ones. We'll also have Shawn Otto, a Hollywood screenwriter, and a founder of ScienceDebate, the massive effort in 2008 to get the presidential candidates to dedicate one full debate to science policy issues. I'm hoping we'll hear about the group's plans for 2012, and I'm sure we'll talk about the group's effect on the 2008 campaign. We'll also have ClimateCentral's Heidi Cullen, a former TV meteorologist who's now working to educate tv weathercasters about climate change, so that they can educate the public. Darlene Cavalier, the Science Cheerleader, will talk about citizen science, and how she and a ton of other professional cheerleaders who've pursued careers in science are able to reach different audiences. And John Abraham will talk about the ways he and other climate scientists are trying to counter media coverage of climate change denial and better inform the public discourse on this crucial issue.

I don't know if there are plans to stream video from the session, but if so, I hope to bring in questions from twitter. And if you can make it to Minneapolis next week, I hope to see you there, or at the parties afterward.