Monkeywrenching Scientific Research

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Monday August 17, 2009 · 9:32 AM PDT

2009/08/17 · 09:32

Scientists face enough obstacles from creationist influence on education and public policy. Unfortunately, as I have learned through conversations with researchers, they also must contend with a particularly shortsighted breed of environmentalist.

Two recent incidents in British Columbia troubled me, and suggest that something has gone terribly awry in the environmentalist movement. The studies sought data about the formation of mountains and of the sea floor. The region has a history of gigantic, tsunami-generating earthquakes so this knowledge could have practical consequences.

In the first, this July, researchers dug explosives deep into the ground to create seismic waves. It would not have been noticeable on the surface. A local activist, Ingmar Lee, feared that it may disturb some sandhill cranes so he sabotaged the explosives. Unfortunately that led to a potential for the explosives to remain unexploded and possibly leach into the surrounding soil.

You can read more about this event on these articles and blogs. The comments spell out the arguments from each side:

http://www.pacificfreepress.com/...

http://scienceblogs.com/...

http://www.nature.com/...

http://forestpolicyresearch.org/...

http://pandasthumb.org/...

The second incident was only this past week. A ship about to set sail to use acoustic pulses to research the area around the Endeavour Hydrothermal Vents, an especially interesting area where the sea floor is being freshly formed, was barred from leaving due to a suit brought on by a Canadian environmental group, Ecojustice. Their concern was that the acoustic pulses would damage endangered marine mammals that could be swimming nearby. Here are some links with the details:

http://www.vancouversun.com/...

http://www.google.com/...

http://www.timescolonist.com/...

The US military has experimented with large-scale sonar activities that clearly caused some damage to some whales, but that is a much different technique than the acoustic pulses the scientists would have used which have no impact on marine wildlife. Environmentalist organizations, specifically Ecojustice, the Living Oceans Society, and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, have conflated the benign scientific technique with the more intrusive military one in using the Canadian legal system to halt geological research.

Is it about setting precedents for larger battles against the oil industry or the military, as scientists are an easier and less funded target? Or is it simply about holding up victories to attract donations from people who mean well but do not understand the issues involved?

Seeing what is at stake in the battle to defend the earth, it is sad to see them squander their credibility. Seeing what is at stake in knowledge of the earth, it is sad to see them obstruct its pursuit.

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Monkeywrenching Scientific Research

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