Coming from a background in biology, this week's discussion was really interesting for me as I've always been fascinated by the entire aspect of something being so complex, due to it's ability to learn and evolve, that we are unable to truly predict how they will work despite the abundance of information we may have. Regarding food, my positive vision for the future ties a bit back into the topic of justice. After hearing that no real action was taken to increase salmon returns as 0 smoking guns were found, I envision a future where leaders are better informed when it comes to trying to preserve and improve complex adaptive systems. For instance, scientists and environmental leaders could have a greater impact on decisions being made for the sustainability of ecosystem services. As the lack of action during the 2009 Fraser River sockeye salmon crisis was due to missing key concepts of how complex adaptive systems work, it shows how valuable it is to be well-informed and aware of how complex the systems around us are. If scientists and environmental leaders are able to have a greater influence on environmental decisions being made, the general public is also given a chance to learn more accurately about what is happening to the ecosystem services they receive.
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This is a great example of how scientists do the heavy lifting but are not valued or heard. There's been a push for scientists to get out of their comfort zone and engage in consulting and politics, and the sooner actual knowledgable people are running the show the better off we'll be.
Hi Destinie, I love your point about complexity as a fellow biology lover. Complexity is such an essential biological feature that we often ignore because the complexity is often confounding to us at first glance. Salmon are a critical species to our local biome; without them, we may not have our beautifully complex and rich rainforests. The conservation of biological complexity should always be at the forefront of our thoughts when considering conservation efforts worldwide.
Hi Destinie! I also come from a biology background and like you said, it was really strange for me to see that no real action was being taken by leaders to increase the number of salmon despite there being clear information that salmon were severely suffering. I agree with your vision that stronger collaborations between scientists and environmental leaders may allow for quicker and more efficient environmental decisions to be made!
Hi Destinie Yang, I agree I also found the concept of complex systems so fascinating in class. The facts that there were real world examples at such a high governmental standing that overlooked the complexity and dynamics of complex adaptive systems was astonishing to me. I think there are a lot of barriers before politicians and scientists that need to be remedied such that a solid framework is present when pursuing initiatives together. Our underlying motives to help our planet should in essence be pure and not driven by a political agenda, money, or funding. Although this notion may be naive due to the way in which we have built our society, I think there is some truth and valuable guiding principles to be taken from this.
I really like your post, Destinie! I echo your sentiments as I, too, am a Biology major. The ultimate failure of action in the 2009 Fraser River sockeye salmon crisis is shocking and disappointing. Your point about the consideration of complex adaptive systems (CAS), or lack thereof, is key in large, intricate climate issues, like the said crisis. How do you envision the support of CAS via governments, organizations, and/or corporations moving forward?
Hi, I agree with the idea that CAS could be a crucial concept for the future work of the environment and the application of CAS could lead to a better result in conservation as well as maintaining the ecosystem. Moreover, CAS could definitely provide us with more ecosystem service information to benefit the professionals and the engagement with the public.
To apply CAS in the field of ecosystem service, I think it is important to investigate more ecosystems, finding out the factors that build up the various CAS individually (like a CAS database) to help us go further and deeper into the management process.
Hi Destinie, as you said , becasue ecosystem is such a complex system that we would never perfectly predict, government should encompass even more infomration and ideas form all perspectives to make comprehensive and suitable decisions relating to ecosystems. organizations and scientists should also uphold justice and do not provide fake solutions that favor only a small protion of stakeholders.
There definitely needs to be better education about the methodology of science and how a problem, especially in the natural sciences, rarely has one outstanding cause.
The FR salmon situation is saddening to see. I think this is another case of how politics can really affect the well-being of the environment. Under Harper's ruling in 2009, environmental issues are simply very low on the priority list. So it's not surprising that when the Cohen commission did not find a single "smoking gun" issue to blame, they wrote it off as everything is a-ok. I have personally heard that a lot of scientists and technicians were fired in ECCC and DFO, and the massive cuts in environmental research budgets during that time. Not to White-knight Justin Trudeau, but I do think environmental issues got better attention when the Liberals took over in 2015. There are more funding for Climate Change and biodiversity issue research. An entire initiative was put in place regarding Pacific Salmon (PSSI). There is still a long way to go, but I do think it whether who is in power makes a big difference in how environmental issues were addressed.
Do you think that more/better communication is the solution? Or is this more of a question of getting more research done around a topic before making decisions on action versus inaction?