I haven’t written a blog in a while, and really I only tend to think about writing posts when something in particular irks me or catches my attention. Even then, nine times out of ten I forget about it and don’t write anything. However, today is one of those rare occasions when I do.
When sat eating my bacon sandwich this morning watching Channel 4’s ‘Sunday Brunch’, I was particularly interested to see they had a biologist on the show with a large snake. Really the snake was just a side piece for the biologist to be on TV and plug his new TV programme due to air on Animal Planet, and whilst I was interested to see what his new show was about, and now I’ve seen a clip I may even watch it, I was disappointed by the manor in which he advertised it.
I give the man huge credit for filming a programme about the worlds most dangerous animals, particularly for the way he is using something which will hook people to watching it, i.e. ‘worlds most dangerous’, to actually show the bigger picture on how it is in fact humans who are really the worlds most dangerous animals and how these so called dangerous species are actually only really dangerous to humans when we encroach on their environment. I particularly liked the use of the phrase ‘humans insatiable drive to control their surrounding environment.
Take nothing away from him for any of the above, I think its a fantastic thing to do, and have been a long subscriber to using modern platforms (TV, internet etc) as a means to spread messages about protecting wildlife. This is a man, who in his own words, has dedicated his life to researching endangered species and deserves great credit for this, but…. when using these platforms, you’ve got to know your audience. You’ve got to perhaps change a little way that you would normally present things. As a scientist, you have to realise when you go on TV to present your findings, or your interest, that your on TV, you’re not writing a scientific journal article for other scientists to read, this isn’t a competition as to who can use the most ridiculous scientific sounding words that aren’t even in the dictionary.
Is there anything worse than having really long complex words shoved down your throat whilst you’re trying to relax on a Sunday morning and eat your bacon sandwich? I am by no means averse to these long complex words, in fact I spent four years trying to understand what they mean and then cram them into essays and dissertations about the environment whilst at university.
You see, the issue with science, particularly environmental science is that it isn’t accessible to the public, whether interested in a scientific topic or not, people just don’t relate to long complicated, often obnoxious and demeaning science talk.
Thousands of fantastic pieces of scientific research get published every year, some of it I’m sure could have had such bigger impacts on those it was intended to benefit, if it was just put in plain English. Now I don’t mean to demean people, and I hope this hasn’t come across in a demeaning way, but surely it’s so easy to see that so much science is taken seriously because people see it as exactly what it is.. Science. We need to find some common ground. Science really needs to convey its findings openly and interact with people.
When I completed my undergraduate dissertation, one of the key areas I focused on was the relationship between scientific jargon and the people it was being presented to. I found that people, who could really benefit from some of the scientific information that was out there were a) completely unaware of its existence or b) unable to understand or c) unable to understand how it related to them.
You may ask what this has to do with the TV biologist. Well despite having a keen interest in nature, conservation and generally the environment, I found myself wanting to turn the channel over. Why? Because I generally felt like I was being talked down to. Like I wasn’t good enough for this guy. Like I was really thick. The strange thing is, if anyone was going to understand and relate to him, surely it would be somebody like me, another ‘green’, another guy who shares a similar passion and interest in protecting all creatures, great and small… but I literally felt repelled by the way he spoke to the others on the show. And, nothing against him, I’m sure it was unintentional as I have often found with scientists, they mean no harm, they just can’t get out of their mind-set that everything has to be dressed up in big fancy words to make it sound more complex and important that it actually needs to be.
Still, we can’t all be David Attenborough I guess. Although at least this guy wasn’t Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, that guy just completely misses the point.
Anyway, meaningless, pointless rant over. If you haven’t already seen it I highly recommend you check out this footage of a spectacular environmental event which took place last week. Ta.
I am a freelance environmental author with an MSc and BSc in Environmental Sciences from The University of East Anglia. Just trying to develop social media as an effective platform for communicating and engaging with people on all things green... Please get in touch with me if you are interested, I am willing to discuss any proposals.
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