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The poor understanding of science by the public and key policymakers has been regular complaint of scientists for a very long time.

Over the last year it has become increasingly apparent to me that ecologists and environmental scientists must take a more active role in providing access to both data and the analytical techniques used to analyze those data.

Think ecology and economy don’t mix? Think again. Most of us are used to relate money with industrial technology, bulldozing properties to construct condos, hotels, expensive living complexes, malls, to summarize: everything that has to do with harming the environment.

A week ago, I had the honor of participating in the SEEDS field trip to Chiapas. I had been to two past field trips, and just couldn’t pass this one up, especially because it was in southern Mexico.

My name is Jallah Rouse, I am a Biology major at Johnson C. Smith University, and I recently had the extreme pleasure of attending a SEEDS field trip to the Mexican state of Chiapas.

Sustainability� sometimes it sounds like an ideal. However, on our SEEDS field trip to Chiapas, Mexico, students from the United States, Puerto Rico and Mexico were able to witness small cooperatives of indigenous agricultural workers working together with scientists to make sustainability a reality.

This letter was prompted by the ESA Action Alert of May 11, 2007 that encouraged our members to urge Congress to provide good funding for science and education in the 2008 federal budget.

Much work is being done in the field of plant responses to climate change, where manipulative experiments (e.g., soil warming, elevated CO₂) and correlative approaches (e.g. climate envelopes) are the norm. However, we ecologists are largely failing to report on the biggest experiment on climate change: the last few decades of global warming and rising atmospheric CO₂.

The worldwide rush to develop capacity for producing biofuels has proceeded with little foresight. Facilities are being developed without a guaranteed supply of feedstocks (http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0105/p01s04-wmgn.html). Orangutans may be threatened by oil palm plantations (http://www.orangutans-sos.org/ )

Earth Day as a special event once a year had never really meant much to me. But last year was different. For the first time I decided to participate in an Earth Day celebration event in my town of Reston, Virginia together with my 2-year old daughter, Anna. The event, which featured a native plant sale, stories and music by clowns, face painting, etc. was definitely fun but it was what happened afterwards that made this particular Earth Day memorable.

In response to several requests, ESA is making several letters exchanging views about China and Tibet, originally published in the February and April issues of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, available to the general public. To read these letters, click on Frontiers letters on Tibet. Readers who wish to add comments may do so in the comment section of…

Read the latest biweekly Policy News from ESA’s Public Affairs Office.