Dr. Carl Douglas answering questions at a Genome BC forum

Dr. Carl Douglas was a speaker at the forum, he is a a botanist at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and was there to discuss his research and the possibility of using poplar trees as biofuel.  It came up that, as his project is funded by Genome B.C., he is required to have a societal or ethical component to his science research.  As a result, Dr. Thomas Maness, a forest economist at UBC, is doing a feasibility study to determine how likely it is to grow poplar trees in B.C. as a form of fuel.

It occurred to me that this type of question should have always been a component of science, especially science aimed at providing the population with a tool or resource.  It made me question why it was never included before.  For example if Dr. Douglas’ research was wildly successful but no research had been done in the application of his science, how would a decision to fund such a large scale project be made?

On the most general level science is here to satisfy a certain curiosity.  It helps us to understand how our universe works around us.  But, we are only truly understanding how things work if we go beyond the basic science and discover how things work within the context of our society.  If we determine how to best use poplar trees as fuel, we also need to determine if B.C. can afford such a project and if these trees will grow well here.

To The Tar Sands is a documentary of their journey that was directed and produced by UBC School of Journalism student Jodie Martinson. It highlights some of the inherent contradictions in this massive mining project while remaining fair and balanced in its coverage.

I was at the UBC screening of To The Tar Sands on January 20 and recorded a podcast for the Thunderbird.

My aim was to give listeners a sense of the breadth of the film, and to show how one of the film’s main characters feels about the implications the tar sands have for all Canadians.

His presentation started with an animated graphic showing the Earth going into the drain of a kitchen sink. This brought chuckles from the audience and kept them interested in his talk because he asked the audience to make choices on what information would be displayed next. For example, he showed an endangered species website and asked someone to shout the name of an animal or plant species they would like to know if it was endangered. At another part of his talk he used an animated map and asked the audience to choose a city in Britain and we found out the exact number of votes cast for each political party during an election.

“The environment has changed more than any other subject in the last decade” which is similar to how online media has changed how people report on news and obtain information. Does this mean online media helps us to reach more people? It appears so, because people are visiting websites to get information on the environment from international sources. The World Wildlife Federation gets 53,000 hits per month while an environmental story on the BBC website receives 20,000 to 200,000 hits. Strangely, squid stories are the most popular amongst BBC website users.

The main strength of online media is an ability to provide user interaction and “give them something to play with” when they are searching for information online. Even Black’s presentation had elements of interaction making it more enjoyable than traditional talks where an audience member has to wait until the end to participate and ask questions.

The talk concluded with a warning that online journalism has both benefits and challenges in the future. Many new journalists who want to report on environmental issues will have lots of stories to write about but there is lack of trust in online journalism. Statistics show 34% of South Koreans rate online journalism as the most important news source, which is high compared to 9% in other countries. In order to harness the full potential of online media we need to find a way to increase public trust of online news websites.

Coverage can range from a staple article to videos and reports, all of which should allow online news audiences to expand their knowledge of a subject.

The trick is to keep these reports informative. It’s not worth it to include a picture slideshow of images of endangered monkeys in news coverage, Black cautions, unless there is also information attached on why people should care.

That, he said, will separate mainstream media reports from other sources of news.

Non-governmental organizations, advocacy groups and science websites and blogs now offer audiences a lot of valuable information on the environment.

Websites Black believes are invaluable for the environmental/science reporter include The World Conservation Union Red List and The National Space Science and Technology Center. Blogs like climateaudit.org and realclimate.org also offer competing views about the existence and impacts of climate change.

The role of the reporter is to investigate the credibility of content found on the internet. Reporters then need to take credible information and make it interesting and accessible to audiences, following the staple principles of journalistic practice.

Using the internet to convey information on the environment is much more versatile, according to Black, because well-researched articles can be placed alongside scientific reports and other reference material.

This benefits news audiences by providing them with important information on vital topics, such as climate change and pollution. It also creates a news package of items that appeal to popular interest and keep readers coming back for more.