{"id":456,"date":"2016-11-24T00:00:15","date_gmt":"2016-11-24T05:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/submerged\/?p=456"},"modified":"2016-11-22T13:08:02","modified_gmt":"2016-11-22T18:08:02","slug":"a-need-for-environmental-optimism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/submerged\/a-need-for-environmental-optimism\/","title":{"rendered":"A Need for Environmental Optimism"},"content":{"rendered":"

When working to protect the environment, sometimes\u00a0it’s hard to be optimistic.<\/p>\n

Over the course of my undergraduate and graduate career, I\u2019ve sat through countless lectures detailing the environmental woes of our planet, read papers on the challenges\u00a0ecosystems\u00a0face, and have often become discouraged by how seemingly difficult it is to evoke\u00a0change. The health of our planet has undoubtedly seen better days, and with ever-increasing environmental and political challenges, our work will inevitably get harder in the years to come.<\/p>\n

But despite the often-somber task of studying our oceans, our forests and our climate, I\u2019ve found that for every doom-and-gloom paper and negative headline out there, there is also a reason to be hopeful.<\/p>\n

Advancements in technology, conservation and management are diverse and abundant. \u00a0This year, coral reef scientists have made progress in identifying healthy and thriving reefs<\/a>, and the recently established marine protected area in Antarctica holds promise for future efforts to protect the high seas<\/a>. The work of small groups and individuals, stories rarely covered by larger media outlets, are slowly paving the way for a more sustainable future. Rare, an international environmental nonprofit, is \u201cfinding what works\u201d in local communities, and replicating these \u2018bright spots\u2019 of success<\/a> on a global scale.<\/p>\n

\"Bonaire's<\/a>
Bonaire’s coral nurseries are growing and planting Staghorn and Elkhorn corals, helping to regenerate the threatened species (and providing habitat for some\u00a0trumpetfish). My own moment\u00a0of environmental optimism from\u00a02013.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2014, the Ocean Optimism initiative<\/a> was launched with the support of prominent environmental scientists, and continues to be followed by millions of individuals sharing stories of progress within the marine conservation field. \u00a0\u201cWe focus on solutions rather than problems,\u201d the initiative states, highlighting\u00a0reasons to be hopeful for the future of the underwater world<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Environmental optimism is needed, and for reasons beyond simply \u201ccheering people up.\u201d When we share stories of success, the chance of replication increases. Points are connected between what has worked in the past, and what could work in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cConservation and media organizations are increasingly aware that ever more vivid documentation of huge problems without solutions leads to apathy, not action; you can\u2019t scare people into caring,\u201d states Dr. Nancy Knowlton, Sant Chair for Marine Science at the Smithsonian\u2019s National Museum of Natural History and advocate for Ocean Optimism.*<\/p>\n

People become empowered when they know a solution is possible. So yes, understand the issues and challenges that our planet faces. Just strive to share the successes, too. They’re out there, and worth celebrating.<\/p>\n

*Source: www.huffingtonpost.com\/nancy-knowlton\/why-i-am-an-ocean-optimist_b_7487286.html<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When working to protect the environment, sometimes\u00a0it’s hard to be optimistic. Over the course of my undergraduate and graduate career, I\u2019ve sat through countless lectures detailing the environmental woes of our planet, read papers onContinue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":626,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[24,26,17,20],"tags":[45,41,42,43,44],"coauthors":[34],"class_list":["post-456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conservation","category-marine-studies","category-students","category-travel","tag-bonaire","tag-coral-reefs","tag-environmental-optimism","tag-ocean-optimism","tag-resilience"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2H6SY-7m","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/submerged\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/submerged\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/submerged\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/submerged\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/626"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/submerged\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/submerged\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":491,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/submerged\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456\/revisions\/491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/submerged\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/submerged\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/submerged\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nicholas.duke.edu\/submerged\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}