March 17, 2005

3/17 - Controversy: Bad for baseball, good for the oceans

Ya see, this is how it works. If you've got something that is working well and the public is highly engaged with it (i.e. baseball) then controversy (like the steroid scandal) is really a bad thing and there's reason to hide it from the public. But when you have something that the public is not taking an interest in (ocean conservation) and there are major problems that need public interest and support (so that governors don't cut $2 million from their state budget that was slated for marine life protection and the public doesn't even notice) then controversy is a good thing to help interest the general public.

Its a shame that so many ocean conservationists don't grasp this. They live in fear that letting the public know there are controversies will chase them away. It won't. And its in everyone's interest to present to the public BOTH sides of the issues, particularly the controversies between fishermen and environmentalists. The real problem is how few people know about the ocean issues and don't care.

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When everyone is already interested, controversy is a bad thing, but that's not the case for the oceans

Posted by Randy Olson at March 17, 2005 11:20 PM