It is easy to be dazzled by science. Science is, well, cool. It is about discovery, knowledge, exploration, and the undeniable human compulsion to poke at the unknown. And, as with every cool thing in the universe–we should reject the poor and irresponsible attempts, in favor of recognizing and defending the good and the responsible. It is true for consumer products, true for laws and lawmakers, true for nonprofits, businesses, and initiatives. It is also true for science.

This is not to, er, poop on science. This is to call attention to the difference between responsible, sound science and, um, the alternative. There are numerous efforts to promote and defend responsible science, and here I call your attention to two:

First, DEFEND SCIENCE (www.defendscience.org). A letter to President Bush from over 6,000 scientists asking that scientific inquiry remain free from political, religious, ideological constraints. While policital, religious, and ideological views are important pieces of the human experience, they should not dictate, strangle or direct scientific inquiry.

Second, a more personal project, SUPPORT RESPONSIBLE SCIENCE in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. This pristine, remote, and highly protected archipelago is one of the last predator-dominated coral reef ecosystems on earth. Scientific research conducted in the public trust land and waters of these islands should be done in a way that supports conservation of the ecosystem and minimizes impacts of research activities. You can show US and Hawaii agencies that citizens around the globe care about the world heritage coral reefs in Hawaii, by signing on to the responsible science petition here.

Good, responsible and sound science is integral to envisioning and creating a better, greener world! Support the scientists and researchers that are doing this good work. I encourage you to take a few seconds in direct action–lend your voice and support and defend good science!

I met Captain Charlie back in 2001. He was going around to various meetings, with a couple of pages of bullet points, and talking to anyone who would listen about the large amounts of small plastic bits he was finding on his trans-pacific sailing trips. He started throwing out a net, and counting up the plastic that he found. He found kids to sift through sand and count the small pieces of plastic on our beaches. In this way, over the course of years, this individual citizen continued the drumbeat about our increasingly plastic ocean. Every piece of plastic we produce–the plastic cup we use for one drink, the plastic tampon applicator, the plastic grocery bag–is with us forever.

For many years, people said, “Well, they’re small pieces, they don’t matter.” Or “Plastics photodegrade.” Or “The plastic industry is too powerful.” And “We can talk about recycling, but we can’t talk about reducing plastic use.”

This week, Captain Charlie was featured on US nationally broadcast morning show, the Today Show. In just a few short years, he has helped transform the cause of plastics in our ocean and the call for reducing our plastic use from a radical idea to one so mainstream that Matt Lauer is talking about it.

I post this not simply to call your attention to the problem of plastics in our oceans, but also to illustrate that the path from radical leads to the commonly-accepted. Never be afraid to speak out, to be a radical in the world. Yesterday’s radical is tomorrow’s bandwagon. Individuals citizens can, and do, change the world!

See video of Charlie on the Today Show.

For Mac users, you need to use Firefox instead of Safari to see.

Photos in this post from AMRF (www.algalita.org).

Aloha kakou! Am happy to announce to GGG readers that I will now be blogging from the middle of the Pacific… Hawaii! My NP partner, Marti, and I are leading KAHEA, a non-profit working on environmental and cultural conservation here in the Islands. It is both incredibly challenging and incredibly exciting work–there are so many pressing problems, and so much ahead for us.

Indeed, I have never felt such a sense of purpose and urgency in my work–not simply that the work I am doing is meaningful, but that the work I am doing is truly part of something greater, a small contribution to things that might actually change the future of this place. And for the better.

Perhaps unconsciously, I have always considered myself to be “from” here–four generations before grew up and lived and worked in Hawaii. I am finding that I am a true Californian in ways I didn’t know, and that in me is a heart for Hawaii in a way I hadn’t expected.

Hawaii is the most isolated island archipeligo on earth. Often depicted as a place of fantasy and paradise, it is in reality a place of unique, limited, and increasingly threatened resources. A microcosm of this earth-island we all inhabit together.

I look forward to discussing with fellow green girls the problems faced and solutions offered, to environmental problems here in Hawai’i. And to sharing with you the experience of doing non-profit work here in the islands! Aloha!