| Response to "Wrapping
Up the Pianka Controversy"
Editor,
I am glad the rantings of Eric Pianka have been exposed to
the public (Shawn Carlson, "Wrapping
Up the Pianka Controversy," The Citizen Scientist).
I believe in evolution and believe that humans are as much
a part of the natural world as other animals on this planet.
The increase in the human population is natural. We have found
ways to cure people of illness and have extended our life
span many decades, not out of some sense of dominating the
Earth but out of compassion for our fellow man. The people
who believe that Dr. Pianka is correct must have
a belief that they themselves should be spared from this pandemic.
I have yet to see any of these blogs suggest that they be
the first to take their own lives.
Most of what I have read displays a very smug view of their
superiority over the "average" person. This view
is all too familiar to those who remember the rantings of
an infamous dictator who came to power in the 1930's.
Keep up the good work on the TCS web site. Thank you
for your dedication.
Richard Koval
More Response to "Wrapping
Up the Pianka Controversy"
Editor,
Just want to say how profoundly grateful I am for your
coverage of the Pianka business, and especially the rigor
and follow-through.
I made a compilation of the original report and editorial
[in The Citizen Scientist], Shawn Carlson's follow
up, and all the linked documents, and forwarded it to The
Nature Institute, Water Research Institute, and others. This
compilation illustrates the quality of your articles and provides
a representative sample of this way of thinking. I understand
where they are coming from, so to speak, but it's no excuse
to teach this philosophy in the classroom or in persuasive
lectures, and those who do need to be challenged as you did.
Thanks again; the work is of real service.
If we could expand science to include the human experience,
we might counter the movement that excludes the human
being and not find ourselves in this situation.
Christian Sweningsen
NewScience
Alliance
Farewell to NASA's Dr. Yoram
Kaufman
Hi, Forrest,
Thank you for your kind words about Yoram ("Farewell
to NASA's Dr. Yoram Kaufman, a Friend of Amateur Science,"
The Citizen Scientist, 14 June 2006). He was an excellent
supervisor and I greatly enjoyed working for him. It took
me awhile to get used to his non-traditional management style
at first, but then I found I rather preferred it. In short,
I almost certainly would have left NASA back in 1997 had it
not been for Yoram. Moreover, the Earth
Observatory and all subsequent accomplishment by me and
my team would not have been possible without his inputs, guidance,
inspiration, and support.
Words will always fail to capture the respect and admiration
I carried for him, the deep debt of gratitude I owe him, and
all the big and little lessons I learned from him along the
way. He had a way of dropping by to see me and share
some bit of wisdom or encouragement seemingly just when I
needed it most. Yoram is irreplaceable, and I am still
grieving his loss (as is everyone else around here who knew
him well). I still can't quite seem to fully process that
he is gone. I suppose I never will.
Anyway, thanks again for your article. I will also forward
it to Yoram's family and some of his colleagues around here.
Best regards,
David Herring
Program Manager for Education
& Outreach
Earth-Sun Exploration Division
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Readers: Please see David Herring's remarks about Dr.
Yoram Kaufman in the feature section of this installment of
The Citizen Scientist. Editor.
Submarine Gardening
Editor,
Near my elbow in Fig. 1 is a green watering can. Behind it
are six black pots containing lettuce, which has been mowed
weekly since 1 March. One pot is enough for a salad. About
1962 I was growing algae, experimentally, to measure oxygen
yield and carbon dioxide uptake for nuclear submarines, when
I was called to the New London office of the US Navy.
They asked if they can grow vegetables in submarines. I said
yes. I called it subgarden.
I put standard 8-watt lights over rectangular pots of vermiculite
with algae medium, in a box, and planted lettuce. You can
duplicate the algae medium by adding calcium nitrate and magnesium
sulfate epsom salt (5% each) to any soluble garden fertilizer
(at about one tsp/gallon) to water plants as needed.
Glen Hemerick
Figure 1. Glen Hemerick is known as a farmer "outstanding"
in his field.
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