50 Voices is a united science collective. I study people, place, and power. I am interested in thinking about who has power and how they are using it in a specific place.
I went to graduate school to study political philosophy and ended up writing a dissertation on the perceived legitimacy of the American Endangered Species Act. I wanted to know what would motivate landowners to engage in conservation beyond mere compliance with a law that is difficult to enforce on vast landscapes. Private property— specifically, individual landowner’s feelings and beliefs about the rights and responsibilities of owning land – was at the centre of my research.
When the original 50 Voices Design Team – Matt, Barry, Brett, Wendy, and Tom – reached out to invite me to brainstorm an organization for young scientists to communicate biodiversity conservation to policymakers and the wider public, I was an immediate yes. I was invited because I am a political “scientist.” I know a lot about endangered species policy and law. I know that wildlife conflict is almost always rooted in social conflict. It is one thing to study the behaviour of butterflies, salamanders, or coyotes but a whole other thing to understand why a politician or landowner opposes policy mechanisms to protect habitat.
The Design Team – six of us in total – gathered in a spacious house in Seattle during a gloomy December long weekend in 2023 to put ideas on paper. The goal was, and remains, to find energetic scientists who want to engage in science advocacy for endangered species/spaces in the United States. We wanted to tap into current conversations about applied conservation by going to the source of the data: research scientists. And we wanted to encourage them to speak directly to the policy world.
Recently, I wrote a book about a farmer on the grasslands of Canada who has spent his entire life trying to move the political levers that control wildlife conservation. This led him from his farm to government, where he eventually became the Minister of Environment in his home province. He is now nearing 80 years old. And he has experienced some major loses and upsets. But there have been victories too (you can thank him every time you see a Canada Goose, which is probably often even though they were once endangered). The central message of his life has been to keep showing up for nature. Social conflict is never solved by silence or avoidance.
The world doesn’t just need science, it needs useable science from people we can trust. That is what 50 Voices can provide. My hope for 50 Voices is that we – as a united science collective – can use our power to enrich our biotic communities.
