Tag: conservation

Women in Science – Looking Back, Looking Ahead

UCSD-TV celebrates the 50th anniversary of Rachel Carson’s ground-breaking novel, Silent Spring, with a series of videos presented by the Center for Ethics in Science and Technology.

In the final episode of the series, Dorothy Sears of the UC San Diego School of Medicine, Christina Deckard of the SPAWAR Systems Center, and science journalist Lynne Friedmann discuss the hurdles Carson overcame as a women in science 50 years ago. To put Carson’s struggles in perspective, these women in the modern field of science reveal their current struggles with inequality. Watch their insightful discussion in “Women in Science: 50 Years After Silent Spring“:

Check out all of the videos in the Silent Spring Series!

Elephants and the Ethics of Extinction

Domestic cats in America kill millions, maybe even hundreds of millions of song birds each year.

It is estimated that one third of all song bird species are declining in the United States. If this pattern continues, people will eventually be forced to take sides on which animals existence is more important.

This is just one example Robert Wiese, Chief Life Sciences Officer at the San Diego Zoo, gives to illustrate the way humans interfere with the ebb and flow of animal populations. He discusses what happens when people introduce foreign species to an unfamiliar ecosystem with no natural predators and why it’s important to maintain checks and balances in populations.

If humans cause the decline in a species’ population, are they responsible to restore it? With success stories like the captive breeding program of the California Condor, we know that it is possible to save species from extinction. But at what cost?

Check out “Elephants or People? Ethical Dilemmas in Recovering Endangered Species,” part of “The Silent Spring Series-Exploring Ethics.”

Check out more videos about the environment and conservation.