Voluntary Public Control

When it comes to working in the public interest, it doesn't matter what color or size hat you wear. The act of observing that something needs to be done, obliges me to decide whether it is worth my time and effort to do the task myself, to assign it to another person to do later or to shine it off as not worth the effort. when i represent a group interest in a common project, i feel that i have the responsibilty to bring the competence level of the participants to a maximum achievable level. part of that is earned by my seniority of role within the group, part of that is earned by the skills base that i bring to the group from past experience and part is delegated by agreement in the terms of my service contract with granting agencies and funders. dr. lenny is a science enabler - who can work with people to understand conceptually what they are trying to do physically.

The forerunners in this art of bardian science are Linus Pauling, Isaac Asimov, Carl Sagan, Bassam Shakhashiri and maybe even Bill Nye, the Science Guy. The goal here is to build an effective team of knowledgible people that can volunteer to do the physical governance of public lands - learning the techniques of forestry, aquatics, wildlife, soils and land use for enabling the biochemical mechanism of the habitat. By volunteering to work with the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, local Soil and Water Conservation Districts, watershed councils, state agencies to share interest in the function, we will be able to influence the decision making process by non- arbitrary means.

If you are interested in working on-line and hands-on with people that share this interest - contacts are forming in a world of Envirothon - an outdoor competition for five high school students to compete with their knowledge of science. This year's contest in Oregon is at the Oregon Garden in May, the national contest is in upstate New York in June. Redile will sponsor up to five teams - but will allow anyone to apply our system. I'll know more one week from today. Coaches do not have to be experts on the topics - just be willing to help get the information that the kids want to learn accessible without wasting the time of people working in the area. When a volunteer's time is worth the cost of bringing him along, the work interest has been developed and said middle or high school student has a career path. There are opportunites to be involved, and the better we act, the closer we can watch. Learn by doing, and the skills will be there when you need them.