THANK YOU!
Thank you to all who joined us for a presentation and discussion by world-renowned whale researcher Roger Payne and internationally recognized ecologist, author, and cancer survivor Sandra Steingraber. Dr. Payne, known for his co-discovery that humpback whales sing songs and a widely published whale behaviorist, shared findings from his recent research into toxic contamination of whales and the implications this contamination could have for the ocean ecosystem upon which humans depend. Dr. Steingraber is an expert on the environmental links between cancer and reproductive health. Dr. Payne and Dr. Steingraber made the connections between our environment and our health, and what we can do to protect both. |
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| Sandra Steingraber addresses attendees at NRCM's event, "Stopping the Toxic Legacy." |
An interview with Roger Payne, world-renowned whale research, and Sandra Steingraber, celebrated author, ecologist, and cancer survivor.
Both Roger Payne and Sandra Steingraber know the power of a good story. For Payne, scientist and founder of the Ocean Alliance, it was the story of whales, the largest mammal on earth, whose songs he discovered (with Scott McVay in 1967) and continues to broadcast for all the world to hear. For Steingraber, author of Living Downstream and Having Faith, it was the story of her own experience with cancer and her lifelong pursuit of the environmental causes of human illness. Both have been successful telling their own stories and the stories of others on the global stage, and both feel that as a society, each of us has a part to play in protecting people and wildlife from toxic chemicals.
| NRCM: You often communicate complex scientific information with a personal, human story, often your own. Does this use of emotion work? Why? |
SS: The idea that emotion is not a part of science is a criticism that does not come from within the sciences. In my discipline, biology, it is openly acknowledged and celebrated that what you choose to study is something that you love and are passionate about. Our own personal experience shapes our interests and what we choose to study.
RP: Humans have been selected to change their minds on the basis
of emotion. Unless we bring in emotion, we're not going to get everyone's attention. Like with whales. Right from the start, I knew there was something about them, something powerful to contemplate, even before I had ever seen one. Now, I'm working
with my wife [British actor Lisa Harrow] on a joint performance project called SeaChange. It talks about all of the steps that humanity is taking in one direction that are so absolutely terrible. It combines the knowledge of science and the wisdom of poetry.
| NRCM: A lot has been written lately about people making change with their own hands, working at the neighborhood and community level. Is this new? |
SS: The community-based movement has grown within the last ten years. There is no point now in looking to Washington for anything. More groups are working at the state level; I see it happening in Maine with mercury. It isn't just geographical communities, but also by profession: nurses are taking action about environmental health issues, because they get many questions that doctor's don't. Fashion designers looking to eliminate dry cleaning chemicals. Palm Beach golfers trying to make greens less toxic.
 Roger Payne uses slides of whales during his presentation at USM. |
RP: We can all use our own craft to get a message across. It opens up people's minds to a different place, allowing the science a chance to enter.
| NRCM: How has a changing media influenced the way you tell your stories? |
SS: We are out of practice just listening to a human voice. The Internet has made things faster. It is much easier to be an environmental detective, and the Internet has been good for community organizing. I have seen it work in my hometown of Peoria, Illinois.
RP: I created an IMAX film about whales [in 1997] with the sole purpose of showing it in Japan, which is the second largest IMAX market and is the largest whaling nation in the world. A survey of viewers showed overwhelming support for the movie, which was an embarrassment to the Prime Minister of Japan. Now, Japanese children can access whale songs over the Internet. Mixed media is working.
| NRCM: It seems so obvious that what happens to wildlife can affect humans, too, but the "canary in the coal mine" metaphor is not working with toxics. |
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Sandra Steingraber and Roger Payne at their book and CD signing event following their presentation. |
SS: It is amazing to me how many disconnects still exist. I could spend the rest of my life explaining the connections between human health and the environment to my colleagues in various disciplines. Medical training does not always include environmental effects on health. It is one of my main callings in the world, to bridge that gap between epidemiology and field ecology, between human health and environmental issues.
RP: Pollution of the oceans is one of the biggest public health problems that humanity has ever faced. Between 20 and 70 percent of the world's population—at least 2 billion people—depend on seafood for their primary source of protein. If seafood becomes too contaminated to eat, we've removed access to a principal source of animal protein, and people will die prematurely for lack of healthy food, all because of a selfish generation. We have an opportunity to do the right thing, and we should take it, seize it, run with it.
| To learn more about NRCM's work to phase out unnecessary dangerous chemicals in commerce, please click here. |