The role of ecology in society is often hotly debated. The relationship between ecology and environmentalism is a confounded one at best. A recent essay in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment suggested that ecologists accept that there is no separation between ecology as a science and environmentalism. I suggest that this is exactly the wrong approach to bringing the results of our science to public policy. The words “ecology” and “environmentalism” have common usages that have obscured their original or precise meanings. Given the confounding of advocacy (environmentalism) and advice (ecology), it is dangerous for ecologists to blur this distinction even further. I present a case study of the use of advice and how it integrates into policy decisions. To address this in the area of local policy, I describe a policy tool that is excellent for scientifically based advice to reach policy makers.
Results/Conclusions
Larimer County, Colorado created an Environmental Advisory Board which is a citizen volunteer board that responds to inquiries from the Board of County Commissioners, county departments and county citizens. The board is also proactive and can bring issues to the county that are of concern. The board currently has a data driven approach to environmental issues that are facing the region. The board strives to meet a standard of objective advice to the county. In taking an objective approach and advising rather than advocating, the board has developed an excellent working relationship with the county’s elected officials.
Several of the issues addressed by the board highlight the role of ecology in policy and suggest a broad training for ecologists is important in making the science useful to policy makers. In particular, the issues of West Nile Virus, Glade Reservoir and In Situ Uranium Mining are issues that involved multiple aspects of ecology, societal issues and economic considerations. The complex nature of the interactions of public health, environmental health and economics demand a data-driven and fact based approach for policy makers to be well informed.
This advisory board approach lends itself to be a model for other local governments. This approach demonstrates the need to keep ecology and environmentalism separate in the public discourse.
