Civic Action

As NPR relayed news of the massive cuts to scientific research and education by the Trump regime, we and two neighbors joined 40 others from throughout New York State to learn something new. We were there for a training session in data collection. The workshop, sponsored by a New York non-profit dedicated to preserving the quality of life in and around lakes, was free. We were to be trained on how to properly collect data on water quality from our individual lakes (New York has more than 6,000 of them), some private, some public, many of them mixed.

We were there because of specific concerns; the decline in water quality in our lakes, the result of growth of HAB (harmful algal blooms) and invasive species making swimming, fishing, and boating increasingly difficult and even dangerous (the HABs). That focus on compiling a test-based and granular chronicle of the changes occurring in these bodies of water, a data set that just might spur multiple agencies, private and public, into action, motivated us. We are protecting our personal “property,” but also the backyard of many New Yorkers, and the water sources for all of us. We were to learn scientific methods and the technique required to make such data collection accurate. We were learning from the knowledge and experience of scientists, not from political posturing. Though ours was not a particularly diverse group; mostly over 60 and all of the 40 participants presenting as white, being in a room of people willing to learn revived the promise of an engaged public. Our gathering, though “non-political,” illustrated the willingness of many Americans to protect and improve not only their own lot, but that of others, through working with and for governmentally funded research.

In the daylong training, both in-class and out on an actual lake (a cold and rainy early May afternoon on Lake George) we learned how to do it right. We saw how we could be more than passive consumers of natural beauty and resources, and contribute to knowledge that might address our rapidly changing climate, a climate everyone in the room knew (from watching nature, not the news) is changing because we experience it on our lakes. We were also part of a practical and effective civic engagement strategy, as our training will allow us to gather data for DEC scientists to evaluate, freeing them from the need to do that sampling at public expense. In this way, we will be significantly expanding the data set while limiting costs.

After our training, we participants will be receiving equipment for seasonal tests on our individual lakes. This equipment, we were told, is partially paid for by a grant from the federal EPA. What was not mentioned is that the agency’s current head, former US Representative and failed NY Gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin, has no experience in environmental science or preservation, having announced that his agency will re-direct its efforts to increasing access (and thus consumption) of carbon-based energy and the promotion of “business.” Fortunately, the funds for our testing equipment have already come through, so we will have these tools. It’s the kind of victory we have had little access to in the first 100 days of Trump II. But as our teacher, a scientist with the NY Dept. of Conservation put it, New York is future-forward. This is a small victory; the cuts announced by the EPA will cut its budget in half. Many of those cuts will decimate hundreds of small-scale collaborative efforts such as this. That is the point; fact-based data is unnecessary, we citizens are helpless and useless, and Dear Leader and/or profit making entities are there for you.

One of the participants in my 5-person hands-on lab test group (flashes of high-school science class), a retired cop, nodded approvingly when our DEC trainer emphasized that following protocol leads to accurate data; if you make a mistake, report it, as this affects the data. Such dedication to appropriate procedure reminded us that we may not share the same experiences or political/social outlooks, but we can unite on the need for accuracy and honesty to promote fact-based responses. To do otherwise is to disrespect our own efforts. Give Americans the tools to understand and analyze their community and their environment. Distribute knowledge and skills so that individuals and community-based groups can work with, not against, the governmental and private agencies tasked to improve everything from the economy to the environment. We humans are the main factor in destructive environmental impact, but we can also collect the facts on our ground and in the water. Humans are the data collectors. And some of us are plunging in.