Among the lessons of the last year and a half: there is a dire need for stronger, clearer science education and communication with the public.
Imagine if instead of billboards pitching diamond rings, attorneys, and booze, we were shown a constant stream of factual information. If we normalized science — outside the classroom and outside of walls — maybe we would be in less of a mess.
These photos show some of the newly installed informational plaques on the plaza outside of the Connecticut Science Center, and what I like is that anyone can go right up to these and read them. No admission fee.
While these are not helping the public to understand concepts like basic hygiene, they are broadening people’s perspectives on the roles of insects and what gardens “should” look like. If you are exposed to the obnoxious blight of leaf blowers and folks spraying their lawns with poisons, then you know that this education is necessary.
We could do with more of this. More education. More rooftop gardens (it’s over a parking garage). More native plants. More curiosity about how our ecosystems work. When we realize the role every individual has to play, it becomes undeniable that our actions always impact more than just our own selves.
