Oh look, a blog.

The blog you’ve been waiting for has begun!

Well to be honest, the blog I’ve been waiting for has come to life.

Sorry about that.

I cannot thank you enough for wanting to take a peek at my blog. Here’s a stock photo of a woman clapping for you!

Now that you’re here, let’s talk about what to expect and from this blog and why start a blog in the first place. But first…

Who am I?

My name is Sean Washington. I’m from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. A state that has survived an absurd amount of issues that it’s comical to think about. Floods, Earthquakes and Tornadoes are so common in the news that we don’t really think about them too much.

(For example, there were a total of 85 tornadoes in 2017 that hit Oklahoma according to the National Weather Service)

There’s one question all parents have a love/hate relationship with. That sweet and yet utterly annoying age when a child gets old enough to ask “why” more than an interrogation officer. At first it’s cute and you’re happy to answer any question they have, but after 3 straight hours of “why doesn’t the Earth make a sound when it turns?”, (Yes, that was an actual question I remember asking.) you’re ready to throw up your hands and say “Go ask _____” or “Google it.”

So I did. (or more accurately, had my older siblings do it for me) and that sparked this unquenchable thirst for knowledge for things that I knew -and still know- I’ll never know everything about. Every time I read a book, there’s new research being done, new discoveries being made and new rules we think up for life on earth being broken.

Just about every kid gets into animals at some phase in their life. I just never got out. The more I asked why about an animal, plant, culture or ecosystem the more I’d find myself with even more questions than answers. I loved the pursuit of learning about and chasing this ever-changing field that I’d later learn to be called Sustainability.

I remember being in 2nd grade reading informative books about Spiders, The Deep Ocean, Birds and everything in between that were at a 4th or 5th grade level. But what I love more than learning all of this information about the natural world is sharing that information. As noted by a 6-7 year old playing “Did you know…” for the entirety of a 5 hour road trip.

14 years later, I’m a second year Fish and Wildlife Conservation Biology student at Colorado State University. (check out the article about me by the College of Natural Resources) I hike, workout, watch Disney movies, work, go bird watching, play Minecraft, read, hangout with friends and watch nature documentaries.

I can definitely keep myself from excitedly spewing facts excessively, but I’ll still get the same joy from explaining things to people, doing some research and returning to answer any questions they have that I couldn’t answer or helping them find a source better than I am at explaining whatever it is they want to know.

The natural world becomes more beautiful every day and I really just wanted a place that I can share all of my wonder with the world and learn more with you all.

“If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.”

Vincent Van Gogh

What do I envision for this blog?

This is the first blog I’ve ever done and to be completely honest, I have no idea what to expect in doing this. All I know is that I want to make is a site that anyone can go to and get a lot of interesting information on things normally not noticed or appreciated.

I want to stick to the 3 Pillars of Sustainability (Social, Economic and Environmental justices) and just use this platform as a way to share info about the world to anyone willing to ask why and brave enough to face any new questions that come up with it.

If this blog becomes popular to only 5 or 6 people that are really feel like they’re learning something from it, I feel successful. While , I would LOVE for this blog to be seen by tons of people, I don’t think it means much if there aren’t any meaningful connections.

At some point down the line, I’d like to have a weekly schedule for posts to where certain topics come out on specific days, but that seems like it will take a bit of planning and practice in adjusting my daily schedule. Maybe not to start out the blog, but possibly later in it’s life.

I would like to post the interviews I do with doctors and professionals on here and get better about how I do interviews. (check out my slightly cringe-worthy first two interviews here and here.)

Why make a blog about Nature, Society and Science?

I personally believe that the science realm has a few different issues when it comes to communication. For starters, communication in science is almost opposite of communicating with the public.

In scientific papers you want to put extra work on the conclusion and methods to give a stunning and repeatable study. It relies heavily on prior knowledge of the field, materials and terms. You can’t be noticeably subjective, because you don’t want bias in your work but also want to remain focused on the study.

In the public you have to catch someone’s attention from a dead stop and in the time you have us looking, tell us why we should care. It’s fast paced and requires a bit of heart to connect people to the study. You can’t be too objective, people really love the bigger picture ideas.

Another issue with science communication is that when you’ve spent God knows how many years studying this awesome thing and you get the chance to talk to people about it, your certainty and expert knowledge of that topic can have a possibility of coming off a bit abrasive and brash to the public.

Or for a more visual example, Dr. Ian Malcolm from Jurassic Park.

Dr. Malcolm was technically right the entire movie. everything he said would happen, did and he even gave two of the most notable lines in the film. So why aren’t we all lining up to hangout with Dr. Malcolm in a bar and chat about our days? Because he has very little to no humility and is practically forcing his knowledge in everyone’s faces the entire time. Very rarely does he actually listen to others and makes a habit in the movie of cutting others off or speaking instantly when someone finishes.

My goal is to not be an Ian Malcolm of scientific communication. I want to change the communication of science in the public from shouting matches, arguments and uninteresting black and white graph after graph but to bring you something you want to read, share and hopefully comment on!

Speaking of…

Don’t be afraid to contact me!

If you have any questions, think I left something out of a post, critiques, questions about the post, ideas for another post, or just to let me know if you liked or disliked the post so I can work on making the blog that much better and above all else, LET ME KNOW IF I MISSPELL SOMETHING!

If you’d like to follow me on social media, there should be links at the bottom to a Facebook and an Instagram page!