Media
Précis on media engagement:
The Kerr Lab does a lot of media work around biodiversity conservation, climate change, scientific integrity, and the development of science policy. We have been quoted in most major media outlets for both broadcast and print, as well as in the science press (e.g. Science and Nature) and popular science press (e.g. National Geographic, Scientific American, Popular Science, New Scientist, etc.).
Working with the media means keeping a different set of rules in mind when having a conversation. You’re always on the record unless it is explicitly agreed otherwise. It can be embarrassing if you get taken quoted out of context. Everyone makes mistakes when engaging in outreach. The trick is to avoid really big ones (e.g. saying something not supported by evidence or false claims about expertise). Never, ever claim a personal view is the same as a scientific view. This can (and should) kill credibility.
Care about what you’re saying and say it concisely, accurately, and memorably. Think about who is hearing you speak, not about how you most want to say something.
We do a lot of outreach beyond traditional scientific venues. This is particularly important these days as a means of countering disinformation about basic scientific evidence for conservation and global change. We need to present the evidence as it actually exists to enable more informed decision-making.
Public decision-making isn’t going to be made better if scientists don’t help the general public and political establishment understand the nature of discovery and the evidence that exists for some of the most pressing environmental challenges.
Globe and Mail science feature on the Kerr lab research project, eButterfly.
Interview on Quirks and Quarks following announcement of a national ban on neonicotinoid pesticides: link here. Canada will join France as the second country in the world with this ban. A triumph for evidence-based decision-making.
Jeremy’s full interview on Quirks and Quarks on neonicotinoid pesticides is live.
Jeremy Kerr is quoted in Popular Science on the issue of how and why neonicotinoid pesticides harm pollinators.
Calgary’s hive hobbyists raise awareness for honeybees
Media: The Globe and Mail
Date: September 25, 2015
Encouraging honeybee colonies in cities can be helpful but let’s remember the native pollinators also.
Vanishing Canada: Why we’re all losers in Ottawa’s war on data
Media: Maclean’s
Date: September 18, 2015
Harper’s Government has destroyed/degraded Canada’s capacity to measure most everything. Ideology before evidence.
How climate change shrank the tongues of long-tongued bumblebees
Media: The Atlantic, Science Magazine, The Scientist, Mother Jones, Grist, etc.
Date: September, 2015
Comments/perspectives on new research on rapid evolution in bumblebee traits as an indirect result of climate change.
1 in 6 species at risk without action on climate change, study finds
Media: The Globe and Mail
Date: Thursday, April 30, 2015
Consensus predictions for climate change impacts indicate sharp increases in extinction rates
‘Brontosaurus’ comes thundering back in science’s name game
Media: The Ottawa Citizen
Date: Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Taxonomic revisions are common and can change the public perceptions of well-known species.
Three species of bats added to Ottawa’s endangered animals list
Media: The Globe and Mail
Date: Friday, December 19, 2014
After a two year delay, and in contrast with rapid provincial action, the federal government has at last responded positively to the emergency listing request put forward by COSEWIC in 2012.
Protection for at-risk species falters
Media: The Globe and Mail
Date: Monday, December 1, 2014
Canada’s federal government has prevented new species from being added to the at-risk list for years, in apparent contravention of the requirements of the Species At Risk Act.
Bumblebees in trouble
Media: CBC Radio 1
Date: Thursday, June 5, 2014
Bumblebee species are in danger of extinction and they need your help. Citizen science for bumblebees!
Long winter may have lasting effects across Ontario
Publication: Global News
Date: Tuesday, April 15, 2014
After a long and cold winter, the first of its kind in decades, there could be substantial biological consequences, like rolling back newly-established populations of giant swallowtails across Eastern Ontario. Such species arrived recently because of rapid climate changes.
UN climate body backtracks on risk of species extinction
Publication: Toronto Star
Date: Monday March 31st, 2014
With regards to the risk of species extinction and climate change, Jeremy Kerr, Department of Biology, discloses that, "there is a lot of evidence of biological impact (of climate change) but there is not much evidence of specific extinction."
Biologists wait to see whether warm-weather insects survived brutal winter
Publication: Ottawa Citizen
Date: Tuesday April 1st, 2014
The giant swallowtail is a gorgeous butterfly from Canada’s extreme south. Biologists won’t know for certain until warm weather begins, but they’re watching to see whether the butterfly and other warm-weather insects will survive the coldest winter in 20 years. Jeremy Kerr, Department of Biology, reveals that this year will be especially insightful for understanding how climate change is going to alter the geographic range of species.
Monarch butterfly count in Mexico reveals steep decline
Publication: Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Austrian Tribune, Ottawa Citizen
Date: Tuesday March 26, 2014
Overwintering monarch butterflies in Mexico have declined sharply once again. The latest population size is the smallest ever recorded. Jeremy Kerr, uOttawa Research Chair in Macroecology and Conservation, comments on causes and prospects for recovery.
Media engagement around “Climate change impacts on bumblebees converge across continents”, published in Science (2015) and “Climate change contributes to widespread declines among bumble bees across continents”, published in Science (2020).
Media coverage for these papers was global. The first of these papers, edited by Dr. Sacha Vignieri at Science, was the subject of a press event that the American Association for the Advancement of Science organized. The AAAS and their chief press officer, Natasha Pinol, decided this work seemed significant (we were just happy to have addressed the reviewers’ comments) and we worked with them to assemble multimedia materials. Natasha’s efforts deserve great credit and so do those of the uOttawa media crew. A partial list of media that excludes much non-English coverage and most radio broadcasts. We will expand the list when we have a more complete picture of how this work was covered.
We were misquoted a few times and some media outlets suggested that climate change is a silver bullet killer for bumblebees, and that nothing else matters. That just isn’t right at all, and we never said or hinted at this. We did find a distinct effect of climate change that was not due to neonicotinoids or habitat changes, but we already know those factors kill bees. Honestly, how anyone can find it surprising that insecticides kill insects is beyond me (neonicotinoids are insecticides). Nevertheless, neonics and habitat losses are not a silver bullet explanation any more than climate change is. We are hitting bees with everything we’ve got. It’s like claiming that because smoking causes lung cancer, it is impossible to suffer health problems for any other reasons.
Oh, and this work led to many wingnut emails also. We have been informed, in no uncertain terms, that we are secret agents for the pesticide industry, that cell towers cause global pollinator declines, and that Satan is responsible. Oh yes, and that tomatoes don’t need pollinators. Ever. The climate change deniers trolled out over this too, but didn’t say anything unusual or factual. We receive many nice messages also.
It was also pretty cool that Leonardo Di Caprio and Margaret Atwood sent out messages on social media about our 2020 publication in Science.
Media engagement (partial):
Bumblebees being crushed by climate change (Science Magazine)
Climate change crushes bee populations (Nature Magazine)
Climate change causing bumblebee habitat loss, say scientists (The Guardian)
Bumblebees trapped by warming climate, study finds (Globe and Mail)
Le territoire des bourdons se rétrécit sous l'effet du réchauffement climatique (Le Monde)
El mundo se queda sin abejorros (El Pais, in Spain and Brazil)
Klimawandel verkleinert Lebensraum fur Hummeln (Frankfurter Neue Presse)
Bees Are Losing Their Habitat Because of Climate Change (Time Magazine)
Buzz Kill for Bumblebees: climate change is shrinking their range (NPR All Things Considered)
Bumblebees Are Being Bumped Off by Climate Change, Scientists Say (NBC News)
10 Things to know for Friday (ABC News)
Bumblebees feeling the sting of climate change (CBS News)
Buzzkill: Global Warming Is Wiping Out the Bees (U.S News and World Report)
Climate 'vice' constricts bumblebees' natural ranges (BBC News)
Climate vice squeezes bumblebee habitat from north and south (New Scientist)
Climate Change Is Shrinking Where Bumblebees Range, Researchers Find (New York Times)
Bumblebee habitats are shrinking at an alarming rate, and scientists are blaming climate change (Washington Post)
Rising temperatures due to climate change are latest threat to bumblebees (Los Angeles Times)
Bumblebees Are Getting Trapped In A 'Climate Vise' As Hotter Temperatures Shrink Habitats (Think Progress)
Bumblebees Are Getting Squeezed by Climate Change (Smithsonian.com)
Climate change is killing off bumblebees: study (CBC National)
Global warming shrinks range of pollinating bumblebees (Scientific American)
We’re boiling the bumblebees (Business News Network)
Bumblebees Can't Handle the Heat, Can't Escape the Kitchen (Slate Magazine)
Buzzkill: global warming shrinks range of pollinating bumblebees (Daily Mail UK) (Aussi paru dans | Also appeared in 3 autres sources d'information | 3 other news outlets)
Bee population tumbling as global warming 'squeezes' them into smaller habitats (Mirror)
Scientists propose international effort to assist bumblebees to migrate further north after study finds rising temperatures linked to their decline (The Independent)
Climate Change Is Shrinking Bumblebee Habitats, Population: Study (International Business Times)
Bumblebees could be wiped out by global warming (Irish Examiner)
Plight of the bumblebee: climate change puts insect at risk (Irish Times)
Bumblebees are losing southern habitat as the climate warms (Mashable)
Le fragile vol du bourdon (Le Devoir)
(21:27 - 23:55) The National for July 9, 2015 (CBC News The National)
Study blames climate change for shrinking bumble bee populations (CTV News National) (Aussi paru dans | Also appeared in 27 autres sources d'information | 27 other news outlets)
Bumble bees struggling to survive warming world (Toronto Star)
Rising Temperatures Are Squishing Bumblebee Habitats (VICE)
Climate change killing off bumblebees at alarming rate: study (Global News National)
(3:20 - 5:40) Global National – July 9 (Global News National)
Global warming is the cause of bumblebee decline: study (CBC Radio - As It Happens)
New study points to climate change as cause for decline in bees (CBC Radio – All in a Day)
Bumblebees squeezed by 'climate vise,' study says (Ottawa Citizen) (Aussi paru dans | Also appeared in 8 autres sources d'information | 8 other news outlets)
Déclin rapide des bourdons en raison des changements climatiques (Le Droit)
Changements climatiques : les bourdons en péril, dit une étude (Radio-Canada) (Aussi paru dans | Also appeared in 2 autres sources d'information | 2 other news outlets)
Bumblebees at risk of extinction as climate change shrinks range (Metro Canada) (Aussi paru dans | Also appeared in 5 autres sources d'information | 5 other news outlets)
Réchauffement climatique : urgence pour les bourdons (24 Matins)
Climate change is putting a deadly squeeze on bumblebee populations worldwide (The Verge)
Warmer climate threatens to have a devastating effect on bee populations (Western Morning News)
Bumblebees and Narrowing Range: Climate Change is Only Reason (Nature World News)
A 'Climate Vise' is Squeezing Bumble Bees' Range (Climate Central)
Bumblebee Habitat Shrinking Due to Climate Change, Plus 12 Other Animals at Risk (Weather)
Earth Is Losing Its Bumblebees (Live Science)
Climate Change is Destroying Bee Habitat and Shrinking Bumblee Populations (Science World Report)
Global Warming Causing Great Loss of Bumblebee Habitat, Say Researchers (Sci-News)
Here's Why All the Bees Are Dying (Mother Jones)
It's too hot for bumblebees in the south—and they're not moving north (Quartz)
Research shows bumble bees suffering in a changing climate (Calgary Herald)
Bumblebees dying, losing ground due to climate change (Straits Times)
Bumblebees are no longer travelling thanks to climate change, says new study (Metro 52.2M)
Study reveals alarming effects of climate change on bumble bees (Digital Journal)
Bumblebees Are Dying Out Thanks To Climate Change (Vocativ)
Bumble bee ranges rapidly shrinking across continents due to climate change (660 News)
Bumble bees struggling to survive warming world (Our Windsor) (Aussi paru dans | Also appeared in 3 autres sources d'information | 3 other news outlets)
Study: Bumblebees in North America, Europe feeling climate change's sting (Guelph Mercury)
Climate Change Is Shrinking Where Bumblebees Range, Researchers Find (Demanjo)