Blue Green and Between 2/10/25: NOAA and Public Service, Avoiding Outrage Burnout, Learn More Effectively, Entries from the Happy! Folder, and More
Elizabeth Moore
Author | Consultant | Conservation, Parks, and Recreation Expert | [email protected]
Every week I share feature articles, news, tools, and actions to help everyone protect and enjoy our wonderful planet, from the sea to the sky and everything in between. In this week's issue:
#bluegreenbetween #theoceanisforeveryone #conservation #parksandrec
Something Important: NOAA and the Meaning of Public Service
In all the great articles and posts I've seen these last three weeks about the tragedy and travesty that is this new administration and its attacks on both public service and public servants, one important element missing from the discussions is inherently governmental functions.
"Inherently governmental" is a bureaucratic phrase that saw much use in the late 1990s and early 2000s when I was in the first third of my career at NOAA, in an ongoing push by Republicans to outsource government functions to private companies. There were any number of exercises about classifying what we did and arguments about what should done by public servants driven by a motivation to help the American people and leave the world a better place, and what could be done by corporations interested in making profits off American taxpayers. While they were frustrating, unproductive exercises that mostly went nowhere, they were nothing compared to what we are seeing in the last three weeks.
Earlier this week, DOGE employees turned up at NOAA. Beyond my worries for friends and colleagues who still work for NOAA, I am angry and frightened about what they will do to an agency that I deeply care for and believe in. I was reminded again of this notion of what happens when people start thinking about the idea of turning those all-important inherently governmental functions over to the private sector. As I wrote about in the 12/3/23 issue of this newsletter Blue, Green, and Between, we don't want the fox guarding the henhouse:
As the old saying goes, you don't put the fox in charge of the hen house. Imagine if a petroleum company or mining outfit was given charge of a national wildlife refuge that has resources of interests to it. Do you think they would be more worried about drilling and digging to get those resources or preserving the environment? Imagine if a shipping company were put in control of a national marine sanctuary. I think they would be more worried about moving vessels quickly to reduce costs than to divert out of the way of migrating whales. Imagine if companies were allowed to buy their way into becoming sponsors of national parks. Do you really want to visit a protected area that bears the name of a corporation?
Let me expand on this discussion with some other ideas about what dissolving and privatizing NOAA would cost the nation.
I'm sure there are more NOAA (and other agencies) examples readers can offer (and please do!). The bottom line is that some functions are too important, even too sacred, to turn over to anyone with any motivation other than serving the American public and making the world better. If you haven't already, please offer your support to federal employees and contact your congressional representatives, your unions, and anyone else you can think of to help stop this ongoing hijacking of our government before it's too late.
Something New: Avoiding Outrage Burnout
If you haven't already, you may soon hear of something called "outrage fatigue," the feeling of tired numbness and inaction that takes hold of when we are repeatedly exposed to something that upsets us. Sound familiar? I believe it's a deliberate strategy by the new administration/bad guys to scare and wear down anyone who doesn't agree with them or actively resists them. It has the added benefit (to them) of spreading misinformation.
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Scientific American has a new podcost (with transcript) that offers some suggestions on how to avoid being outraged into compliance, including becoming involved with local issues with real people, doing less doomscrolling, and getting outside more.
Something to Do: Learn More Effectively
The secret to effective learning, at least according to a recent article, is repeated but varied exposure to the material and retrieving memorized material in different formats, both of which worked better for study participants that trying to memorize information in a single long session. Huh, that explains why those all-night cram sessions in college never worked!
Something To Do: Shift Your Emotions
Emotions are a fact of life; you may experience a dozen different feelings in as many minutes. Many may be unpleasant--anger, sadness, disappointment, betrayal--and seem so large and so strong, we can't get out from under them. But we are mistaken if we think we have no power to help control the impact of those emotions; there are things we can do. Recent suggestions from Greater Good include getting in touch with your senses to help shift how we are feeling; change your focus, perspective, and/or location; and talk to someone you trust.
Something to Enjoy: Entries From the Happy! Folder
I've mentioned in earlier issues of Blue Green and Between that I keep a folder of bookmarks on my computer labeled Happy! Whenever I'm feeling particularly down, I'll visit one or two of those websites to help me feel better. I've been going there a lot lately. Here's some of my favorites that I hope you enjoy as much as I do.
My Website
That's it for this week - see you next week!