This is the text of my BSA Presidential address as published in the Plant Science Bulletin. The slides are also available here.

2. The 150th anniversary of the founding of the Missouri Botanical Garden in 1859,

3. The 250th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew in 1759,

4. The 800th anniversary of the founding of Cambridge University in 1209, and

6. But they don’t know much about what we think: Only a little more than half agree that scientists think humans are causing global warming or that humans evolved. That’s bad.

7. But only about 30% of respondents know that members of the U.S. House of Representatives have a 2-year term, only about half are familiar with Brown v. Board of Education, and nearly 30% don’t know that the First Amendment protects free speech. So the public doesn’t know basic civics much better than they know science.The problem for science is not just that they don’t know it, but that they don’t care. So you have to wonder: Is the lack of science knowledge in the general public their problem, or is it ours? Maybe, as Pogo might have said, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” So how do we overcome the mutual incomprehension? We start with education for sure. We know how to do that, and we do it pretty well. Again from the Pew Survey, fewer than 20% of those who never attended college have a high level of general science knowledge, but almost 60% of those who finished college do. We need to continue to invest in and enhance our educational efforts, both as graduate students and faculty and as professional societies. But teaching our students won’t be enough, unless we’re willing to wait 10-15 years and to write off the hundreds of millions of people who are beyond school age. We have to reach out beyond schools and colleges to engage a broader audience and to cultivate an appreciation for science. That’s part of the reason for Year of Science 2009. For botanical societies, there are some obvious opportunities. We ought to build stronger connections with horticultural societies, garden clubs, and botanical gardens and arboreta, for example. We should also explore how best to use “new media” – blogs, Facebook, and the like – to engage a broader audience and to communicate the wonder and excitement of botany and science. But (you knew there was going to be a “but”, didn’t you?) that won’t be enough. Educating and engaging are great, but they presume that it’s the public that has the problem, not us. Let me remind you of another anniversary we’re celebrating this year. The 250th anniversary of the founding of Wedgwood China. Why do I mention this? There’s the obvious Darwin connection. Josiah Wedgwood was Darwin’s maternal grandfather, but that’s not the only reason I’m mentioning it. In addition to being a Year of Science, 2009 is also the year in which Waterford Wedgwood declared bankruptcy. Why? Because in the words of Judith Flanders, it had lost “Josiah’s intuitive grasp, his flair, his zest for selling.” I’m afraid we may be more like the Waterford Wedgwood that went bankrupt than the Wedgwood that Josiah founded. Josiah succeeded because he understood his market. He listened to his customers. Remember, the problem we’re trying to solve is one of mutual incomprehension. Maybe we need to listen a little more carefully. Over 2000 years ago Aristotle outlined the principles of persuasion in his Rhetoric. The first principle is logos: the logical structure and evidence of the argument itself. That’s the part that we as scientists tend to focus on and tend to think ought to be sufficient. Aristotle was devoted to reason and rationality, but he knew that reason and rationality weren’t enough. The second principle is ethos: the character and trustworthiness of the speaker. Think about that for a moment. Just over a week before Botany & Mycology 2009, Walter Cronkite passed away. At the height of his career he was, as David Halberstam wrote, “the most trusted man in America.” When Walter spoke, America and the world listened. Those of us old enough to have watched him will also remember that it was Walter who anchored the launch of Apollo 11, which landed on the moon 40 years ago in July, and many of the other launches starting with those of the Mercury program 8 years earlier. It was a time when science and technology captured the public imagination, and Walter’s credibility must have been part of the reason. But it wasn’t only his credibility. It was his infectious enthusiasm. Walter was positively giddy when Apollo 11 blasted off. That’s the third principle pathos: engage the emotions of the listener. If your listener gets bored, game over. So in thinking about how to bridge the gap we have to remember that evidence and logic are necessary, but they’re not enough. We need to remember why we do science, because it’s FUN, and we need to share that excitement with others. We need to do it to ensure the health of our science, but we also need to do it to ensure the health of our world. The world needs science – and scientists.