A Message for the World

This week we read an article on how to (and why to) to create a message box: a distilled, headlined story of all your research that is interesting, intriguing, and relatively easy to understand.  Quite the feat.  The biggest outcome of the message box is a clear articulation of the "so what."  And not only that, but different "so what"s that you can give to journalists, policy makers, NGO's, and even your neighbors.  While I think that this is very important, I struggle with my own research to create these "so what"s and even a complete message box.  My lack of completeness is surely due to  not having a complete project or really any results from my study as of yet.  I'm not sure what my research will reveal my message to be.  Even then, I can still fill in the boxes and make up a message that I want to give the world.  The problem comes when I wonder who really cares that frogs are declining.  When I tell people that frogs are disappearing their reactions are usually, "Really? I didn't realize that.  That's too bad."  And that is where it ends.  It is too bad that frogs are declining, but their loss doesn't mean anything. 

So how can I make my frog project a bigger deal?  Admittedly, frog declines is not my larger question.  My large question is centered on land use and species persistence, and my species can answer questions pertaining to biodiversity loss as well as invasive success (supposing my results match my predictions).  But even then, how many people really care that biodiversity is declining. It's too bad that the Amazon is being destroyed; it's too bad that the wetlands are being filled; it's too bad that agriculture and urbanization are destroying natural habitats and contributing to declines in biodiversity.  But really, as long we have our cows, corn, and deer, does other life matter?  I know that I am taking a severely pessimistic view of humanity, but I feel like these are the challenges I am faced with when trying to make people care about cricket frogs.

But nevertheless, here is a first attempt at a message box.

Issue: Biodiversity is declining due to human activities
Problem: Land use changes and habitat fragmentation put species persistence at risk; amphibians are declining worldwide and land use change is one of the leading causes.
So What: If habitat fragmentation causes species declines (and not just in frogs) then common, beloved, and economically important species may become rare.
Solutions: Land management
Benefits: Maintain biodiversity for future generations and all the benefits associated with biodiversity.