NatGeo was once very interesting for the nature news Etc. it carried, but today it’s all about the 1st. person experience of the person writing the story who may or may not be doing something related to science.

I subscribed because of that issue and have enjoyed every issue since. I was impressed that they had the guts to call out anti-science thinking on both sides of the political spectrum and more importantly they put it on the cover, where it would absolutely draw fire.

The only thing that makes me sad about having Murdoch’s name connected to the magazine is that now whenever they cover an issue that the political left doesn’t like it will just be dismissed as political bias from Fox. As the fake cover in this article so elegantly foreshadows.

However, I know of at least one case in which genes for herbicide resistance were deliberately engineered into a pernicious weed of wildlands. Creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera), a Eurasian species, is a popular turfgrass for lawns, golf courses, etc. In Oregon’s Willamette valley, it’s an aggressive invader of native plant communities, and once established is very difficult to eradicate (personal experience). In 2002, the Scott’s Company and Monsanto Corporation, with the approval of the Oregon Department of Agriculture, conducted field trials of “Roundup Ready” creeping bent in a “production control” area of Oregon, in the process of obtaining USDA-APHIS approval for commercial release. Despite prior assurances, the RR genes escaped into feral A. stolonifera populations, and intensive eradication efforts have failed. The USDA did not approve RR creeping bent for commercial release, but the genes are now in the wild, and conservationists and ecological restorationists are losing one of the few effective weapons against a troublesome invasive alien plant.

The point is that if the regulatory agencies we expect to protect the biosphere from any potential harmful impacts of GMOs fail to do so, the consequences may be irreversible. Unfortunately, we all know how vulnerable those agencies are to capture by the parties they are supposed to regulate. It is the love of money that is the root of all evil, not GMOs in particular.

By the same token, we shouldn’t be surprised if the conversion of a non-profit to a for-profit venture leads to unwelcome changes in its mission.

I would guess he was referring to the ventures by NGS in for profit partnerships which were set up (there are many) to carry out specific projects with for profit companies (like FOX). But that does not make NGS not a non-profit any more than it makes the partner (i.e. FOX) an owner of NGS.

Corporate status and ownership are real things and there are people in expensive suits who will take anyone down who materially acts as though they aren’t! 🙂

“I’m dismayed but not surprised. The bastards who did this screwed all the writers and photographers ten years ago. I worked for the NGS when it was a non-profit and was staffed by wonderful men and women. Starting in the mid-80s, a bunch of corporate droids (a team from Reader’s Digest) took over, after the board of directors panicked over a leveling off in circulation — first time they had no growth in 100 years. The newbies fired 1,000 of the 2,000 people on staff over several years: Cartographers, researchers, lab folks, editors, proofers.

“I could tell you stories. The culture change was heart-breaking. All the cool people shafted, all the kiss-ass corporate droids weaseling their way up the ladder.

“They fired the jerk who took over TRAVELER because of his drinking. Then he died. The corporate people wrote an obituary that made him sound like a combination of Ernest Hemingway and Max Perkins. He cheapened TRAVELER forever. It just doesn’t stop…”

The news has been worrying me – seen on facebook and yeah, concerned.

@6. Terry : Seconded by me. Grow up reading National Geo mags (along with so much more but, yeah, them as well)& I’ve generally found them informative, entertaining and raising awareness of a lot of things that aren’t mainstream and in good depth. Plus they’ve provided some awesome posters and maps. So,yeah, I’m a fan and hope they don’t change much.