October 20, 2011

Audubon Society Promotes Indoor Birding without Real Birds

I think that I just lost some respect for the Audubon Society.

I thought that they were about conservation, birds, and stuff like that. But now they have some West Coast  public-relations firm promoting "online birding." And it is competitive, because outdoor recreational experiences should always be competitive, not, y'know, experiential.
While “Birding the Net,” players are challenged to collect dozens of virtual birds on over 100 highly trafficked websites. The game is both educational and fun, helping the next generation learn about the natural world around us. Whether you live in a city or on a farm, you can spot these birds from the comfort of your own home, no binoculars necessary!
No, Liza Nedelman of MPRM Communications, that is not how you "learn about the natural world." As another large corporation's slogan put, "just do it."

Why not tell people that playing Angry Birds on their smart phone is a genuine interaction with nonhuman nature?

I suppose that someone that "kids these days" have to be introduced to an online experience before they can have the real thing. Really? Stay indoors? Look at a screen?

No links. If you think that "birding the net" is a wizard idea, look it up yourself.

1 comment:

PBurns said...

I used to work for National Audubon, so nothing amazes me. The organization is housed in New York City, which is a "tell" that the organization has become a magazine and not too much else (so far as I can tell this has been true for a long time). The bird identification books are actually written and printed by someone else (Audubon gets a royalty but has no input). National Audubon could be more, but they lost their competitive edge a long time ago as other Green Groups got smarter and more activist. Some of the local and state affiliates of Audubon are great, but National does not know what to do with them and does not seem to know what to do with itself most days.