I am calling out the Laboratory of Ornithology at Cornell University for doing “Citizen Science.”

The Lab of O is falling behind the growing commitment to inclusion in ecology and evolutionary biology (EEB). The EEB Language Project along with other efforts have awokened us to how the use of scientific language harms members of the research community.

The EBB Language Project has created a repository of harmful terms as well as a form for  anonymous tips on harmful terms and suggestions for inclusive terms.

According to the EEB Language Project:

“Citizen science” is harmful to non-citizens who are excluded by that language

and should be replaced by Participant science  or Community science.

Since the suggested terms still do not emphasize the importance of historically marginalized communities, I suggest that we replace the term “Citizen Science” with the term “Davos Science”–since we are all united by the good and virtuous billionaires in Davos. Please use the anonymous tip form to suggest this change.