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The IPS does much more than provide money for Palmtalk. One important function of the IPS is to provide financial assistance to specific research projects through annual grants. The IPS allocates $20,000 to $25,000 each year for this purpose. IPS president Leland Lai along with scientific botanical experts Scott Zona, Larry Noblick and John Dransfield volunteer their time to send the proposals on to appropriate independent experts who review the submissions. Afterwards, the committee makes recommendations for the Board’s ultimate discussion and decisions. Until his untimely passing, Jim Cain chaired the Endowment committee. I have agreed to serve as an acting Chairman to coordinate the process until elections are complete next May. The deadline, usually December 1, has this year been extended until March 1, 2014. Application and contact information is available on the IPS website by clicking here. Examples of research grant awards awarded in 2013 include studies on the genus Hydriastele, Palms of the Republic of Congo, Floral scents of European palms, Palms of Southern Vietnam, Palm carbon accumulation and Oenocarpus bataua fruit production’s effects on survival. For exact titles and author information with amounts awarded, see PALMS, Volume 57(4) which will be available online here soon. The total amount for all studies in 2013 came to $25,902. A quick scan of some of the 2013 PALMS journals shows two articles which acknowledge support from the IPS. They are on Palms of Micronesia and Palms of Southern Cameroon for a total of 27 pages of information with striking photos of palms in habitat. Your dues help support important research and fulfill the IPS mission statement: The International Palm Society, Inc. is operated solely and exclusively for scientific and/or educational purposes related to the study of palms, their propagation, culture, conservation, care, and development.

Me looking for seeds: I like palms, I love seeds Don't think I said this pic would be anybody from IPS BOD or Palmtalk control-comitee !

for some reasons I stood away from palmtalk for a moment, what is my amazement today to see all this mess. I don't know who is the instigators of all that mess and why ? I will not waste my time to read all the post to forge my opinion, but not that direction to enhance IPS, and to get some new members. it will just encourage members to go elsewhere. I remember the good times of fellowship on palmtalk ! a pity !

F. Scott Fitzgerald once said that "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function." I see people insulting each other on this thread because they hold opposing points of view. Why? Which one of you holds a PhD in climatology, physics, geology or oceanography AND which one of you actually conducts research in this area? Which ones of you have ever tried to solve Eulers' equations or Navier Stokes equations for the global oceanic and atmospheric circulation? Which one of you understands the coupling between non-linear atmospheric physics, the ocean circulation and all the complexity associated with salinity and the solar-atmospheric radiation system? How about the geology of the planet in terms of energy balance equations taking into account radiative transfers and atmospheric scattering? If the answer is "no" on both the research and the pedigree and to a large majority of the follow up equations, then I'd say you stand zero ground to actually hold a "truth" "for" or "against" human made global warming. If you think you know, then you have an opinion that will actually blind you to learning more. The only reasonable option is to listen to all sides, and NOT form an opinion on the actual science, but stay open minded. Everything else is just blinding OPINION and is not science. I have a PhD in physics and did some oceanography in grad school, and I know enough to know how little I actually truly understand about the immense complexity of this massive coupled system of solar radiation + oceanic circulation + atmospheric dynamics. So the only reasonable option for me is to listen to all sides of legitimate scientists, and tune out the garbage coming from politicians, bloggers and paid thinktank people. There are a multitude of sides, and the best I can do is to listen to them all and keep asking questions. Because of the immense complexity of the subject, politicians and the public do have a major challenge: how do you create policy around something that is so poorly understood? That's where the subject veers off the cliff, and that's a whole other debate that is just not appropriate for this forum. But we should be able to discuss the science around this issue without getting opinionated and personal.