Real-Life Communication -- Solution
Here's what you could tell the company executive:
"Basically, we use plants to clean up areas contaminated by metals. Our studies show that some plants are good at this. The plants draw the metals in through the roots. The metals don't stay in the roots, however.
"They are drawn up into the leaves. The concentration of metals in the leaves ends up as far more than the concentration in the ground. Once the metals are in the leaves, you simply need to dispose of the plants.
"This is a lot cheaper than digging up and hauling away the soil. Would you like to set up a meeting so I can explain our method in more detail?"
Wetlands experts need good communication skills. They write a lot of reports and proposals which have to be clear and accurate.
Most people working in the field have an engineering background. Angus Chu says most schools haven't done a good job teaching communication skills to engineering students. Chu is an environmental engineering professor. He does phytoremediation research.
"Hopefully, it will change, but traditional engineering training has not focused much on communication," Chu says. "I would actually classify [communication] as the very most important thing you have to learn."
Wetlands experts write reports and proposals for companies and the government. A lot of these reports are descriptive. It takes strong writing skills to do them well.