Trout memo
Okay, so imagine you are a fisherman, and you like to catch trout. A trout is a type of fish that lives in rivers and streams and is known for being delicious.
Now, let's say you work for a big company that makes things, like shoes, or toys, or cars. And your job is to help your company save money. You might think, "Hey, instead of buying expensive ingredients for our products, maybe we could find a cheaper ingredient that still works just as well!"
That's where the "trout memo" comes in. Many years ago, a big company called DuPont had a guy working for them named Edward K. Bowman. Bowman was really good at saving the company money, and he had a big idea. He said, "Hey, we could use this chemical called PFOA to make our products instead of more expensive chemicals."
The only problem was, nobody really knew much about PFOA at the time. So Bowman decided to do some research. He sent a memo to his colleagues with the subject line "Concerns about PFOA" and some of the things he wrote were a bit scary. He said that PFOA had been found in the blood of workers who made the chemical, and it had made some of them sick.
Bowman's memo was kind of like a warning to his colleagues, saying "Hey, we need to be careful about using this chemical until we know more about it. It might not be safe."
But instead of listening to Bowman and taking his warning seriously, DuPont kind of ignored him. They kept using PFOA in their products, even though they knew there were risks. It wasn't until many years later, when other scientists studied PFOA and its effects, that people really started to understand how dangerous it could be.
So the "trout memo" is really just a way to talk about how important it is to listen to warnings and be careful when we're trying new things. Sometimes the things we think will save us money or make our lives easier end up causing big problems later on. But if we pay attention to the warning signs, we can avoid those problems and keep ourselves safe.
Now, let's say you work for a big company that makes things, like shoes, or toys, or cars. And your job is to help your company save money. You might think, "Hey, instead of buying expensive ingredients for our products, maybe we could find a cheaper ingredient that still works just as well!"
That's where the "trout memo" comes in. Many years ago, a big company called DuPont had a guy working for them named Edward K. Bowman. Bowman was really good at saving the company money, and he had a big idea. He said, "Hey, we could use this chemical called PFOA to make our products instead of more expensive chemicals."
The only problem was, nobody really knew much about PFOA at the time. So Bowman decided to do some research. He sent a memo to his colleagues with the subject line "Concerns about PFOA" and some of the things he wrote were a bit scary. He said that PFOA had been found in the blood of workers who made the chemical, and it had made some of them sick.
Bowman's memo was kind of like a warning to his colleagues, saying "Hey, we need to be careful about using this chemical until we know more about it. It might not be safe."
But instead of listening to Bowman and taking his warning seriously, DuPont kind of ignored him. They kept using PFOA in their products, even though they knew there were risks. It wasn't until many years later, when other scientists studied PFOA and its effects, that people really started to understand how dangerous it could be.
So the "trout memo" is really just a way to talk about how important it is to listen to warnings and be careful when we're trying new things. Sometimes the things we think will save us money or make our lives easier end up causing big problems later on. But if we pay attention to the warning signs, we can avoid those problems and keep ourselves safe.