I think you should go for it. (I represented a guy - John Quigley - who was trying to save an ancient oak out here in Southern California.) After about a decade practicing law, I haven't arrived to be so cynical to think a counter-voice goes unheard. BTW - John did save the oak. The builders paid $300k to move the thing.

Further, I think that social issues are not mutually exclusive of hard science. I was down in the CalTech MRI lab a few weeks ago and there was no shortage of back stabbing, gossip and just plain old intellectual dishonesty - not to mention some fairly interesting experiments. If one is convinced that hard science and social issues are mutually exclusive, take another read of Gould's "The Mismeasure of Man."

All the best -

Tony