Environmental Wrecking Ball to Head EPA, Continue War on Science – Why??

It seems that every sentient being on the planet has felt obliged to weigh in on the U.S. Presidential election and what it spat out: Donald Trump. I have kept quiet on this matter on this blog up to now, because (1) I’m “partisan,” so what is my biased opinion worth? (2) every insightful thing that can be said has already been said by others.

But Donald Trump’s nominating Scott Pruitt to head the EPA is a call to arms.  If you don’t know the scope of the damage Pruitt can do, check out this in The Guardian: Pruitt Nomination Implications

Most of what you need to know about the policy issues can be gleaned from The Guardian piece and elsewhere on the Web. But there’s a more sweeping issue represented by the nomination of a climate “skeptic” (in actuality, a denier) to this critical post. That of course is the War on Science. From whence does it spring?

The War on Science Goes Soul Deep

Much has been made of the “War on Science,” and I recommend doing a web search on the phrase to get an idea of the scope—although you run the risk of spending an hour or two feeling outraged.

Question is, where does the war come from? We know the type of people who are waging it—political conservatives, businessmen such as fossil fuel executives who stand to lose financially by action on scientific findings, conspiracy theorists, flat-out contrarians, and some New Agers (who, if not actually waging war, skirmish with science around the edges).

But there is a faction intermingled with the others, who hold beliefs that furnish a lush breeding ground for science denial in the United States—the ranks of Christian conservatism, or at its most extreme, Christian fundamentalism. Scientific evidence doesn’t matter to these folks, because their worldview—not just about science but also about morals, justice, and virtue—is deeply colored by belief in the supernatural.

Since the supernatural can be anything someone imagines it to be, it can explain anything and everything. There’s no room for pesky science that contradicts whatever view of the supernatural you happen to have. In the case of religious fundamentalism, the explanations come from those who teach young people—most notably, parents—whose influence on young, undeveloped minds is very powerful. Its influence goes deep into what I would call the soul—that immaterial nexus of emotion, reason, and observation, that engenders your thoughts and beliefs. This influence gets passed down through the generations, and the transmission by figures of power and authority guarantees its deep persistence. It helps that the teachers have a hefty chunk of “evidence” of their own: The Holy Bible. The latter can be, and often is, selectively quoted to support disbelief in science, along with a range of other things both good and bad.

Not all religious conservatives are deniers, although many are misinformed

A typical reader of this blog believes in natural science as the process that gives us the most rational and operational information on just about any aspect of the physical world. (Of course, science does not have all the answers, which is what keeps scientists going.)  You are likely to be baffled by the legions of Americans who believe in creationism (42%*), and disbelieve in Anthropogenic Global Warming (30% disbelieve in global warming at all, and another 43% believe in global warming but not that humans are causing it**).

Global Warming Denial is not an inherent property of religiosity. The Pope, famously, believes AGW is real and we should do something about it. Evangelical Christian Katharine Hayhoe is not only a believer in AGW, she is also an atmospheric scientist whose efforts to enlighten a denying public have actually earned her death threats! Do a web search on her and see what she’s up to and what she’s up against.

Don’t, typical reader, dismiss the believers in creationism and deniers of AGW as stupid. How could all 42% of the American population be stupid?  A lot of them, including some NASA engineers, are highly intelligent. It helps them to perform the intellectual gymnastics needed to defend their beliefs. They are basically working from a different set of facts—many of which are misleading, irrelevant, half-true, or simply made up.  What causes them to believe in their facts (or nonfacts), rather than our (mostly factual) facts, comes from a deep place in the psyche, and it will weaken only incrementally over generations.

LAST WORD: Tell your senators to oppose Pruitt’s nomination, even if it takes a filibuster. It’s time for Mitch McConnell and the Republicans to get a taste of their own medicine.

 

* Gallup, 2014 Creationism Keeps High Ratings

**Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute, 2016: Climate Change Poll, Monmouth U.

 

 

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