The New Quarterly, the wonderful literary journal from my hometown of Waterloo, asked the simple question: whose truth is it anyway? Why do we have a mistrust of science? As time goes on, more and more people seem to backtrack from seeing science as a credible element of human advancement. I think that’s sad.
To be clear, science is not infallible. Within the process, there is an inherent mechanism of checks, balances, review and challenges that allows science to pivot and change course. Wrong directions are identified and new avenues are explored as a result. Every misstep creates a new pathway. Science is not a beast driven by its own desire to be right; it is strong because it knows it can be wrong, and embraces that.
I find science to be the opposite of opinion, in many ways. How many opinions do we have and hold to, no matter what? How often are we able to admit we’re wrong?
For TNQ, I wrote a piece called ‘The Last Barrel’. It’s creative nonfiction, a style I don’t normally write. I’m not particularly comfortable in this genre but I gave it a go. My basic premise is that there is a reason for mistrust of science, and I explained that reason through the lens of climate change. Why do people resist the fact that we as humans are changing our climate, to the detriment of our world and of ourselves? The evidence is out there, and it’s objective, and it’s overwhelming. But still there is a gathering movement in the opposite direction. We see this at levels as high as entire governments.
I think it’s tempting to blame politicians and bad actors for the general inaction we see towards combatting the climate issues we are facing. But I don’t think that’s really the point. There is another, much more ingrained reason for what is going on, that we often ignore. I wanted to explore that in ‘The Last Barrel’.
I think the TNQ has compiled an important special issue to talk about truth. I hope that you order it, and join the conversation. This is fundamental. It is vitally important. I appreciate being part of the discussion, as well as trying out my creative nonfiction muscles!
Beyond that, I love that I have words in TNQ. This is my hometown literary journal! I’ve been reading it for years, such a beautiful publication that is a joy to hold in my hands. I’m grateful to appear in it, and to be talking about such an important topic.
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4 Responses
“Why do people resist the fact that we as humans are changing our climate, to the detriment of our world and of ourselves?” In my opinion it’s very simple. Powerful people are making a lot of money. And they want to keep making money. And they don’t want the high cost of shifting to new ways of making (probably less) money.
You’re totally right, Walt. If we distill everything down to the bare basics, it’s about money. Our money. The developed world has benefitted from fossil fuels for many many decades, and now the cost of that is being apparent – who is going to pay to fix this? It’s us. How much are we going to pay? That’s the question. The people in power who have the most money, yes, they want to keep making money even if they may have piles of it already. But just as important is us, and what we do, because we have an impact on a day-to-day basis on climate. I think everyone is involved in this one.
You’re right, of course, and I appreciate your postive charge. I’m fearful though that trillions in the hands of a few is more powerful than the combined actions of the rest of us, many of whom are not committed to action to begin with. Maybe there’s more commitment in your neck of the woods. I hope so.
That disparity in wealth is a huge part of the problem. I hope this gets better. I have hope that the young will find a better way than we did.