In defense of hard science academics

It is difficult for common citizens like this person to filter the wheat from the chafe.

The chafe is the politically and religiously/environmentally motivated media reports by ill educated reporters, reverberating research money earned by hard science academics and their lowest paid students. President Eisenhower’s last article warning us about the military industrial complex included a second half warning us about a research industrial complex. The whole miasma is stirred by soft science academics and pundits with their own political and personal goals, often to change America to some kind of idealistic and perfect commune.

Of course global warming is the fad/herd mentality popular subject today. Just filtering out the facts is most difficult. There are plenty of good links for those doing homework about the facts, and there are plenty of university academics and engineers and scientists who work in the real world to teach us. This poster will avoid his list since it might be construed as a sales pitch.

To avoid the herd mentality, there are so many other environmental issues not reported that should get our attention. Just look at the massive environmental degradation going on in China to see the kinds of issues. For America, the basic issues seem apparent. Energy is first. As one who lives in Appalachia, for now 30 years I have never seen safety comparisons between the nuclear industry and the coal industry. Why not? I always thought environmentalism was about people. Second, the impact of agriculture and timber on soil erosion and fertilizer run-off downstream is apparently off limits due to state laws and ignorance. Just smell the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau, Missouri; or try harvest seafood in the Gulf dead zone from the run-off, or map the massive erosion ditches in Illinois, and see if you can read about all this.

Thank goodness there are so many hard science Americans working in these areas. We just have to filter out the interference if we are to expect and elect politicians that work in behalf of American national interests.

And the best news is that this is a win-win with business. The more facts the better in achieving the bottom line. The recommended course of action is to let the voters, informed by the hard scientists, choose how to guide our future. Then the voters still have to filter the wheat from the chafe, but this is the lesser of two evils. Evil number two is to be led by well intended poorly informed politicians advancing socialist/commune ideas that have been failing for over 100 years. This is a no-brainer.