Common Sense

Common sense is, according to Merriam-Webster, the ability to think and behave in a reasonable way and to make good decisions. Dictionary.com's definition is similar: sound practical judgment that is independent of specialized knowledge, training, or the like; normal native intelligence. Common sense is also the name of a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine that strongly urged the United States to declare independence from Great Britain.

All good, right? Who could argue? Anyone? ... Okay, I will.

I have a problem with the whole, "independent of specialized knowledge, training, etc." part. The trouble is that sometimes training and specialized knowledge trumps (excuse the term) "reasonable" common sense. In fact, specialized knowledge such as science often does that.

The facts that the earth  is round, that it revolves around the sun, that gravity exists, etc., seem like common sense now, but this wasn't always the case. For most of human existence, our everyday knowledge and experience was that of a flat earth, which the sun, moon, planets and stars revolved around. Gravity? Yes, things fell, but so what? These observations served us well for millennia. Only now, when global manufacturing, communications and transportation depend on roundness, heliocentricity (I just made that word up!) and gravity, do we add such things to our collective common sense.

Along came modern physics, with its relativity and quantum mechanics. These are about as far removed from common sense as we can get. Yet they've been repeatedly proven and even applied, such that a mountain of science and engineering now depend on these theories. Most of us, however, don't normally take modern physics into account during our day to day lives. We turn on a light switch, and don't consider whether those electrons in the wires may have been generated at a nuclear facility. A nuclear explosion would encourage incorporation of modern physics into our common sense, but that would be a bit drastic.

You know where this is going.

Common sense tells us that species can't evolve, since we can't see it happen before our eyes. Yet science proves otherwise, believe it or not. Common sense tells us that burning something like fossil fuels may pollute the air with particulates that we can see, but not with carbon dioxide, that we can't. And common sense tells us that even if we do create a little carbon dioxide. it couldn't manifest itself into the atmosphere to create a greenhouse effect. Yet science begs to differ. Proof is readily available now, but it will take time to sink into our collective common sense. The trouble is that we are running out of time for this to happen. The burning of fossil fuels needs to stop now for the planet to have any chance to recover from the climate change crisis that is happening before our eyes.

It's almost like religious faith. Except for one thing: religious faith is unprovable (I just made that word up too!), whereas science, by definition, is absolutely verifiable. Further, it is self-correcting.

It's cold today. That proves that global warming is wrong. It's just plain common sense.

You Bred Raptors

It occurred early on in the movie Jurassic Park, and it was a statement; not a question. Overall, the scene is otherwise an endearing one: it's wonderful to watch the baby dinosaur hatching, as well as the peoples' reactions to the event. Then, just after one character famously states that 'Life finds a way,' the other one learns of the species and says, 'You bred raptors.' The phrase has been popular enough to become the name of a rock band.

Those ominous three words also work as a metaphor for what our country has done to itself. This, friends, is the point where this post stops being so much fun.

The United States of America has elected a President who will do severe damage to our economy, our environment and for basic human rights. The last time we elected an incompetent ideologue, we went from a nation at peace - a prosperous one that had a budget surplus, to a country fighting two wars, a huge budget deficit, high unemployment and an economy on the precipice of a depression. It has taken seven and a half years to slowly climb out of that hole. Now we have ended the two wars, unemployment is down, and the budget deficit is shrunk to below where it was in 2007/8. The economy has grown, albeit slowly, for each of these seven years, a run is truly remarkable. Unfortunately, President Donald Trump will be even more incompetent than President George W. Bush, and all of these things and more, will become much worse. The raptors are now in charge.

The focus of this blog is the environment, so we will limit the remainder of the discussion to that realm. The outlook for the ecology of the United States as well as that of the entire world is dark. It had been bleak before, even when someone with good intentions was in charge. The new sheriff (or, if you prefer, raptor) is promising to do away with what progress we've been able to make towards putting a stop to climate change. Let's get more specific.

Trump has named a noted climate change denier to lead his EPA transition team. Myron Ebell was named in a Scientific American article as heralding big, divisive changes to to the EPA. In fact, Ebell is a well-known and polarizing figure in all matter regarding energy and the environment. "His participation in the EPA transition signals that the Trump team is looking to drastically reshape the climate policies the agency has pursued under the Obama administration. Ebell’s role is likely to infuriate environmentalists and Democrats but buoy critics of Obama’s climate rules."

Ebell is even in favor of doing away with the agency, which is our only line of defense toward anyone doing harm to our planet's environment. He described Newt Gingrich's suggestion to abolish the EPA as "Bold and Visionary".

Republicans in both houses of Congress may not like Mr. Trump, but they will certainly agree with his reactionary push back toward the burning of fossil fuels. The greatest oxymoron of all time, "clean coal", is part of the party platform.

There are dark days ahead, friends. The raptors are in charge.