No ‘science magic’ can address this failure

As with any science, there is always fringe science. And, in some perverse sense, I’m in awe of anyone who can make money as a fringe science promoter: Crystals, nutty diets, packets of fairy dust…it takes a dedicated, audacious rascal to pull this off.

If it’s true that Anthony

Watts is compensated by the Heartland Institute for marketing his fantastical claims, I must at least acknowledge his accomplishment: Not everyone can spin road apples into gold.

I’ve read a few letters taking Watts to task and it’s a good thing to cheer for keeping science on its hinges. Well, to the extent the reasoning of the common man has ever kept anything on its hinges. By all means, keep debating Anthony Watts, even at the cost of legitimizing mendacity by indulging it with one more riposte.

But, here’s the thing: Our impending environmental collapse is less about science and more about morality. There is no failure of science. In fact, our ability to quantify and understand what’s happening to the biosphere is stunning. Equally stunning is the moral bankruptcy with which the science is met.

The people of Planet Earth have precipitated a crisis. This crisis has been long anticipated and the values we need to avert it have been well understood, well described and roundly ignored. We chose the path of material rapaciousness, and numeric supremacy, over the path of environmental responsibility. There’s no “science magic” that can address this failure, even as science quantifies the consequences.

— Patrick Newman, Chico