“When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” (Yogi Berra)
The EDM field largely gets its raison d’etre, or purpose for being, due to one thing: There are threats to the lives, health, and overall well-being of our fellow world inhabitants that cause us to be willing to, because we have seen the value of, work together to face these threats to accomplish the public good in ways that each of us could not achieve the individual good.
To some of us (me!) the value of working together to achieve the common good is completely intuitive and obvious. However, I’m periodically reminded that not everyone thinks like I do. One example that still haunts me today is the time several years ago when I had two students in a class that focused on ‘resiliency’ that were each building an armed camp in the woods, doomsday prepper-style–one in Maryland and one in Oregon–in preparation for the coming collapse of society. They discussed their comparative activities extensively during the class. As we speak, I have a student dedicating his thesis to proving we were better off when we were ‘rugged individualists’ (essentially pre-FEMA, pre-Red Cross, etc.) than we are today. I toss the occasional bombshell into his thinking, such as that life expectancy has doubled since we started working together, but he’s still determined to prove his case.
These folks have essentially made a decision. They have concluded that our efforts to work together for the common good will ultimately break down, and we will once again be on our own. Survival will revert to being survival of the fittest. Mad Max society will rule the day. The golden age of human civilization will end.
We have ample opportunity to select this course. We have one of our political parties that has set its sights on:
- Bankrupting our ability to work together through tax cuts and wage suppression
- Dismantling the great social safety networks such as social security, medicare, and medicaid
- Outlawing universal health care and women-specific health care
- … and so on. These proposals are all on the table, and we as a society can choose them if we want to.
Fork-in-the-road decision #1: Is dismantling our society what we want?
So to step back for a minute and consider perceived and actual threats, here are some of the existential threats we as a society worry about:
- Terrorism
- Takeover of the country by outsiders and minorities
- Social breakdown
- Economic collapse
Here are some of the threats we’ve covered since these pages began:
- Climate change and its impacts–groundwater depletion, sea level rise, refugee migration
- Erratic weather and its impacts–flooding, snowstorms, etc.
- Failing infrastructure–Flint Michigan being one example
- The latest pandemics–Ebola and Zika
Here are some threats that we haven’t covered yet, but we will:
- Earthquakes
- Volcanoes
- Hurricanes
- Tornadoes
Here are some threats that we haven’t covered yet, and hope we never have to:
- A nuclear detonation or electro-magnetic pulse
- An inbound asteroid or comet
- A complete collapse of protein availability from the oceans
- Intolerable heat, smog, drought, etc.
- Wars over resources
So please: scan the lists above, and ask yourselves this one important question: Do I want to face these events by myself, or do I want to build a strong society that works together to solve these issues because I know I can’t go it alone?
Fork-in-the-road decision #2: Which political philosophy do I want to pick to protect myself and my family going forward? Is it the go-it-alone-every-person-for-himself philosophy? Or is it the let’s-band-together-for-the-common-good philosophy?
And lastly, let’s consider the viability of one of the most valued institutions in our modern world: science. Science has been instrumental in every quality of life enhancement that humanity has ever experienced. A short list: sanitation; vaccines; industrialization; transportation; information. The list goes on at great length.
Yet, similarly to what’s been described above, one political philosophy has put science at great risk. The states of Kansas, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Louisiana are doing their absolute best to dismantle their institutions of higher learning. Textbooks are being rewritten to present religious dogma as science, when they have little to nothing to do with each other. As this occurs, the greatness of our nation fades away at an accelerating rate.
Not only that, but denial of science is putting our personal health and well-being at risk, particularly in the area of climate change. The longer we deny, the less opportunity we will have to adapt and overcome.
“Are we going to believe our scientists, or are we going to believe a guy who throws snowballs in the Senate?” (President Obama)
It’s a fair question.
Fork-in-the-road decision #3: Are we going to ignore the science that seeks to protect us from threats, or are we going to finally listen?
If we decide to listen, then there’s one thing we really need to do whenever we encounter a politician or pundit that spouts society-destroying, threat-ignoring, science-denying rhetoric: Tell them to be quiet before they do any more damage.
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