Why now?

Internet forgive me. It has been a couple of years since my last blog post.

The synergy of sending off my APT materials, the end of some personal issues, and a drive to talk about what I do (even if no one is listening) brings me here. I also need to get back into a daily writing habit. But also…

Daily I see and read about increasing public distrust of science as a way to understand the world and a method for finding solutions to society’s problems at a time when we need all the tools we have. Mainly in my own country, the US, but elsewhere too. My training as an anthropologist and years of fieldwork suggest that I should engage in conversation, ask questions, seek common ground, and share what I know when/where appropriate. It’s about finding where different worldviews overlap to build new ideas, not bludgeoning people over the head with a heavy object to tell them that they are wrong. In my experience, telling someone they’re wrong only makes them dig in their heels.

I hope that the time for this sort of respectful dialogue has not passed. We need a middle ground, third path, whatever you want to call it. There is a quickly approaching sell by date evidenced by increasingly stronger and more unpredictable climate shifts, ongoing biodiversity losses, plastics everywhere (including places we never thought they might show up), food insecurity, freshwater problems, etc. And so I am here, trying again.