拒绝接纳科学证据的政客并没有资格做领袖 大卫铃木基金会 2011-03-11 12:00:28 很多朋友可能知道我是一名科学家，但未必清楚我的教育背景。虽然我在加国土生土长，但我的专业教育主要源自美国。1957年我以奖学金在美国麻省就读大学。当年苏联Sputnik卫星刚刚升空，而同一时间，美俄太空竞实亦即时展开。为着争取胜利，美国政府就国家太空计划投入大量金钱。
而我当时亦从而得到拨款到芝加哥大学继续深造。当我取得我的博士学位时，我立刻被美国Tennessee的Oak Ridge国家研突所雇佣工作。而我就在这所国际级研究中心专心研究工作。 时移世易，我身为一名生物学家，当然希望科学亦随着时间有所友变和发展。但当我从新闻和政客口中得知的最新知讯，特别是在美国方面，我无法相信现今美国政客对于科学的无知，甚至反感和抗拒。 其中一个近期的好例子¾美国Maine州州长Paul Lepage谈论有关工业毒素biphenol-A，简称BPA，通常用于制造胶水壶和玩具制品。加拿大卫生品已认定BPA会导至乳癌，儿童发展障碍，前列腺问题和不育。但对于美国Maine州州长Paul Lepage，他竟然公开表示BPA对人体的毒害没有科学根据。他更加指如果把BPA放于入微波炉才会对人体过成副作用。而对于女性最大的伤害只限于长多一些汗毛。 任何一位普通市民都会觉得以上的言论胡说八道。更何况Paul Lepage是一位德高望重的美国州长。而最令八忧心的是目前连加国也出现这种灭视科学证据的现象。虽然情形未有美国严重。 在美国方面，我们现时见到有政客公攻击所有有关人为气候转变现象。虽然科学家已提出不少科学证据，而国际气侯专家亦近乎一致同意人为气候转变因素。 现时水位上升，全球平均气候上升，极端气候现象频繁，北极冰块溶解加快，而一些美国政客却继续否认这个事实。最近一个最新民意调查显示，八成加国人民相会气侯转变的科学事实。但在美国，只有五成八人相信这个事实。 我承认自然科学并非完美，有时候更加会做出一些副面影响/不过对于了解和测量我们的环境，地球和我们个人行为对于环境造成的影响，自然科学依然是最好工具。 原文出处： http://www.davidsuzuki.org/blogs/science-matters/2011/03/politicians-who-reject-science-are-not-fit-to-lead/ Politicians Who Reject Science Are Not Fit To Lead By David Suzuki with Faisal Moola (March 3, 2011) My life as a scientist got its boost in the United States. I was attending college in Massachusetts in 1957 on a scholarship when the Soviet Union launched the first Sputnik satellite. The event also launched the space race between the U.S.S.R. and the U.S., as the Americans started pouring money into the sciences in an attempt to catch up. I was given funding to continue my graduate studies at the University of Chicago. On getting my PhD, I went on to work as a research associate at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Although the facility was built in 1942 as part of a top secret program to purify uranium for the Manhattan Project, its focus had shifted to basic biology by the time I arrived, and it became a centre of world-class research and international cooperation. Times have changed. I wish I could say that we’ve evolved when it comes to science. But sometimes reading the news and listening to the pronouncements of politicians, especially south of the border, I’m bewildered by the rampant ignorance about science and the antipathy toward it. One example I just came across was a comment by the governor of Maine, Paul Lepage, about bisphenol-A, or BPA, which is used mainly in plastic containers and toys. Health Canada recently declared BPA a toxic chemical because of its links to breast cancer, developmental problems in children, prostate disease, and fertility issues. In response to calls for his state to restrict BPA use, Mr. Lepage said, “There hasn’t been any science that identifies that there is a problem. The only thing that I’ve heard is if you take a plastic bottle and put it in the microwave and you heat it up, it gives off a chemical similar to estrogen. So the worst case is some women may have little beards.” It’s a profoundly ignorant statement for anyone to make, let alone a state governor, but it’s only the tip of the iceberg. Science is taking a beating in the U.S., and we’re starting to see a similar phenomenon here in Canada, although not to as great an extent. Far more dangerous are attempts by U.S. politicians to attack the overwhelming scientific evidence that human activity is causing catastrophic climate change. Despite countless studies by scientists from around the world and agreement among 98 per cent of the world’s climate scientists and most of the world’s scientific academies and societies that greenhouse gas emissions are causing the Earth’s average temperature to rise, not to mention the facts staring us in the face — increased frequency of extreme weather conditions, rising sea levels, melting ice caps and glaciers — some politicians in the U.S. continue to reject the science and argue that we must proceed with business as usual. Virginia’s Republican attorney general, Kenneth Cuccinelli, has been spending taxpayer dollars attacking climate scientists at the University of Virginia and is suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over its ruling that carbon dioxide and other global warming gases are a threat to human health and welfare. Many Republicans, some of whom also reject the science of evolution and believe the Earth was created 6,000 years ago and that humans and dinosaurs walked together, have been following his lead. Meanwhile a fifth investigation into the so-called “climategate” brouhaha, this one led by Republicans in response to a request from one of their own, Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, has again found no “evidence to question the ethics of our scientists or raise doubts about [the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s] understanding of climate change science.” In Canada, our government has cut funding for climate research, rejected or ignored scientific studies showing environmental damage from the tars sands, and been accused of “muzzling” scientists. We can take some comfort that, according to a recent poll, 80 per cent of Canadians believe in the science behind climate change, compared to only 58 per cent of U.S. citizens. Science isn’t perfect, and it can be used for destructive as well as beneficial purposes. But it’s the best tool we have for analyzing and understanding our world and the impact of our actions on the environment of which we are a part. If our leaders reject science, we really are in trouble. 【古风按：美国匮乏科学知识的国民及其平庸的政客正在逐步扼杀美国的国运。】 |
