Climate Change and Bad Science
It is becoming more and more apparent that the climate is changing. From subtle temperature changes to large scale natural disasters, we must all admit that the Earth was not the same as before.
Climate change is that unsurprising instance where a purely scientific issue gets caught in the mix of political debate and public opinion. The mechanisms of our planet's sustainability and environmental functionings are some of the most widely investigated issues. However, the popularity of the issue itself ignites a conundrum for the scientific community.
We would like to believe that the scientific process is a foolproof procedure. Science is a branch of knowledge that studies the body of facts that adhere to natural law. What sounds more flawless than that? Although the world of science is a heavily fact-based, personal and political intentions have clouded the true purpose of science.
Yes, there is such a thing as good science and bad science. Modern science has begun to stray away from the realm of objectiveness and has teetered into becoming a heavily intention influenced practice. The scientific process was created on the basis of discovering the truth. Unfortunately, that has become partially false. Bad science is when variables included in experimental methods are manipulated to induce a more favorable outcome. Bad science is advantageous to those who share the same intent as the scientist. Bad science is easily regulated throughout the media. Good science is when the investigatory process fulfills the scientific method. Good science is when one questions the truth, and does not manipulate the truth to produce a lie, that is bad science.
Unfortunately, science is no longer driven by the uncontrollable pursuit of knowledge. The early scientific process created by ancient civilizations and Greek philosophers was solely based on the yearning to discover the truth of ourselves and the world we live in. Now, science is used for advertisement, endorsement, and support for personal motives, especially when it comes to that of climate change.
It is up to us to identify if it is good science or bad science that we are being told every day. What does real science tell us? Is climate change real? Is climate change inevitable? Sometimes it is difficult to fathom the future of humanity.
Other times, it is just hard to accept that we are the makers of our doom..