A disturbing pattern has been emerging for years. “Fake news,” rumors and outlandish theories have been around forever. Over several decades they have gained a status sufficient to operate at the highest level of government; they have become “alternative facts.”
The substitution of alternative facts for science is extracting a startling toll. Two examples illustrate the point. For years climate scientists have reported data and issued warnings with increasing alarm. Government officials substituted their “alternative facts” to block efforts to address the problem. Waiting to see what happens is a failed strategy.
Similarly, warnings by scientists regarding COVID-19 were pushed aside with tragic results. Instead of planning and preparing, government officials substituted their analysis based on a “wait and see” strategy. In both climate change and public health, alternative facts amount to gambling with risk and human life.
Risk management is both an art and a science with emphasis on science. Use of science-based decision-making does not produce certainty but it does minimize risk. Playing on the margins increases the risk. It is one thing to risk your own life or well-being. It is quite another to risk the life of someone else. And, of course, the stakes go up when multiple lives are involved.
In the United States over the past four decades we have increasingly and consciously ignored facts in favor of political maneuvering. The price with COVID-19 is apparent. The price with climate change is just as harsh but spread over a much longer period.
RICHARD A. HESSE
Hopkinton