To wrap up our last day of class for this session, we talked a bit about some of the “big questions” we’re taking away from this experience. I thought my classmate, however, raised a very profound point: if we’ve learned anything this week, it’s that there’s a great deal of uncertainty in this field. SO TRUE. Her follow up question, however, was how do we present a unified front if we can’t all agree? “What are the tenets of this field?”
Well, I can’t say that I know. She’s right. Who can provide a definition of sustainability that’s achievable AND that everyone can agree with? In an integrated human-ecosystem framework, humans and ecosystems are intertwined…but, for decision-makers, a lot of choices need to be made which often prioritize one over the other – how do we deal with that? I mean, we can’t even decide if invasive plants are really invasive! There isn’t a common enemy, there isn’t a mantra or a motto.
But I guess I don’t see that as a major problem. This is science! If I learned nothing else from a decade of intensive science education, it’s that science can’t prove anything…it can only disprove. That often means that we have a lot more theories than certainties. As scientists, we can only share the best evidence we have to offer and ask people to keep it in mind while making decisions. And scientists aren’t alone! I think about the other fields that kind of function the same way (e.g., religion, economics, politics, medicine, education…OK, pretty much everything) and get some solace that NO ONE HAS ANY ABSOLUTE TRUTHS. We all kind of run on faith, best guesses, and individual interpretation. The challenge is to remind people (a.k.a. the public) that it’s unrealistic for us to have all the answers; we’re learning along with them! The best we can do is NOT to preach, but to share information and teach people how to process it. Does that count as a tenet?
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