Alex Berezow - Science left behind: feel-good fallacies and the rise of the anti-scientific left

Feel-Good Fallacies
and the Rise of the Anti-Scientific Left

ALEX B. BEREZOW HANK CAMPBELL

PUBLICAFFAIRS
New York

Copyright 2012 by Alex B. Berezow and Hank Campbell.

Published in the United States by PublicAffairs, a Member of the Perseus Books Group

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address PublicAffairs, 250 West 57th Street, Suite 1321, New York, NY 10107.

PublicAffairs books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the U.S. by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more information, please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300 Chestnut Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA 19103, call (800) 810-4145, ext. 5000, or e-mail .

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Berezow, Alex B.

Science left behind : feel-good fallacies and the rise of the anti-scientific left / Alex Berezow, Hank Campbell.1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-61039-165-8(electronic) 1. SciencePolitical aspectsUnited States. 2. Science and stateUnited States. I. Campbell, Hank. II. Title.

Q175.52.U5B47 2012

303.4830973dc23

2012012544

First Edition

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For my wife, Ania, without whom all my endeavors are without meaning

ABB

To Kim, who has always been supportive, even six years ago when I decided I wanted to write science on the Internet. Joe, Courtney, Paige, Colin, Cormacyou got your names in a book

HJC

IN 2007, FRESH OFF A 2006 VICTORY in both chambers of Congress, Democrats set out to boldly fulfill their campaign promises to make America more sustainableby replacing utensils in the U.S. Capitol building. They called it their Green the Capitol Initiative. With this initiative, the Democrats planned to make the Capitol building itself a model of sustainability and set an example for us all. They wanted to do just what they thought America needed; namely, update some lightbulbs and replace bathroom fixturesbasically a progressive honey do listbut perhaps most importantly for their environmentalist constituencies, they took the giant step of greening the congressional cafeteria.

Cost was no object. Good thing, too.

Contrary to what the public often thinks, politicians and their staff members work hard. (This is not to say that they pass much meaningful legislationbesides drafting bills no one can actually read, most of their hard work boils down to finding new ways to take down the opposition.) Staffers put in long hours, and meal breaks are frequently to go. In 2006, that meant a heavy reliance on Styrofoam and plastic utensils. To the new Democratic majority of 2007, this meant shocking environmental waste. Their solution: new, greener forks and spoons that were better than plastic because they could be composted.

They claimed science was on their side. Composting advocates have insisted that composting on a large scale would save money and be better for the environment. Never mind that the Capitol grounds do not really have room for piles of fermenting garbage; evidence is often first to fall in the culture war on science. Armed with a similar majority in the Senate (and an armful of new utensils), the Democrats issued a new decree: from now on, the cafeteria in the Capitol would offer takeout utensils made from corn and containers made from sugarcane.

The result was a miracle of sustainability, at least according to internal reports by the Democrat-controlled House. The program claimed to have kept 650 tons of waste out of landfills between 2007 and 2010.

Greening the Capitol looked terrific on paper. The only problem: the new green replacements were actually worse for the environment and costlier as well. The spoons melted in soup, so people had to use more than one just to get through lunch. The knives could barely cut butter without breaking. Hard as it was for the utensils to make it through a meal intact, it was even harder for them to actually biodegrade afterward. Instead of being easily composted, the utensils and containers had to be processed in a special pulper and then driven to Maryland in giant emission-belching trucks.

The House Inspector General ordered a new, independent analysis in 2010 and found that the actual emissions savings in return for all that money and inconvenience was equivalent to removing one automobile from use

Who was blamed for being an enemy of the environment for that decision? Progressive Nancy Pelosi tweeted that Republicans were the problem: GOP brings back Styrofoam & ends compostingHouse will send 535 more tons to landfills, she claimed. Did progressives question her math? No, but they should have. The initial program supposedly saved 650 tons of waste in three years, or about 217 tons per year. But according to Pelosi, without the program, the House was going to generate 535 additional tons of waste per year. Her math simply didnt make sense.

This quirky anecdote is very illuminating: if an environmental story is being framed about people on the right, anything goes, but if the numbers dont add up for a progressive cause, the bad arithmetic is ignored. Representative Mike Honda (D-CA) even went a step beyond Pelosi, contending that an end to the composting program and a return to Styrofoam would cause a spike in cancer. These cancer-causing cups leach toxic chemicals, which threaten our health, our reproductive systems, and our environment as the nations 5th largest creator of hazardous waste. To claim these cups are part of a cost-cutting measure is completely disingenuous.

The right is not more anti-science than the left; it just has terrible public relations. Progressives have mastered feel-good fallacies, and theyve become so proficient at it that they are able to convince and sometimes bully the scientific community into playing along.

Feel-good fallacies designed just to win hearts (not minds) and the kooky lefts hijacking of science and medicine with dangerous implications are what this book is all about. Just like the House Democrats corn spoons and sugarcane cups, these policies often end up doing little and leaving behind a big mess. Worst of all, anyone who questions them is framed as anti-science.

If, while reading this introduction, you looked at your dishwasher and wondered why environmentally conscious progressives had not simply bought reusable utensils, the kind you use in your house every day, instead of wasting taxpayer money on a social experiment, then this book is for you. If you ever wondered why progressives have a strange fetish with alternative energy, then this book is for you. If you have ever wondered if organic food is nutritionally better as progressives claim, then this book is for you. If you ever wondered why progressives claim to support government policies for the children but then refuse to vaccinate them, then this book is for you. And thats just a small sampling of the many topics we cover. What we describe in these pages amounts to a progressive war on science and reason.