ForestGroveConversationsPolitics
Jim Moore, director of Pacific University's Tom McCall Center for Policy Innovation, moderated a question and answer session with a panel of experts Thursday night. Experts discussed how science influenced public policy.
(Edwin Rios/Forest Grove Leader)
A small group of people gathered with experts in the Forest Grove Community Auditorium Thursday night to discuss the intersection of science and public policy.
The event, "Blinded by Science: The Politics of Fact in an Election Year," featured an essay contest, in which s
The winners were:
Elementary School Division:
Paige Kinsley – 1st place
Sophia Barbour-Weiss – 2nd place
Caleb VanderGiessen – 3rd place
Middle Division:
Benjamin Eric Bell – 1st place
Upper Division:
Rebekah McKinley – 1st place
Jim Moore, director of Pacific University's Tom McCall Center for Policy Innovation, then moderated a question and answer session with the Susan Nielsen of The Oregonian, Mike Cafferata of the Oregon Department of Forestry, and Russ Karow of Oregon State University's Crop and Science department.
Here’s an excerpt from Thursday’s conversation. It has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Jim Moore: We've seen the rise in the last 30 years of celebrity politics. What happens to the political process when celebrities take a stance on an issue? What do you see when a special person in [the political process] injects a megaphone?
Mike Cafferata: If you have a celebrity, they move that dial a little faster. There's a bunch of people out there who look up to them, so they hope to move that collective view of what's important a little bit. But when they start weighing in on the science, they may alienate people, while at the same time they're trying to help them.
Susan Nielsen: I would agree with that. It makes me think of Al Gore in his movie [an Inconvenient Truth]. Some people violently agree with it, some people avidly disagree with it. But having Al Gore there, it's sort of a vehicle to talk about a very difficult subject. It's like putting brown sugar on the oatmeal. It's a way to get people's interest. It's an entry point to a story. Sometimes that can distort it.
Ross Karow: From a university standpoint, all we can say is check the facts. We can go in and find opinions on both sides of the topics, so we can try and get all of those things out there so people…can work from as much of a factual base as possible. The celebrity can be the entry to discussion.
Nielsen: Interest groups are the Oregon equivalent of celebrities. People in Oregon are very polite, and people don't like to disagree. So if a group endorses a, say, a GMO issue on a ballot, if there's an issue you see when groups that you are personally affiliated with support or oppose the measure, no matter what the topic may be. Political groups can serve that purpose [of a celebrity].
Moore: Here's a topic that relates to one of our essays: Bees. Do you think we'll take the steps necessary to save the bees in time?
Cafferata: So this question of science and politics. I really don't know much about bees, but I have an opinion. So if I gave you a strong answer about it, you might think I know something about it and might take my opinion. But it would be the opinion of an Oregonian who really hasn't studied bees. We could ask the opinion of a bee scientist. But as it is, I really don't know.
Nielsen: He just missed an opportunity to convince all of us whatever your opinion is. [audience laughs]
Karow: Let me throw a few facts at you. Everyone heard about the bee kills that we had. Then we've tied bees kills into the bee colony collapse. But the bees killed were bumblebees. Bumblebees don't have colonies; they die off. They've got a small underground tunnels that live in. Most of those bees die in the tunnel anyway. They've got eggs and larva that survive, that become the group next year. So unless all the bees that were killed in any of those kill offs that we had were all from the same colonies, those particular bumblebee colonies will likely be okay. We mixed the science [and politics].
Check back Monday for the second part of the conversation.
-- Edwin Rios