While I was sitting at the stop light yesterday watching my local community march I was happy to see all the folks protesting Trump and his administration’s “diminishing role for fact-based research” as the Los Angeles Times put it.

One of the signs said something to the effect of…

If our elected officials aren’t scientists they should abstain from voting on scientific issues.

At first I was like, “Yeah! Sit down if you don’t know what you’re doing.” But then as I was driving to Peck Farm for their Earth Day Celebration, I started to think that sign was stupid.

Using that protestor’s logic would equate to not voting on healthcare issues if you’re not a doctor or not voting on educational issues if you’re not a teacher.

I’m not a formal scientist. I don’t have scientific degrees. I do kitchen science with Maggie and follow along with the International Space Station on Instagram. I listen to StarTalk Radio and and watch Boston Dynamics robot videos on YouTube.

What I do have, though, is common sense. It doesn’t take a scientist to know that the Clean Air Act was something the world needed, nor does it take a scientist to vote for it.

We elect our representatives to vote on our behalf. If they’re not voting often enough for how we think they should, we need to let them know. Maybe even vote for somebody else next time a round.

And we need to abstain from making ridiculous signs and statements.

Yep, even the liberal hippie nerds get it wrong sometimes. 😉

#earthday #science #politics