Stephen CornfordOct 11, 2024

How is it that science is simultaneously so wonderously amazing and such utter bullshit?

This book arrived yesterday, whose title openly admits to the complete sham of specialisation in the natural sciences & the fallacy of disciplines in the face of actual phenomena.

In my hands it opened on a page about Cosmogenous Sedimentation - the name given to the perpetual rain of micrometeorites that fall from space through Earth’s atmosphere to sediment on the beds of her oceans. ☄️🌊🤯

Show threadStephen CornfordOct 11, 2024

.. Granules of space dust that get locked into the planetary strata.

My son starts seconadary school next year, and one of the things discussed at open days is whether they do combined or separate sciences in year 11. The planetary system is in freefall and the education system in this country has only regressed since I took science GCSEs 30 years ago. Science isn’t separable, and all too often it only functions in the service of extraction and tech-industry nonsense.

Show threadStephen Cornford
When will be there be an ecological approach to education that shows kids the wonder of the planet that houses us and damage done by producing acids and super greenhouse gases that are routinely used in the manufacture of the computers and tablets that some of these schools boast of having at their disposal. The whole thing makes me despair. 😢
Oct 11, 2024 at 10:49amWeb
Show thread((Jann Gobble)) 🏳️‍🌈Oct 11, 2024

@stephen_cornford You're not gonna like this answer: When the majority of schools in the controlling (read that USA/EU/China) world are federalized - with strict curriculae - that acknowledges these issues. Until then unfortunately, there won't be that type of education - at least not enough to matter.

@Brad_Rosenheim

Show threadBrad RosenheimOct 11, 2024
@stephen_cornford Having gone through 2 major hurricanes in the last 3 weeks, and fielding 1000's of questions about safety and evacuation (where should I go, is my house safe from x hazard, is y city safe from this storm?) I am convinced that an ecological understanding of Earth is the most important knowledge base one could have, no matter what one wants to be when they grow go. Major decisions, like where should I start my career, where should I live, etc. all would benefit from an adequate understanding of geological and meteorological hazards, pollutants, where the drinking water comes from, where the sewage goes, where the trash goes, and how these things may change with climate change.
Show threadBrad RosenheimOct 11, 2024
@stephen_cornford In fact, if I could turn back the clock 30 years when I was skeptical of doomsayers in books like "State of the World 1996" (my college environmental studies text during my first year), I would have not decided to become one of those scientists trying to discern how much the Earth is warming now compared to its recent geologic past. I would have instead decided that a growing scientifically illiterate population with blind faith in technological solutions was the biggest problem this planet was facing and I would have gotten into education and politics to change the way maids learn about this planet.
Show threadjohn grzinichOct 13, 2024
@stephen_cornford Even more crazy for me is how the 'ecological' potentials of human sociality, so necessary for survival, are sidelined in the purely utilitarian approach to "education". Working methods and practices around caring, sharing, co-creation, coexistence, mutualism, multi-sensory engagement etc are practically nonexistent. So how can human beings relate to the wonders of planetary existence if we haven't any means of cultural/earthly connection that sustain our own existence?