Public discussions in the time of crises
As the corona crisis as well as the fight against it marches on, the public discussion is beginning to remind many of us of the discourse around the climate crisis. Both are global crises which must be solved with public policies aligned with scientific understanding. And both seem marked by similar misplaced good intentions and disunited efforts - disunited not just by chance but also by false dichotomies ("environment/epidemiology vs economics"). As I write this, I am thinking of the thousands of scientists around the country who are, to varying extents, able and eager to help during the corona crisis. I write this to extend an invitation to scientists to join public conversations, with the hope that the courtesies being requested for the corona conversation would also be extended to the climate conversation. 1 You will not become an epidemiologist / climate scientist overnight — and you shouldn't. Julia Gog, a mathematical epidemiologist, wrote a re