“Follow the science!” This value-neutral field with its objective logic and cold reasoning is our beacon of hope in an ecological crisis. But should we celebrate its lack of values, or is it time to shift our scientific paradigm?

That’s the argument of this week’s guest, ecologist Dan Fiscus, who says the very nature of science as value-neutral is a driving force in the climate crisis. He argues science will never be able to tackle the scale of the problem posed by the climate crisis until we infuse the field with ethics.

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It’s a fascinating proposition. Dan explains how the modern paradigm is ROAM: Reductionist, Objectivist, Analytic and Mechanistic. He describes its failures to understand and treat the environment as inseparable from Life, and proposes a new paradigm for the future.

I’m thrilled to release this the week after Carl Safina took us on a journey back to Ancient Greece, to argue the climate crisis has its roots in Plato’s concept of profanity. I’d highly recommend listening to them back-to-back. Listen here or catch it on on Apple or Spotify.

Discover Dan’s work.

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© 2022 Rachel Donald

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