“In the debate over whether 80 years of California Fish and Game Commission aquaculture leases in Drakes Estero should continue to provide 55 percent of California’s sustainable shellfish production capacity, perhaps, for the sake of our civil democracy, we can agree that any decision should be based upon verifiable facts, and the actual — rather than illusory — consequences of this choice.
Surely, as our representative, a Democrat, and an environmentalist, Rep. Jared Huffman, will support an open congressional airing of the scientific, legal and policy questions surrounding this matter, so seriously impacting the present, and future, well-being of his district.”
Marin Readers’ Forum for June 25
From Marin Independent Journal readers
Posted: 06/24/2013 03:27:31 PM PDT
Drakes Estero leases
While we may not be able to agree on what is knowledge versus what is orthodoxy, we must agree on the criteria by which that distinction is made if our democracy is to survive. There may be no perfect Truth, but there are claims that can be verified by empirical facts and those that cannot. Our democracy depends upon the capacity to recognize the difference.
Historical facts are subject to corroboration by an examination of the documentary record. Scientific fact is subject to validation through data and testable hypotheses.
Democracy is compromised when we substitute opinion and prejudice, however passionately held, for science and reason.
In the words of Chris Hedges, “A populace deprived of the ability to separate lies from truth, that has become hostage to the fictional semblance of reality put forth by pseudoevents, is no longer capable of sustaining a free society.” Facts must prevail if freedom is to survive.
In the debate over whether 80 years of California Fish and Game Commission aquaculture leases in Drakes Estero should continue to provide 55 percent of California’s sustainable shellfish production capacity, perhaps, for the sake of our civil democracy, we can agree that any decision should be based upon verifiable facts, and the actual — rather than illusory — consequences of this choice.
Surely, as our representative, a Democrat, and an environmentalist, Rep. Jared Huffman, will support an open congressional airing of the scientific, legal and policy questions surrounding this matter, so seriously impacting the present, and future, well-being of his district.
Jeffrey Creque, Petaluma
Dr. Creque is a Land Stewardship Consultant
Drakes Bay Oyster Company & the National Park Service. Watch the video, "THE FRAMING OF AN OYSTER FARM" at http://vimeo.com/52331881 