In 1996, I was almost finishing high school and we were still concerned about the Ozone hole. Global Warming “did not exist” back then. We were in Biology class discussing cancer. I remember saying that I knew it was an uncontrolled growth of a group of cells product of a maladaptive mutation. Our teacher questioned why I used the word maladaptive and I told her that because in other cases mutations are the driver of evolution. She tried to explain me that evolution was just a theory and that anyhow, humans were “handcrafted” by god and that the idea of us being related to primates was just blasphemy. Yes, Biology class. To make the story short, we never got to agree as you may have suspected.
If I could just say that it was 1996 but now things are different, I wouldn’t be writing this article. But we are in 2010 and we still see in the news teachers being fired for teaching evolution. It’s not that in 14 years we reached the pinnacle of evolution and became all geniuses, but come on, 2010!
The movement to stop Global Warming is that other “big thing” currently under fire. The case here is that theories and facts that despite having an overwhelming support among the (civilized) world and stupidly high amount of scientific evidence are denied by some groups. And I’m not talking about religion here. This is one of the points where Evolution and Global Warming go hand by hand. They both rest in a solid empirical and circumstantial base and still there are those who tag them as hoaxes. Some due to conflicting interests, others because they fear them. Fear Global Warming and Evolution? What’s to fear? Well, not them per se. I think the problem with them lies within their meanings. Something connoted within those words which trigger a somewhat primal response in some of us. That thing is change.
Evolution is a force of change. It changes every living thing; it changes societies, changes history. And some people don’t like change, specially those with too conservative values. Same applies to Global Warming. Even though we’ve been buried in snow, this winter has been the warmest in years. Climate is changing too (and drastically).
Each one has a Nemesis. Organized Religion is to Evolution what economic interests are to Global Warming. And both have a common enemy: change and the reluctance of some to embrace it as something as unavoidable as the passage of time.
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Image credit, Diablogue
Article by Fernando
This is my blog - I write about careers, talent management and organizational development. I've been featured at Monster.com, Alltop, WeBlogBetter and BloggingPro among others. I hope you leave this blog with more than you arrived and I look forward to discussing your ideas and projects with you. See you in the comments section.
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