Who Do We Choose to Be?, Second Edition: Facing Reality, Claiming Leadership, Restoring Sanity

by Margaret J. Wheatley

Fear so easily binds people together in their constructed reality of what’s true and what’s fake. And science—a source of real reality—suffers irreparable damage that continues to cause great harm to people and planet. People easily dismiss scientific research as bias, opinion, fake news, just like everything else. When science contradicts their certainty, in a great twist of logic, that proves it must be fake. Any valid scientific research can be casually labeled as conspiracy; someone somewhere (the powerful) are out to get us and take away our freedoms. But something far more dangerous and sinister has been going on for years: Several corporations have actively promoted science denial to further their short-term profits. We were aware of this with tobacco companies decades ago, but during that same decade, campaigns were launched by oil companies to discredit science and deliberately confuse people and policy makers. Tobacco use was a personal health issue, but fossil fuel companies have knowingly created existential threats to our collective existence. In 1977, Esso (now Exxon) was told about the impacts of burning fossil fuels on global temperature rise from carbon emissions. At that time, they funded genuine scientific studies that confirmed this dire threat. But then, corporate self-interest kicked in and they initiated campaigns and coalitions to protect their business by sowing doubt and distrust. One memo to the coalition of fossil fuel companies defined victory ...