you are what you read

As emergency managers one of our greatest assets to our profession is our personal desire to consume as much information as possible and adapt it to use in the work that we do. This is the professional side of our lives. Professional journals and association news and events are great places to engage our brains and with other mutually interesting individuals.

I also think that we should be consuming information about a variety of topics. Given our technology revolution that we are in the midst of, it would be good to follow the latest developments in devices and software. I’m (more former now) a gardener and I have found that to be a passion. Interior decorating is another area that I’ve enjoyed. My daughter would always ask me my opinion on decorating over that of my wife Mary.  Fortunately, she was not offended.  And, I follow politics closely, reading the news and commentary (that is not news), in both the New York Times and Washington Post each day of the week.

Almost daily, I catch bits and pieces of Fox News to see what they are saying (mostly commentary by the way) and my go to television news since age 13 has been NBC Evening News—which makes me in the generation that still watches such things. A declining audience for sure. I also sometimes catch the ABC World News Tonight, which has little “world news” in the broadcast. If you want “world news” I recommend listening to the BBC News.  In the morning, right after my shower I catch NPR Podcast Up First and then NPR News Now. Both are short and encapsulates some news that I can listen to as I get ready for my day.

My cautionary tale for you is to be careful where you get “news” or shows that substitute for that. It is far too easy today to encapsulate yourself in a bubble of information being interpreted just one way for you. It may feel good at the time, but it may expose yourself to ideas and as people skew the news, to “alternative facts.” We need to be discerning readers, listeners and watchers.

Lastly, science and scientists are under attack today. I’ll agree that sometimes there are reports “eggs are cholesterol bombs” turns out not to be true. However, anyone denying climate change science and the impacts of global warming—if you are in our business—need to wake up and smell the smoke!  When people report “as recent study shows” take it with a grain of salt until that study is replicated by others in their profession. However, when the science community is united in a conclusion, then it would be wise to listen to what they are saying.

I’ve written about this one element in the past. I do not like the prognostications that say that by 2050, if we have not done “such and so” we will have crossed the Rubicon of climate change impacts. Heck, we could have crossed that river years ago already and there is no turning back.

My last comment on all of this is to read. You can’t listen and watch to be really informed on any topic.