Opinion > Keep science, but in perspective

Nothing justifies government editing or withholding of information. The debate over global warming is an excellent example. The Bush administration tried to bend science to its will, yet the amount of skepticism about the whole idea of global warming demonstrates that it didn’t need to.

Bringing all the evidence out in public is the messier way to resolve an issue, and debate can break down when people refuse to compromise some value. This means no clean, quick decision, but in the end it is the better way because in the end what must be balanced are conflicting values — power plant jobs versus the cost of pollution, money for farmers or more greenhouse gases that must be counterbalanced by sacrifice elsewhere, mass transit versus individual automobiles. Evidence speaks for itself.

Before we spend $45 trillion on imaginary problems, maybe we should solve the real ones?

As the bitter cold sets in, spare a thought for 57-year-old Nokomanishi Ngam of Nqamakwe, a village in the rural hinterland of the former Transkei.

An asthmatic, Ngam coughs frequently as she relates her story of life in the Eastern Cape.

Her family is indigent and, for most of the month, goes to sleep without having had a proper nutritious meal, something that affects the matriarch’s health. Ngam said the family only gathered for a decent meal when she drew a child support grant at a bank in the nearby town of Butterworth.

“Life is tough here. We survive on grants from our children,” said Ngam.

“Our village is underdeveloped. There are no toilets, running water or electricity. When it rains, our bridge is broken and we are completely cut off from the rest of the world for weeks.”

Ngam’s is a familiar tale, heard throughout the province — from the dangerous, high-density township of Motherwell in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro to the far-flung rural village of Bizana in Eastern Pondoland.

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I am glad we finally have a governor who can see past the global warming hoax being pushed by the Sierra Club and Health and Environment Secretary Rod Bremby.