Dear evidence, Do not go gentle into that good night

Yesterday I wrote to you about changes to Canada’s environmental laws and policies from a caribou’s point of view. Today, I’m confronting those changes as a scientist.  I write this quick note from a funeral, one being held to mourn the “Death of Evidence.”  The scientific community has gathered together at Parliament Hill to ensure that the loss of science-based evidence from our government’s decision-making processes does not go unnoticed.

As WWF’s Senior Director of Conservation Science, and as a person who has devoted his life to helping bring sound, objective evidence to decision-making tables for close to three decades…there is a lot I would like to say about this.  I promise you an articulate, unemotional post on this subject in the coming days.

But today, as I write, I am absorbing this moment shared by my colleagues across the country who are with me in our nation’s capital.  And, as you’ll see from my photos, the sentiment is far from quiet resignation, far from throwing up our hands and saying all is lost.  Evidence’s chair at our government’s table might be empty… but science will not go gentle into that goodnight.  Its voice will always be there for us, hearing is up to the listener.