Refusing To Believe The Science

       I am absolutely amazed at how often normal Americans resist learning and information. I started thinking about this while motoring through Oregon last week.
       Let's start with reports that smoking causes cancer, respiratory disease and heart problems....and damages the people near you. This is not new information, the American Cancer Society has been throwing these facts at us for fifty years. The majority of people driving around eastern Oregon are smokers...their truck windows are coated by a blue film on the inside.
       Next, I'm standing in line at a grocery in Burns, Oregon while the store manager is training a new cashier. I'm holding a jar of organic peanut butter, a loaf of sourdough bread, celery, mustard and a baby loaf of white cheddar cheese (made in Oregon). "Oh, here's a guy that eats only healthy food." says the manager. I look at the cart behind me and the full bags in front of me...Cheetos, Diet Pepsi, Lucky Charms and Spam prevail...It's because I want to stay healthy, I reason, out loud... They all chortle loudly at the same moment.
       Exercise is another issue the literature covers quite well. You don't have to train like an athlete, you just have to keep moving under your own power...a walk with the dog or the grandkids. Americans are unique in this, from what I've witnessed around the world, they jump in the car to drive two or three blocks to get the mail, pick up kids at school or to get a morning coffee.
       Then there's the issue of 'climate change' and increasing CO2 levels and how these occurrences are changing the planet and our daily lives. Forget it.
       Americans can't figure out how to eat, stay active, give up bad habits...we are never going to have any hope of digesting the information about climate change, it just isn't going to happen....we are TOAST.