The illusion of knowledge —Michael G. Noll

This comment by Michael G. Noll, president of WACE, came in yesterday on The backfire effect. There are more comments on that blog entry, and also on Seth Gunning’s posts, a key to community organizing work and organizing and activism. -jsq
Not sure what started this particular post, but as Stephen Hawking put it: “The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.” –

We are where we are as a community in relationship to the biomass issue because of our holistic approach, and with “we” I do not mean WACE exclusively. There have been countless

one on one conversations with private citizens and elected representatives, presentations at churches and at VSU, guest columns, letters to the editor and phone calls, regular tables at downtown events, newsletters, a letter writing campaign to local doctors, most recently a billboard on Baytree, etc.

From the start, myths and facts about biomass have been presented and dissected, alternatives for energy production and conservation offered, while the imminent questions of jobs and economic development have also been addressed (much of that on LAKE) … BECAUSE once we, our COMMUNITY, can move beyond the idea of biomass, it is time to finally bring the ideas worthy of the 21st century to fruition.

In the end, though, the most important focus for WACE has been and remains the threat to our commual health, which ultimately does not differentiate between economic class, color of skin, age, or political affiliation. (There is a reason why the mosaic of those who have joined us at our protests is so diverse, as has been pointed out before on this blog.) The State Director of the American Lung Association in Georgia (Mrs. June Deen) has been very clear on this in a letter we received, as has been Dr. Craig Bishop, one of many local doctors who supports our fight against the biomass plant.

By the way, we have always had signs that go beyond the simple yet important “Biomass? No!” message. “Honk if you are for clean air”, “Go Solar” and others have always been part of our protests. Just check the various recordings and photographs of our events outside City Hall, the Industrial Authority, etc. and you will “see” and even “hear” them … but that may bring us back to Stephen Hawking again …

-Michael G. Noll