Doomsday

So I went to the New York Academy of Sciences gala last night. One of the scientists who was honored spoke about how there is so much pressure in science now to focus on translational research. In other words, to focus on scientific research that will have direct implications on drug discovery and health care, etc. Yet his point was that, if some of the more fundamental research is ignored, it's a huge loss, even, ultimately, for medical research. At an otherwise, um, rather dull event, this scientist was using this venue to make his point. Pretty passionately I might add.

Jeffrey Sachs also spoke last night about how we are really at the tipping point of catastrophe as far as climate change is concerned and while the climate change bill is hiding behind other "more important" bills in Congress, we are quickly losing time to do anything before it's too late.

This is actually something I've been thinking about lately. The climate change problem, though I am not as well-schooled in it as I should be, competely freaks me out. Part of the reason I don't want to delve too deeply into it is that I'm afraid to know.

And I've thought of how this relates to me and to my disease and to disease in general. Because, I will admit that I've been guilty of thinking: "Why are we worrying about curing diseases, or, for that matter, fixing health care, if the entire planet is doomed?" "Why aren't we aggressively trying to fix THAT problem before all others? Immediately?" And I don't know the answer to that.

I'm sure I'm not the only person to think this. And believe me, I do know why we want to find cures for disease. I feel those reasons more intimately than I ever did before. I want a cure for chordoma and pancreatic cancer and breast cancer and lung cancer and AIDS and leukemia and everything I've ever seen affect someone I know.

I do feel that this bigger picture stuff is being ignored because it's not directly hurting people yet in an obvious way. And by the time it does it will be too late.

I don't think my reuseable grocery bag is going to do much to help in the meantime. So I guess I just have to worry about both long-term and short-term. In the short and long-term.