Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Use of science/facts in decision making

[John Beutler (jabeutler]

I think it's a matter of the order of magnitude of the insult. One whiff 
of cigarette smoke is tens of thousands of times less likely to cause 
lung cancer than years of smoking, whether passive or active.

Same deal with inverters in photovoltaic systems. Extremely Low 
Frequency radiation might possibly be a problem if you slept very close 
to it (e.g. a rooftop system directly over a bedroom), but would be an 
infinitesimal risk if the solar array is 300 feet away. Scientific 
studies have focused rightly on rooftop PVs, and have found no alarming 
effects.

It's partly people's inability to evaluate the magnitude of risk, 
because they don't always understand big and tiny numbers very well. 
Innumeracy, in other words. And the deterioration of education in 
science (and history).

<Rant over>

John Beutler
Liberty Village Cohousing
Libertytown, MD


On 12/31/2016 1:16 PM, Elizabeth Magill wrote:
> So smoking policies are one of the situations I wonder about.
>
> If one person believes that if their child walks through an outdoor area where 
> there is smoke they will probably get lung cancer, is there any way to use 
> facts to help resolve that discussion?
>
> -Liz
> (The Rev.) Elizabeth M. Magill
> www.ecclesiaministriesmission.org
> www.mosaic-commons.org
> 508-450-0431
>
>
>
>
> > On Dec 31, 2016, at 12:33 PM, Richard L Kohlhaas <rlkohl [at] earthlink.net> 
> > wrote:
> >
> > In our early days, we had endless discussions over a pet policy and a smoking 
> > policy.
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