Teach Science.

This morning as I sipped my first cup of coffee, I scrolled through my Instagram feed. There was the usual fare of selfies, cute pets, and talented art, but my eye fell on a video from the BBC about the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, where scientists from the University of Sheffield were teaching the displaced, Syrian farmers how to grow crops hydroponically. It was such a wonderful, uplifting story about the power of human ingenuity and science! Before I literally “ran for the hills”, I was a scientist.

Anyway, the story of Zaatari’s hydroponic gardens is amazing and you can find the BBC video here.

After feeling so inspired and uplifted by this story of repurposing old mattresses into hydroponic gardens, I made the mistake of looking at the comments section. Dear God, why? Why did I do that to myself!? I guess I’m just a sucker for pain.

There was a comment from a young lady, twenty six years old, presumably with at least a high school diploma (of course I had to lurk the profile), that read: “Not hygienic though.”

I stared at my phone screen in silent disbelief for several minutes. What kind of abominable Cesspool of Stupidity spawned this comment? Should I tell her? Should I tell her most food is grown with…MANURE!? Should I tell her that many hydroponic operations use fish, so their poop can fertilize the plants? Should I point out that the folks from the University of Sheffield who set up this project, *literally* scienced the shit out of growing crops?

How could anyone who has lived for over two and a half decades on this planet, and completed some kind of secondary education, know so little about the very basics of how food is grown? The very basic biology of plants and the nitrogen cycle… HOW!? As a former scientist and a person who enjoys growing plants, I just can’t wrap my brain around that.

Please teach children science. Fund science education, so I don’t have to feel like Professor Farnsworth.