I’ve done a lot of Earth Day presentations over the years, but this represents one of my ALLTIME favorites, speaking at the California Academy of Sciences, an amazing place brimming with brilliant men and women doing essential research and work that matters.

It’s hard to fathom in 2017, that we need to march in order to help the flat earthers out there understand that science matters. I can’t wrap my head around the fact that we are living in a time where we have a president and over half of congress hellbent on eviscerating our environmental laws and agencies that protect our most basic needs: clean air, clean water, healthy food, wild spaces, flowing rivers, biodiverse oceans, and a livable climate.

On this day where men, women and children across the globe are marching and protesting in support of science–I feel dirty even saying this, it’s like saying that people are marching to show their support of gravity–I’m thinking we need to propose new qualification for any candidate running for public office. If you’re a flat earther who doesn’t believe in science, stay hidden in your hole, but you can’t run for public office, not when the planet, and future generations of global residents, two legged, four legged, winged and finned are at risk. Or better yet, how about this, let’s just agree as rational, reasonable adults, that we won’t vote for candidates who believe that our planet is only 6,000 years old, and that we humans walked with dinosaurs. We wouldn’t allow a doctor who didn’t believe in anesthesia to open us up, so why allow the men and women charged with the protection of our environment, civil liberties, and human rights, to remain stuck in the dark ages?

It’s Twenty17 people. Science is for real. Science matters. And science makes Trump, Ryan, McConnell, and the rest of these climate deniers look foolish. And lastly, to anyone offended by this post, ask yourself how you’re enjoying your Carmel macchiato, that delicious yam, living without smallpox and polio, driving your car instead of hoofing it, taking public transportation, or binging your favorite Netflix saga. Oh, and don’t forget about electricity and the cell phone you’re using to read this rant. That’s a wrap. Science matters, and it’s never mattered more.

With nothin’ but love, Michael W. Leach