Tom Downing

I’m against data centers in general because I have received overwhelming responses from the people in the 50th Senate district who don’t want data centers anywhere near them. Counties are already modifying their Universal Development Ordinances (or creating them in the first place) or to put a temporary moratorium in place. The General Assembly should step up and require data centers to pay for all extra utility costs that they create; require that they limit sound that travels past their property lines; capture their stormwater runoff; and make them pay into a fund if the land they build upon could have been used for housing instead of the data center.

First of all, we must stop redistributing public funds from public schools and giving those funds to private schools. We must fully fund our public schools as required by the state constitution and appropriately compensate our teachers and other school staff with salary and benefits (including increased pay for degrees beyond the bachelors degree) so that we can fill all of our open teaching positions, Including teaching positions in science, technology and math.

Schools need adequate facilities and the counties that lack the resources to provide those facilities need assistance in paying for them from the state.

As a former teacher for 12 years in the public schools, I fully understand that the classrooms, the equipment, and the in-service training necessary for science education can be expensive, but it is a cost that we must pay if we want our students to excel in science. The same thing is true for all subjects.

For our community colleges, they must continue to be responsive to the needs of industry and universities. If any partnerships are created with industry they need to ensure that academic freedom is protected. We need all of our students to be scientifically literate to participate in our society so community college students should have access to remedial programs if they have gaps in their knowledge and understanding.

My feeling is that the North Carolina general assembly and specifically the state senate has a key role to play in working with local jurisdictions not only through statutes, but through ensuring that local communities have the resources that they need to make good decisions for their communities and they understand what that stake with something like PFAS So they can make the kinds of unified development, ordinance decisions that protect everyone’s well-being. Did we not learn from asbestos and beryllium and other harmful substances?

Once a toxic building material is entered into the environment. It stays there forever. It’s up to government institutions to lead the way to help educate the folks to understand this. Yes, materials may be cheaper and thereby provide a higher level of profit for the company that’s building the building, but that doesn’t mean we should just let anything happen because it’s cheaper.

Regarding emergency preparedness: we tend to be completely reactive to anything besides hurricanes because we have a long history of hurricanes hitting the coastal areas. We have not been proactive regarding wildland fires, earthquakes, landslides, tornadoes, and ice storms.

Even after hurricane Helene became tropical storm Helene and devastated so much of Western North Carolina the general assembly led by the Republicans chose to play a political football game instead of working to build back better with resilience and work toward ensuring that all North Carolina and understand what the plan is when we have the next natural disaster.

Not to mention other dangers like radiological and biological threats, electromagnetic pulses, and cyber attack attacks. It seems to me we’d rather bury our heads in the sand and hope it doesn’t happen then actually work to make sure every single person understands what they’re supposed to do when something happens.

For example, out here in Western North Carolina there are people that do not have access to a cell phone or even a landline phone in their home. They have to get in their car and travel a certain distance to when they can get reception from their phone or a public Wi-Fi Spot. These same people frequently do not have access to a radio station that could broadcast important information. In short, these people are hanging out to dry with absolutely no connection to the outside world when something like tropical storm Helene happens because many roads were closed or impassable due to the storm.

Besides electing people who believe in science and have the courage to call out elected officials who are anti-science, I think it starts with fully funding science education starting in pre-K programs and that includes summer camps and enrichment programs, science clubs, hands-on science, activities, and all of this being coordinated with the very best of science education pedagogy. Notice I did not say new textbooks and watching videos or online experiences— I said the very best of hands-on science education.

This also means training science teachers and all teachers to integrate science, math, and technology into as many lessons as possible across the curriculum.

I think mistrust of science has grown because certain people have been allowed to propagate bald-faced lies, and there has not been any specific authority to call them out on it.

I don’t have the solution to this. I just know that we need to stop letting people spread false information. For one issue as an example: The climate has changed — past tense. Continuing to deny it and continuing to vilify anyone who doesn’t follow a party line when a person in power decrees something that is anti-science is extremely dangerous and we will pay the price eventually if this type of behavior is not stopped.

In a way it completely blows my mind that we have to have this questionnaire in the first place. It shows how unbelievably far we have fallen as a society when we can’t even agree on scientific principles and concepts.

I’m trying to do everything I can do as a candidate to bring people together to find common ground so we can listen to each other and do the work we need to do instead of pointing fingers and finding fault and laying blame.

How can we deal with creating good public policy for clean air, clean water, and public health if we can’t have a basic understanding of scientific principles?

How can we even get started with the conversation if nobody’s really listening?

How can we move forward if the world is so partisan that every single thing ends up being seen as good or bad depending on what political party is creating the message?