Is Science Broken?

Veta Wade
Nov 14
3 min read

Updated: Nov 21

Lately, I’ve been thinking alot about science, its power, its limitations, and its place in shaping our future through lifesaving medicines and vaccines, transportation, tech, and so much more. Science has given us incredible tools and conveniences, yet trust in it is falling apart. When even world leaders dismiss climate change as a hoax, you know we’re at a turning point. The pace of planetary warming today is unlike anything in Earth’s known history. Climate change occurring ten times faster than at any time in past 65 million years, and still, so many people feel excluded from "Science", its language, its communities, its opportunities. The dilemma now is that, while acknowledging that science has achieved many advances, we also have to highlight that science has also led to widespread fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions, which are the primary causes of today's rapid planetary warming. What's more is that despite the incredible achievements of science, the culture of science remains deeply exclusionary, especially towards, women, mothers and the tropical majority (stewards of 30% of the global oceans, and untapped repository of local knowledge and innovations), because it consistently fails to value the human experience or provide meaning support, leaving those who don't fit narrow norms isolated and exhausted.

There’s widespread talk in Jamaica right now about the weather being "weaponized" against the country, is a sign of just how much trust in science and leadership has frayed in some communities. After Hurricane Melissa hit Jamaica as the strongest category 5 hurricane on record, 28 October 2025, social media out of Jamaica lit up with claims that the storm was deliberately created or directed by outside forces, with narratives ranging from satellites steering hurricanes to governments punishing Jamaica for political reasons. Old conspiracy theories about weather control have spread quickly, fueled by frustration, loss, and the very real hardship people are facing.

Moments like these show that unless science and communications become more accessible, grounded, and honest about uncertainty and risk, people will turn to the explanations that resonate most with their lived reality, even when those explanations have no scientific basis, are Ai generated or even fake. The need for more open, participatory dialogue around climate and resilience in the Caribbean has never been clearer. And even more so, policy, strategies and innovations need to recognize our unique circumstances and be designed in such a way that the people across communities can see themselves as integral to the solutions and trust that their best interests are being represented.

Back in 2020, I hosted a UNESCO training session on ocean advocacy for youth and when I asked the cohort where they get their information, and learn about climate science, the overwhelming majority said social media. More and more, I see young people turning to platforms like TikTok for their science education. “TikTok Labs” feels far more accessible to them than any formal institution. Meanwhile, we’re in the midst of another mass biodiversity extinction. I often wonder if the species we share our island and planet with today will even exist for my grandchildren to see in the wild.

So I keep circling back to this: If science has helped create the problems we face? Can science really help get us out? In its current form, I’m don't think so. In a world awash with disinformation and mistrust, science can’t just be for the elite or those “in the know.” People are hungry for approaches that acknowledge what’s personal, lived, and real. Our understanding of success and purpose is evolving, opening space for joy, balance, and belonging. There are some things science alone can't measure, but that matter deeply to our wellbeing.

Perhaps this is the perfect moment to imagine a science that’s open, creative, and welcoming; a science where everyone belongs, and wellbeing is shared.