Politics in the Guise of Pure Science

Politics in the Guise of Pure Science

FINDINGS
Politics in the Guise of Pure Science
By
Feb. 23, 2009
Why, since President Obama promised to restore science to its rightful place in Washington, do some things feel not quite right?
First there was Steven Chu, the physicist and new energy secretary, warning The Los Angeles Times that climate change could make water so scarce by centurys end that theres no more agriculture in California and no way to keep the states cities going, either.
Then there was theto confirm another physicist, John Holdren, to be the presidents science adviser. Dr. Holdren was asked about some of his gloomy neo-Malthusian warnings in the past, like his calculation in the 1980s that famines due to climate change could leave a billion people dead by 2020. Did he still believe that?
I think it is unlikely to happen, Dr. Holdren told the senators, but he insisted that it was still a possibility that we should work energetically to avoid.
Well, I suppose it never hurts to go on the record in opposition to a billion imaginary deaths. But I have a more immediate concern: Will Mr. Obamas scientific counselors give him realistic plans for dealing with global warming and other threats? To borrow a term from Roger Pielke Jr.: Can these scientists be honest brokers?
Dr. Pielke, a professor in the environmental studies program at the University of Colorado, is the author of The Honest Broker, a book arguing that most scientists are fundamentally mistaken about their role in political debates. As a result, he says, theyre jeopardizing their credibility while impeding solutions to problems like global warming.
Most researchers, Dr. Pielke writes, like to think of themselves in one of two roles: as a pure researcher who remains aloof from messy politics, or an impartial arbiter offering expert answers to politicians questions. Either way, they believe their research can point the way to correct public policies, and sometimes it does when the science is clear and peoples values arent in conflict.
But climate change, like most political issues, isnt so simple. While most scientists agree that anthropogenic global warming is a threat, theyre not certain about its scale or its timing or its precise consequences (like the condition of Californias water supply in 2090). And while most members of the public want to avoid future harm from climate change, they have conflicting values about which sacrifices are worthwhile today.
A scientist can enter the fray by becoming an advocate for certain policies, like limits on carbon emissions or subsidies for wind power. Thats a perfectly legitimate role for scientists, as long as they acknowledge that theyre promoting their own agendas.
Credit…Viktor Koen
But too often, Dr. Pielke says, they pose as impartial experts pointing politicians to the only option that makes scientific sense. To bolster their case, theyre prone to exaggerate their expertise (like enumerating the catastrophes that would occur if their policies arent adopted), while denigrating their political opponents as unqualified or unscientific.
Some scientists want to influence policy in a certain direction and still be able to claim to be above politics, Dr. Pielke says. So they engage in what I call stealth issue advocacy by smuggling political arguments into putative scientific ones.
In Dr. Pielkes book, one example of this stealthy advocate is the nominee for White House science adviser, Dr. Holdren, a longtime proponent of policies to slow population growth and control energy use. (SeeTierneyLab, for more on his background.) He appears in a chapter analyzing the reaction of scientists to The Skeptical Environmentalist, a 2001 book arguing that many ecological dangers had been exaggerated.
Dr. Holdren called it his scientific duty to expose the complete incompetence of the books author, Bjorn Lomborg, a Danish political scientist. Dr. Holdren was one of the authors of an extraordinary 11-page attack on the book that ran inunder the headline, Science defends itself against The Skeptical Environmentalist as if science spoke with one voice.
After reviewing the criticisms, Dr. Pielke concludes that a more accurate headline would have been, Our political perspective defends itself against the political agenda of The Skeptical Environmentalist.
Public debates over climate change, Dr. Pielke says, often are about seemingly technical questions when they are really about who should have authority in the political debate. The debate over the science thus politicizes the science and distracts from policy.
Dr. Pielke suggests that scientists could do more good if, instead of discrediting rivals expertise, they acknowledge political differences and dont expect them to be resolved by science. Instead of steering politicians to a preferred policy, these honest brokers would use their expertise to expand the array of technically feasible options.
What would honest brokers tell the president about global warming? Dr. Pielke, who calls himself an Obamite, says hes concerned that the presidents advisers seem uniformly focused on cutting carbon emissions through a domestic cap-and-trade law and a new international treaty.
Its fine to try that strategy, he says, but there are too many technological, economic and political uncertainties to count on it making a significant global difference. If people around the world cant be cajoled or frightened by apocalyptic scenarios into cutting carbon emissions, then politicians need backup strategies.
One possibility, Dr. Pielke says, would be to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in the future.that it could cost about the same, in the long run, as making drastic cuts in emissions today, and could be cheaper if the technology improves. It could also be a lot easier sell to the public.
Yet research into this strategy has received little financing in past budgets or the new stimulus package because it doesnt jibe with the agenda of either side in the global-warming debate. Greens dont want this sort of technological fix; their opponents dont want to admit theres anything to fix. And neither sides advocates will compromise as long as they think that science will prove them right.

 

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