The Curse of Climate Change and the Scientific Method

About a year ago I watched a scientist giving testimony about climate change. She was highly credentialed and well versed in her topic. This lady knew her stuff, that was not a question.

But the Senators questioning her were asking her to give definite answers. They wanted the facts. Only the facts, and they required certainty.

Her detailed responses qualified her findings but did not claim to be absolute fact. 

Her frustration was clear during the questioning, and despite the dire predictions she was making, the politicians seemed to be looking for loopholes. 

The result was those opposed to the ramifications of her findings were able to claim that “there is still a question” and “action would be premature”.

This troubled me, because I could see she was baffled by the Senators inability to grasp how catastrophic the situation is becoming based on her exhaustive research. She was exhausted.

It finally struck me why the scientists and the decision makers are talking across one another, instead of joining together to take urgent action.

Decision makers, Senators, politicians want clear, direct, uncomplicated responses when they ask questions. They cannot tolerate equivocation.

Scientists are trained to consider all the options, and angles, and not ever claim absolutely certainty. At it’s base in scientific reasoning absolute certainty is a sign of hubris and ego, and within the scientific community, it is harshly scoffed. To protect themselves, and to allow for scientific inquiry to thrive, scientists are rigorously trained to avoid over simplification. They can’t give absolute certainty about their findings. 

It’s the curse of the scientific method when trying to make an irrefutable argument. 

The types of answers the politicians need, the scientists cannot give. The type of responses scientists give, the politicians can not use. 

Clearly we don’t have time for this. 

We must teach the scientists and the politicians to speak a common language that can allow us all to move forward to address the very real threats of climate change. 

Doing that is our biggest challenge. Once we accomplish this hurdle, solutions will be far easier.


This was originally posted 17 March 2015 at http://www.ecosocialsolutions.com/MTI/Solutions_Blog/Entries/2015/3/17_The_Curse_of_Climate_Change_and_the_Scientific_Method.html