Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire: How to stop global warming

Sunday, November 14, 2010

How to stop global warming - even if you don't believe in it

In the global-warming debate, scientists are, admirably, still trying to save the day. Last week, the American Geophysical Union announced plans to mobilize about 700 climate scientists in an effort to improve the accuracy of media coverage and public understanding of their field. Separately, a smaller group of scientists organized by John Abraham of the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota said it was putting together a "rapid response team" to bring accurate climate science to public debates.
On the face of it, such efforts certainly make sense. The scientists hope, not unreasonably, to bring more attention to the climate-change crisis. More crucially, they seek to halt the slide in public opinion on the issue, with recent polls finding Americans' belief in the evidence for global warming on the decline, along with their view of the need for immediate action to slow climate change. And it's true that science education, when done well, may help accomplish these goals.
But will it lead to meaningful policy? Or will this latest round of efforts instead result in another spate of news stories about scary end-of-the-world scenarios, another series of debates over whether global-warming science is a hoax and more wasted time - time we don't have?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/12/AR2010111202800.html