MAGAZINE OF THE SOCIE TY FOR SCIENCE & THE PUBLIC MAGAZINE OF THE SOCIETY FOR SCIENCE & THE PUBLIC
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Climate change is clear,
the best response is not
Whenever any publication ventures
into the realm of climate science, swift
response from global warming skeptics
is sure to follow. Some of that response
is venomous ideological nonsense,
designed to intimidate journalists. But
some of it raises legitimate questions
that researchers can’t yet fully answer.
In this issue, Science News contributing editor Alexandra
Witze explores some of the questions that today’s climate
scientists are actively investigating, such as the precise role of
aerosols in global climate dynamics and regional impacts of
rising global temperatures (Page 24). Unanswered questions
remain about other aspects of climate science (Page 28).
Such uncertainties are seized by some as evidence that cli-
mate science is untrustworthy. But science always encounters
uncertainty at one level or another. Embracing uncertainty is
one of science’s great strengths — it allows new information to
modulate judgments and correct mistaken beliefs. The skill is
in distinguishing between what is certain and what isn’t (or at
least what lies closer to one end or the other of that spectrum).
Many pieces of the climate science puzzle have been sufficiently established to leave no room for intelligent doubt.
Carbon dioxide (and certain other molecules) trap heat in the
atmosphere, and the amounts of these molecules have been
rising. Human activity, such as the burning of fossil fuels,
pumps prodigious quantities of these chemicals into the air.
And the planet’s temperature has been rising.
Some critics contend that these facts do not imply that
warming will continue as levels of heat-trapping gases rise, but
the world’s leading climate scientists (and the world’s most
reputable scientific bodies) argue otherwise. Yet there is a
realm for legitimate climate change debate — namely, what to
do about it. Much of the antagonism toward climate science
seems motivated not by the conclusions about warming and its
impacts, but rather by the actions recommended to counteract
it. Science does not say what the proper course of action should
be — whether using renewable energy, building power plants
that sequester carbon or simply planning to live in a warmer
world. Some proposed actions may indeed bring unpalatable
consequences and therefore understandable opposition. But
the debaters on both sides should acknowledge that the costs
of taking action, or not, in response to climate change have
nothing to do with the science establishing that climate change
is happening. —Tom Siegfried, Editor in Chief
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