the war on science

[Guest guest]

Kevin Knobloch

 

THE WAR ON SCIENCE

White House disinformation in the face of

unwelcome facts threatens everyone

 

 

 

IN PUBLIC OPINION SURVEYS, Americans consistently rate scientists

among the professionals they respect most. At the other end of the

respect spectrum, fairly or not, they place elected officials.

 

 

 

This should not come as a surprise. Scientists are trained to

rigorously pursue the truth through empirical research and

experimentation, transparent methodologies, constant testing of

hypotheses, and review and critique by technically qualified peers.

Most unflinchingly share their findings, whether the news is good or

bad. Politicians, on the other hand, don't like to say what their

constituents don't want to hear. As one of our most famous living

biologists, E. O. Wilson, said recently, " Science is not a religion,

ideology, or lobby -- it is simply the best method hit upon to

acquire knowledge about the real world. "

 

American political leaders generally have respected scientists over

the years. The late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, " Everyone

is entitled to their own opinion; they're just not entitled to their

own facts. " That maxim has held true until now. Science is under

assault by the Bush administration and some congressional leaders --

a situation that should make us all, regardless of our political

leanings, very worried. The intent behind this assault is to confuse

our understanding of truth and to erode the public's trust in

science through political manipulation of scientists and their

research results. We all will pay a dear price for allowing it to

continue.

 

 

In a recent open letter lamenting the politicization and

misrepresentation of science by the current administration, forty-

eight Nobel laureates and sixty-two National Medal of Science

recipients declared that " successful application of science has

played a large part in the policies that have made the United States

of America the world's most powerful nation and its citizens

increasingly prosperous and healthy. " Indeed, science is the

backbone of any civilization. It is at the heart of great thought,

philosophy, discovery, and even art -- for example, new

understanding of anatomy informed Michelangelo's sculpture.

 

 

To be a scientist is to investigate, meticulously -- particle by

particle, cell by cell, and theory by theory -- the wondrously

complex miracle that is the world. To push aside the findings of

scientific research that don't support desired policy goals for

short-term interests is beyond shortsightedness, beyond narrow-

mindedness. It is to look through a lens so small that the very

world is lost.

 

 

That is, of course, the intent of those who characterize the

extremely strong scientific consensus on climate change -- that

human burning of fossil fuels is driving harmful climatic changes --

as insufficient evidence upon which to act. (Climate change is one

of thirty examples the Union of Concerned Scientists has documented

of distortion of scientific findings.) In the case of climate change

and some other important scientific questions, some past political

leaders considered what the science said, then ignored it. The

administration today goes dangerously further than any of its

predecessors, sowing doubt and confusion where none exists,

impugning the integrity of critics, and discouraging unbiased

analysis of the facts.

 

 

A fundamental tenet of successful democracies is that citizens and

their leaders should make decisions based on the best and most

accurate information. If the present attitude in Washington

prevails -- that it is okay to give a little here, fudge a little

there, remove anyone in the way, call anyone an expert, and

discourage the meticulous examination and thought based on the

facts -- then we will have deeply compromised the human impulse that

both sustains great civilizations and is critical to our very

survival.

 

 

 

 

KEVIN KNOBLOCH is president of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

 

http://www.oriononline.org/pages/om/04-6om/Knobloch.html