"Our greatest responsibility is to be good ancestors."

-Jonas Salk

Thursday, May 6, 2010

The Whole Thing

The Google may hold this against me, but it seems to me I might as well quote the whole thing since Science seems to have it behind a paywall and everything.

Many thanks to Peter Gleick for his efforts on this.

Science 7 May 2010:
Vol. 328. no. 5979, pp. 689 - 690
DOI: 10.1126/science.328.5979.689


Letters

Climate Change and the Integrity of Science

We are deeply disturbed by the recent escalation of political assaults on scientists in general and on climate scientists in particular. All citizens should understand some basic scientific facts. There is always some uncertainty associated with scientific conclusions; science never absolutely proves anything. When someone says that society should wait until scientists are absolutely certain before taking any action, it is the same as saying society should never take action. For a problem as potentially catastrophic as climate change, taking no action poses a dangerous risk for our planet.

Scientific conclusions derive from an understanding of basic laws supported by laboratory experiments, observations of nature, and mathematical and computer modeling. Like all human beings, scientists make mistakes, but the scientific process is designed to find and correct them. This process is inherently adversarial—scientists build reputations and gain recognition not only for supporting conventional wisdom, but even more so for demonstrating that the scientific consensus is wrong and that there is a better explanation. That's what Galileo, Pasteur, Darwin, and Einstein did. But when some conclusions have been thoroughly and deeply tested, questioned, and examined, they gain the status of "well-established theories" and are often spoken of as "facts."

For instance, there is compelling scientific evidence that our planet is about 4.5 billion years old (the theory of the origin of Earth), that our universe was born from a single event about 14 billion years ago (the Big Bang theory), and that today's organisms evolved from ones living in the past (the theory of evolution). Even as these are overwhelmingly accepted by the scientific community, fame still awaits anyone who could show these theories to be wrong. Climate change now falls into this category: There is compelling, comprehensive, and consistent objective evidence that humans are changing the climate in ways that threaten our societies and the ecosystems on which we depend.



Many recent assaults on climate science and, more disturbingly, on climate scientists by climate change deniers are typically driven by special interests or dogma, not by an honest effort to provide an alternative theory that credibly satisfies the evidence. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and other scientific assessments of climate change, which involve thousands of scientists producing massive and comprehensive reports, have, quite expectedly and normally, made some mistakes. When errors are pointed out, they are corrected. But there is nothing remotely identified in the recent events that changes the fundamental conclusions about climate change:

(i) The planet is warming due to increased concentrations of heat-trapping gases in our atmosphere. A snowy winter in Washington does not alter this fact.

(ii) Most of the increase in the concentration of these gases over the last century is due to human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation.

(iii) Natural causes always play a role in changing Earth's climate, but are now being overwhelmed by human-induced changes.

(iv) Warming the planet will cause many other climatic patterns to change at speeds unprecedented in modern times, including increasing rates of sea-level rise and alterations in the hydrologic cycle. Rising concentrations of carbon dioxide are making the oceans more acidic.

(v) The combination of these complex climate changes threatens coastal communities and cities, our food and water supplies, marine and freshwater ecosystems, forests, high mountain environments, and far more.

Much more can be, and has been, said by the world's scientific societies, national academies, and individuals, but these conclusions should be enough to indicate why scientists are concerned about what future generations will face from business-as-usual practices. We urge our policy-makers and the public to move forward immediately to address the causes of climate change, including the un restrained burning of fossil fuels.

We also call for an end to McCarthy-like threats of criminal prosecution against our colleagues based on innuendo and guilt by association, the harassment of scientists by politicians seeking distractions to avoid taking action, and the outright lies being spread about them. Society has two choices: We can ignore the science and hide our heads in the sand and hope we are lucky, or we can act in the public interest to reduce the threat of global climate change quickly and substantively. The good news is that smart and effective actions are possible. But delay must not be an option.

P. H. Gleick,* R. M. Adams, R. M. Amasino, E. Anders, D. J. Anderson, W. W. Anderson, L. E. Anselin, M. K. Arroyo, B. Asfaw, F. J. Ayala, A. Bax, A. J. Bebbington, G. Bell, M. V. L. Bennett, J. L. Bennetzen, M. R. Berenbaum, O. B. Berlin, P. J. Bjorkman, E. Blackburn, J. E. Blamont, M. R. Botchan, J. S. Boyer, E. A. Boyle, D. Branton, S. P. Briggs, W. R. Briggs, W. J. Brill, R. J. Britten, W. S. Broecker, J. H. Brown, P. O. Brown, A. T. Brunger, J. Cairns, Jr., D. E. Canfield, S. R. Carpenter, J. C. Carrington, A. R. Cashmore, J. C. Castilla, A. Cazenave, F. S. Chapin, III, A. J. Ciechanover, D. E. Clapham, W. C. Clark, R. N. Clayton, M. D. Coe, E. M. Conwell, E. B. Cowling, R. M Cowling, C. S. Cox, R. B. Croteau, D. M. Crothers, P. J. Crutzen, G. C. Daily, G. B. Dalrymple, J. L. Dangl, S. A. Darst, D. R. Davies, M. B. Davis, P. V. de Camilli, C. Dean, R. S. Defries, J. Deisenhofer, D. P. Delmer, E. F. Delong, D. J. Derosier, T. O. Diener, R. Dirzo, J. E. Dixon, M. J. Donoghue, R. F. Doolittle, T. Dunne, P. R. Ehrlich, S. N. Eisenstadt, T. Eisner, K. A. Emanuel, S. W. Englander, W. G. Ernst, P. G. Falkowski, G. Feher, J. A. Ferejohn, A. Fersht, E. H. Fischer, R. Fischer, K. V. Flannery, J. Frank, P. A. Frey, I. Fridovich, C. Frieden, D. J. Futuyma, W. R. Gardner, C. J. R. Garrett, W. Gilbert, R. B. Goldberg, W. H. Goodenough, C. S. Goodman, M. Goodman, P. Greengard, S. Hake, G. Hammel, S. Hanson, S. C. Harrison, S. R. Hart, D. L. Hartl, R. Haselkorn, K. Hawkes, J. M. Hayes, B. Hille, T. Hökfelt, J. S. House, M. Hout, D. M. Hunten, I. A. Izquierdo, A. T. Jagendorf, D. H. Janzen, R. Jeanloz, C. S. Jencks, W. A. Jury, H. R. Kaback, T. Kailath, P. Kay, S. A. Kay, D. Kennedy, A. Kerr, R. C. Kessler, G. S. Khush, S. W. Kieffer, P. V. Kirch, K. Kirk, M. G. Kivelson, J. P. Klinman, A. Klug, L. Knopoff, H. Kornberg, J. E. Kutzbach, J. C. Lagarias, K. Lambeck, A. Landy, C. H. Langmuir, B. A. Larkins, X. T. Le Pichon, R. E. Lenski, E. B. Leopold, S. A. Levin, M. Levitt, G. E. Likens, J. Lippincott-Schwartz, L. Lorand, C. O. Lovejoy, M. Lynch, A. L. Mabogunje, T. F. Malone, S. Manabe, J. Marcus, D. S. Massey, J. C. McWilliams, E. Medina, H. J. Melosh, D. J. Meltzer, C. D. Michener, E. L. Miles, H. A. Mooney, P. B. Moore, F. M. M. Morel, E. S. Mosley-Thompson, B. Moss, W. H. Munk, N. Myers, G. B. Nair, J. Nathans, E. W. Nester, R. A. Nicoll, R. P. Novick, J. F. O'Connell, P. E. Olsen, N. D. Opdyke, G. F. Oster, E. Ostrom, N. R. Pace, R. T. Paine, R. D. Palmiter, J. Pedlosky, G. A. Petsko, G. H. Pettengill, S. G. Philander, D. R. Piperno, T. D. Pollard, P. B. Price, Jr., P. A. Reichard, B. F. Reskin, R. E. Ricklefs, R. L. Rivest, J. D. Roberts, A. K. Romney, M. G. Rossmann, D. W. Russell, W. J. Rutter, J. A. Sabloff, R. Z. Sagdeev, M. D. Sahlins, A. Salmond, J. R. Sanes, R. Schekman, J. Schellnhuber, D. W. Schindler, J. Schmitt, S. H. Schneider, V. L. Schramm, R. R. Sederoff, C. J. Shatz, F. Sherman, R. L. Sidman, K. Sieh, E. L. Simons, B. H. Singer, M. F. Singer, B. Skyrms, N. H. Sleep, B. D. Smith, S. H. Snyder, R. R. Sokal, C. S. Spencer, T. A. Steitz, K. B. Strier, T. C. Südhof, S. S. Taylor, J. Terborgh, D. H. Thomas, L. G. Thompson, R. T. TJian, M. G. Turner, S. Uyeda, J. W. Valentine, J. S. Valentine, J. L. van Etten, K. E. van Holde, M. Vaughan, S. Verba, P. H. von Hippel, D. B. Wake, A. Walker, J. E. Walker, E. B. Watson, P. J. Watson, D. Weigel, S. R. Wessler, M. J. West-Eberhard, T. D. White, W. J. Wilson, R. V. Wolfenden, J. A. Wood, G. M. Woodwell, H. E. Wright, Jr., C. Wu, C. Wunsch, M. L. Zoback


11 comments:

James Annan said...

It's freely accessible on the Grauniad:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/06/climate-science-open-letter

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting this!
I ended up in a fight with an economist after I made a post about the ignorance of denial movements with a picture included with an ostrich with it's head in the sand saying, "I can't see any evidence of climate change from here!" (so it was nice to see that they sum up with a similar reference).
It really brings home the point that we've brought ourselves to through our actions!
Cheers,
Tim

King of the Road said...

I'm a bit confused by the "guilt by association" statement. Also, given the context, whom is it intended to convince?
I'm not arguing against it's accuracy; and the actions it's condemning are repugnant. But I'm not so clear on its value (Tom F.'s recommendation notwithstanding).

Tom said...

About time--even if I don't agree with phrasing in some parts and statements in others, it's about time.

Kaitlin said...

Of all papers, they had to put this one behind the paywall? Sigh. We have a ways to go, in my opinion.

I wrote about this just today here: http://climatesight.org/2010/05/06/a-must-read-letter-to-science/

You can also read the full text here: http://www.pacinst.org/climate/climate_statement.pdf

Michael Tobis said...

Although Gleick and Schneider are in on this, it isn't the usual gang.

It's a fairly broad swath through the National Academy, including several real science Nobel winners (not just the diluted IPCC Peace Prize). So one hopes they carry some cachet with opinion leaders like MDs and engineers, independent and intelligent conservative voters and their representatives.

The distinction between this and Fuller's suggestion is that it can be read as (and is likely to be remembered as) more a response to Inhofe than to Cuccinelli, and doesn't promote the latter's quixotic quest to burn any maoinstream climate scientist who has ever passed through the commonwealth.

The guilt by association thing is simple. Practically anyone who ever received email from Phil Jones is now a suspect of some unspecified crime. Look at Inhofe's suspect list.

Aside from Briffa and Mann who are mostly famous, frankly, because McIntyre is obsessed with them, these really are some of the leading figures in climate science. And that's the "guilt by association" which is generous. It's really guilt by free association.

There really doesn't seem to be much reasoning behind the list. Surely Inhofe has no standing to investigate British scientists Stott, Briffa and Jones.

King of the Road said...

Sure, I understand, I think, the concept of guilt by association and enough of what's going on to follow your explanation, Michael. My confusion is that the phrase typically implies that the since the one associated with is guilty, the associator is also guilty. With that interpretation, a common one in my opinion, it implies Phil Jones' guilt. I would think that to be undesireable.

Michael Tobis said...

Rob, point taken.

They don't have Nobels in literature, understand.

A big part of the whole story is that there are no significant PR skills on the scientists' side. (University press offices aren't the best jobs in that business, you know.)

amoeba said...

Thank-you for posting this.

I can't imagine why it was behind a paywall. What is it about an 'open letter', that sciencemag don't understand?

I appreciate that it is available elsewhere, but this letter needs to be widely available, after all we have an increasingly sceptical public which need to understand that they've been lied to by agents of the denial industry.

I look-forward to the backlash when the penny drops. The Denial Industry must realise that they are riding a tiger - they cannot get off. I hope they get eaten and soon.

David B. Benson said...

mothincarnate --- Actually the ostrich with it's head in the sand should see evidence of climate change: borehole studies.

:-)

Anonymous said...

David - lol; good pick up!
My argument in response is that this chap in my graphic has his head in sand and not ice! lol
But I have to say, this letter is a breath of fresh air; I've been feeling like I've needed to defend my work in environmental science - especially of late. It's good to here that the usual debates and rivalries have been put aside put such a bunch of brains to say collectively, "This ain't on - we're doing our jobs as professionally as possible!"
cheers,
Tim