13/05/05

Debates on responsibility distract us from action

Traffic jam in Japan Copyright: morguefile.com/Daniel T. Yara

We encourage you to republish this article online and in print, it’s free under our creative commons attribution license, but please follow some simple guidelines:

You have to credit our authors.
You have to credit SciDev.Net — where possible include our logo with a link back to the original article.
You can simply run the first few lines of the article and then add: “Read the full article on SciDev.Net” containing a link back to the original article.
If you want to also take images published in this story you will need to confirm with the original source if you're licensed to use them.
The easiest way to get the article on your site is to embed the code below.

For more information view our media page and republishing guidelines.

The full article is available here as HTML.

Press Ctrl-C to copy

<div class="article-wrap">
<div id="article-introduction">
<h1>Debates on responsibility distract us from action</h1>
<h4></h4>
</div>
<br />
<br />

<div id="article-body">
<p><P>In a December 2004 issue of <em>Science</em> Naomi Oreskes of the University of California, San Diego, argued there is a strong scientific consensus that human actions have affected climate (see <a  href="/Opinions/index.cfm?fuseaction=readopinions&itemid=340&language=1" target=_self rel="noopener noreferrer">Scientists agree that humans cause climate change</A>). </P><br />
<P>In a letter to the editor of <em>Science </em>this week, Roger A. Pielke Jr. responds — and Oreskes agrees — that it matters little whether or not there are differing scientific perspectives regarding climate change. It need not prevent the development of policies tackling climate change, says Pielke Jr.   </P><br />
<P>Pielke Jr., of the University of Colorado Center for Science and Technology Research, United States, says that consensus does not mean uniformity of perspective. Rather, policies tackling climate change must be robust enough to accommodate a range of scientific views, he argues. </P><br />
<P>In her reply, Oreskes says she was merely pointing out that scientific disputes over the issue had been exaggerated. She agrees with Pielke Jr. that proxy debates on scientific uncertainty distract from the real issue — how best to respond to the range of likely outcomes of global warming.</P><br />
<P><a  href="/sci.cfm?redir=http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/308/5724/952?ijkey=aVPg1PAB3UtV.&keytype=ref&siteid=sci" target="_blank" onclick="pageTracker._trackPageview('/tracking/external/'+this.href);" rel="noopener noreferrer">Link to letters by Pilke Jr. and Oreskes in <em>Science</em></A><em></em></P><br />
<P><EM>Read more about climate change in SciDev.Net’s </EM><A href="/climate"><EM>change climate</EM></A><EM> dossier.</EM> </P></p>

</div>
<div class="quick-links-wrapper">
<h3>You might also like</h3>
[related-articles]
</div>
<p>This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.scidev.net" target="_blank">SciDev.Net</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/opinions/debates-on-responsibility-distract-us-from-action/" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
<script type="text/javascript">
(function(e,t,n,r,i,s,o){e["GoogleAnalyticsObject"]=i;e[i]=e[i]||function(){(e[i].q=e[i].q||[]).push(arguments)},e[i].l=1*new Date;s=t.createElement(n),o=t.getElementsByTagName(n)[0];s.async=1;s.src=r;o.parentNode.insertBefore(s,o)})(window,document,"script","//www.google-analytics.com/ga.js","ga");var _gaq=_gaq||[];var _gaq=_gaq||[];_gaq.push(["_setAccount","UA-3223906-8"],["_trackEvent","article interaction","republished","https://www.scidev.net/global/opinions/debates-on-responsibility-distract-us-from-action/",null,true])
</script>
</div>

In a December 2004 issue of Science Naomi Oreskes of the University of California, San Diego, argued there is a strong scientific consensus that human actions have affected climate (see Scientists agree that humans cause climate change).

In a letter to the editor of Science this week, Roger A. Pielke Jr. responds — and Oreskes agrees — that it matters little whether or not there are differing scientific perspectives regarding climate change. It need not prevent the development of policies tackling climate change, says Pielke Jr.

Pielke Jr., of the University of Colorado Center for Science and Technology Research, United States, says that consensus does not mean uniformity of perspective. Rather, policies tackling climate change must be robust enough to accommodate a range of scientific views, he argues.

In her reply, Oreskes says she was merely pointing out that scientific disputes over the issue had been exaggerated. She agrees with Pielke Jr. that proxy debates on scientific uncertainty distract from the real issue — how best to respond to the range of likely outcomes of global warming.

Link to letters by Pilke Jr. and Oreskes in Science

Read more about climate change in SciDev.Net’s change climate dossier.