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*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.

-- 
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Martin Weiss, PhD
Science Interpretation, Consultant
New York Hall of Science

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