Science, Ethics and Global Warming

Before we went to Spain in July my friend Bev sent me a bunch of links to websites about postmodernism -- a term I had not really heard of before. One of the links talked about Jurassic Park. Something about it really struck me -- though I do not think it was the point at all. The author -- whoever it was -- said that "Jurassic Park was intended to warn the general public concerning the inherent dangers of biotechnology first of all, but also science in general." It then quoted the author of the book Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton as saying "Biotechnology and genetic engineering are very powerful. The film suggests that [science's] control of nature is elusive. And just as war is too important to leave to the generals, science is too important to leave to scientists. Everyone needs to be attentive." What struck me was the concept of the dangers of leaving science in the hands of scientists. I do think scientists become a tad crazy and their work itself sometimes becomes more important than the problem the research should help solve ....... Climate science is probably the extreme current example -- although no doubt there are others -- climate science just happens to be what I deal with the most. A few months back -- I think it was sometime in February -- I asked a so called "climate scientist" this question. I asked him what his reaction would be if a genie came out of its bottle and offered him a deal -- climate change would go away but climate scientists could never again do climate research. He looked at me very seriously and then said "but that's impossible -- there is always something else to study". Priceless. And scary. To me anyone researching a "scary" subject -- cancer, climate change, etc. should have a goal of working themselves out of a job. It amazes me the games scientists play to get funding -- they are so like canibals. Oh well -- I probably should not be philosophizing about science and its motives or I may be tempted to write what I really think about the IPCC -- that august body for which I was a Lead Author -- thereby earning me a" Nobel certificate" -- signifying a somewhat questionable fraction of a Peace Prize (the irony of going from working "War" to Peace Prize is totally Dilbert of course!). As I told my young cousin Meg in one of our aimless text messaging sessions -- if only I had gottten my 1/10,000 of the price $ I could have gotten my coveted pair of Manolos! I love Meg -- she totally got it. She gets much ribbing about the blond thing -- but she truly is one of the wisest people I have come across :-)

I do worry about greenhouse gases -- but I think the fact that I drive a '94 car (less than 55,000 miles!), weigh close to what I did in high school, walk most everywhere, use public transport, live in a small house etc. does more than all the talk in the world. Or even my job -- which is about doing something about it! Seems to be an area made for hypochresy -- our Antarctica cruise mates quoting that silly Stern report ad nauseum -- overlooking the huge carbon footprint we were each making. Of course I did welcome "global warming" a few days into the cruise -- here is me actually ditching my coat in the Peninsula :-) I still cannot believe it ......