Scientists Have a Responsibility to Help Their Fellow Citizens Understand What Science and Technology Can and Cannot Do For Them. (April 6, 2013)

So closes the opening paragraph of  Science's editorial of the 5^th of April -- "Climate Change Conversations" -- by Bassam Z. Shakhashiri¹ and Jerry A. Bell².

While the message of Shakhashiri and Evjue is simple the meaningful execution is not. They single out that matter of climate change and note that: "Climate change affects everyone, so everyone should understand why the climate is changing and what it means for them, their children, and generations to follow. Scientists are already members of groups that can facilitate this communication: neighborhoods, school boards, religious groups, service clubs, political organizations... These groups present opportunities to engage in respectful conversations on climate change and on the policies and actions that individuals, communities, and nations might take to mitigate and adapt to what is happening to our planet."

The authors point specifically to an American Chemical Society toolkit "on greenhouse gases, atmospheric and planetary warming, and Earth's energy balance, among other topics. Among the materials it contains are "a series of brief narratives designed to help scientists initiate informal conversations with others. Implicit in this resource is the message that the world must make adaptations to changes that have already occurred and that reducing emissions is required to avoid a warmer planet."

And "Supporting elected officials who promote policies and practices aimed to decrease the effects of global warming is another step that individuals and citizens' groups should take."

Unfortunately observing how politician's resolve deserts them in the face of well resourced and powerful opposition, and which is couched in manipulative propaganda, doesn't engender optimism.

The matter of gun control in the United States, the demise of an effective mining tax in Australia are two prime examples of political fear stymieing legislation and turning  political will to water.

Finally the authors are not the first to point to the success of "F. Sherwood Rowland [who] was a central figure in the late–20th-century controversy about the effect of chlorofluorocarbons on stratospheric ozone," which led to the world-wide banning of their commercial use. But in that case the opposition was relatively small in numbers and weak in resolve.

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¹Bassam Z. Shakhashiri holds the William T. Evjue Distinguished Chair for the Wisconsin Idea and is a professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI. He was president of the American Chemical Society in 2012.

 
²Jerry A. Bell is an emeritus professor in the Department of Chemistry at Simmons College, Boston, MA, and chair of the American Chemical Society's presidential working group on climate science