Breakthrough Senior Fellow Roger Pielke Jr. reviews four books on climate change for Nature and concludes that asserting the scientific high ground and demanding action on that premise won't make better climate policy--"admitting the limitations of science in compelling political agreements," he says, is the critical step towards that end.
"If science leads inexorably to particular political outcomes, then it would seem to favour autocratic forms of governance. The middle man -- the general public -- is easily ignored if heads of state need only hear the expert voice of science. Schneider worries that democracy finds it hard to deal with complex issues: if only the public understood the real risks, he explains, they would be "much more likely to send strong signals to their representatives". He bemoans a public debate that includes the participation of "special interests" and that is filtered through an inept media, a perspective echoed by Hansen."
I have read the 1st Book - Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis quite a while ago and found it very interessting. I'm currently in Germany working for some fashion companies in order to makes their productions more enviroment friendly. I also tell them about the work that I did with Polo Ralph Lauren some years ago - really improving their production and make it much more friendly and also less costly. The 3rd book is also quite good, also if have not read it in full
Posted by: Garry at June 7, 2010 1:52 AM