----- Original Message ----- From: "Trent Schroyer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2001 4:13 AM Subject: [toeslist] how to put reductionist global warming in political-economic context > from the June-August issue of "Annals of the Association > of American Geographers": The construction of global warming > > Climate warming, whatever one concludes about its effect on the > earth, is insufficiently understood as a concept that has been > constructed by scientists, politicians and others, argues David > Demerrit, a lecturer in geography at King's College London, in > an exchange with Stephen H. Schneider, a professor of biological > sciences at Stanford University. Many observers consider the > phenomenon's construction -- as "a global-scale environmental > problem caused by the universal physical properties of > greenhouse gases" -- to be reductionist, Mr. Demerrit writes. > Yet "this reductionist formulation serves a variety of political > purposes," including obscuring the role of rich nations in > producing the vast majority of the greenhouse gases. Mr. > Demerrit says his objective is to unmask the ways that > scientific judgments "have both reinforced and been reinforced > by certain political considerations about managing" global > warming. Scientific uncertainty, he suggests, is emphasized in a > way that reinforces dependence on experts. He is skeptical of > efforts to increase public technical knowledge of the > phenomenon, and instead urges efforts "to increase public > understanding of and therefore trust in the social process > through which the facts are scientifically determined." In > response, Mr. Schneider agrees that "the conclusion that science > is at least partially socially constructed, even if still news > to some scientists, is clearly established." He bluntly states, > however, that if scholars in the social studies of science are > to be heard by more scientists, they will have to "be careful to > back up all social theoretical assertions with large numbers of > broadly representative empirical examples." Mr. Schneider also > questions Mr. Demerrit's claim that scientists are motivated by > politics to conceive of climate warming as a global problem > rather than one created primarily by rich nations: "Most > scientists are woefully unaware of the social context of the > implications of their work and are too naive to be politically > conspiratorial." He says: "What needs to be done is to go beyond > platitudes about values embedded in science and to show > explicitly, via many detailed and representative empirical > examples, precisely how those social factors affected the > outcome, and how it might have been otherwise if the process > were differently constructed." The exchange is available online > to subscribers of the journal at > http://www.blackwellpublishers.co.uk/journals/anna > _________________________________________________________________ > > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> > Small business owners... > Tell us what you think! > http://us.click.yahoo.com/vO1FAB/txzCAA/ySSFAA/NJYolB/TM > ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> > > To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > >
