Burden on scientists to educate public on climate change

by PATRICIA MAYVILLE-COX
Oct 28th 2008 @ 9:02AM

Filed under: Climate Change

Bryan Walsh reports on the gap in public understanding that exists regarding climate change in Time last week. The gap, according to Walsh, is between scientists who think that climate change is very serious and needs to be dealt with immediately and the public, who believes for the most part, that it is real, but rarely ranks it as a high priority. In a study cited by Walsh, a UN survey found that 54% of Americans are for taking a "wait-and-see" approach. Similar results were found in Russia, China and India.

According to John Sterman at MIT, "Most of us really don't understand how carbon accumulates in the atmosphere." To stabilize temperature increases, we need to cut carbon emissions drastically according to Sterman, and a "wait-and-see" approach won't work, because by the time we "see" the results of climate change, it could be too late. Even Bill Gates doesn't get this fact according to Sterman,quoting Gates, "Fortunately climate change, although it's a huge challenge, it's a challenge that happens over a long period of time, you know, we have time to work on it."

According to Walsh's interview, the burden is on scientists to better explain the risks of climate change to the public.

What do you think? Do you think the public doesn't understand the role of carbon emissions in climate change? Or do you think they just don't want to make changes?

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