Scientists should get up off their duffs and do their part to protect the planet, AAAS President John Holdren told reporters in a somewhat gloomy breakfast talk this morning. He wants researchers to "tithe 10% of their time" towards "thinking about" how their work impacts larger societal problems or devising solutions.
He identified four major challenges in a depressing litany: environmental protection, nuclear proliferation, what he calls the "energy-atmosphere-climate conundrum," and poverty. While the world is more or less booming economically, he said, "Most of the other dimensions of the human condition are in some trouble."
He said that science is in part or entirely to blame for many of Earth's woes. "We are responsible both for sins of commission and omission," he said, because researchers have developed carbon-emitting technology and nuclear weapons.
Government can be counterproductive, he added. "We have seen some tendancies toward fact-averse governance," he said in response to a question about the Bush Administration ...
And there's a common belief that technology will be a savior. "This notion of counting on technical solutions to rescue us is a pernicious one," he declared, describing the attitude as, "Why should we worry about anything when fusion is going to save us in 40 years?"
Holdren has done his own part to focus on problems beyond his specialty, having moved from basic studies in plasma and fusion energy for decades into various policy and applied-energy efforts. In leadership roles, he has steered Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts and the University of California, Berkeley, to tackle energy challenges. Since 2002, he has headed the National Commission on Energy Policy, a Washington D.C.-based effort that has managed to forge a consensus between auto execs, energy CEOs, and environmentalists on climate policy recommendations. And he was a top adviser to former President Clinton on energy problems.
Now at AAAS, he's headed up this 5-day meeting, which is focusing on sustainability--and will provide grist for this blog.
