Scientists Delving into the Realm of Climate Change Policy

A major reason why I left an academic career is because scientists are so adverse to meddling in the political sphere, They fear appearing biased if they express their opinion based on the facts presented. They hope if they just do good science, it will speak for itself. Now some scientists have realized that this is not the case. As an example, climate scientists are meeting next month in Copenhagen to pressure governments to respond more strongly to climate change.

This meeting is timely because governments will also be gathering in Copenhagen in December to hammer out a new climate deal for post-2012, when the Kyoto Protocol expires.

Karen Richardson, a marine biologist at the University of Copenhagen and chair of the scientific congress, points out that this meeting will provide scientists an opportunity to better communicate the urgency of the crisis and update the world on advances in our knowledge of the climate system since the release of the last IPCC report in February 2007.

A number of recent studies have shown that greenhouse gas emissions are rising faster than expected and the earth's ability to absorb this excess carbon is decreasing. The consequences are Greenland's ice sheet is melting faster than predicted and the ocean's ability to absorb carbon is decreasing due to ocean acidification. Sea level rise over this century is likely to be one meter or more, not the 40 cm previously thought by the IPCC.

It's great to see scientists stepping up to the plate on climate change policy. They study and document the changes to the earth's climate and therefore comprehend the gravity of the situation. Now it's up to negotiators to heed their warnings and come up with a deal that mitigates the effects of climate change.