“Mud wrestling” might be the best term for what
happens when we try to hash out messy environmental issues, says a
recent report from the Center of the American West at the
University of Colorado-Boulder. But the West is full of talented
scientists who can help pull us out of the ring if we’d just
let them, according to a new report, Making the Most of
Science in the American West: An Experiment.
The problem became clear a decade ago, says co-author Patricia
Nelson Limerick, the Center’s chair. In a conflict over a
Leadville, Colo., mine drainage, politics and culture kept
residents at odds with scientific experts. Townspeople blamed the
scientists for plummeting property values; scientists were
frustrated by the citizens’ hostile reaction to their advice.
The new report could help head off the next big
environmental dust-up by getting everyone to treat scientists as
human beings, says Limerick. People need to recognize that science
is often uncertain, and that policy changes are actually ongoing
experiments. If an environmental dispute is awash in a sea of
confusion, Limerick says, the report may come to the rescue: “We
have the life preservers stacked. We just need to hear the
splashing.”
For a copy of the report, see
www.centerwest.org/science.htm.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Can’t we all just get along.
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