Week6B.docxWeek 6 (B) Narrative - Science and Politics
Science and Politics
Public debates over climate change often are about seemingly technical questions when they are really about who should have authority in the political debate. The debate over the science thus politicizes the science and distracts from policy. –Dr. Roger Pielke, Jr.
When the search for truth is confused by political (or any kind of) advocacy, the pursuit of knowledge is reduced to a quest for power. –Dr. John Rinne
The battle between science and its use in policy development is a historical and on-going battle and debate. Should environmental policy be soley based on scientific research? Is it possible to create politically neutral policy and regulations? Is science itself inherently neutral or do scientists have their own biases?
The article ( click here (Links to an external site.) to read article) and case study this week are to help the student understand that when developing policy based on science, or scrutinizing existing policy, science inherently becomes a political issue. It is used by both sides of an issue to argue their point; it ends up being a play for political power (see quotes above) and losing site of the purpose of the policy or regulation.
There is a lot written in newspapers and magazines about this dichotomy. Some try to make an academic exercise out of it but those usually end up being biased too. Here is an example of this: two articles on public land livestock grazing and science: here and Actions
Case Study
In July 2007, the Murphy Complex Fire burned over 650,000 acres of BLM, state, and private land in southern Idaho ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy_Complex_Fire (Links to an external site.) ). It became one of the largest wildfires in Idaho’s history and scorched critical sage-steppe for wildlife, particularly sage grouse, and critical rangelands for ranchers in their livestock operations.
What is interesting about this fire, is that it created a debate that pitted two very powerful enemies in the world of public land grazing against each other in a very public discourse about the legitimacy of public land grazing and its role in catastrophic wildfire. The two most out spoken on both sides went back and forth in the local paper in Twin Fall, Idaho. Bert Brackett owned one of the larger ranching operations that was impacted by the fire and was also an Idaho state legislative representative at the time. Jon Marvel was then president of Western Watersheds Project (westernwatersheds.org), a non-profit who actively litigates against BLM and Forest Service to reduce and eliminate livestock grazing on public lands.
Read the following editorials that appeared shortly after the fire from Mr. Brackett and Mr. Marvel in the Times-News in Twin Falls, Idaho. Also included is an editorial from the newspaper itself about the issue. While reading the editorials, think about how each party uses (or doesn’t use) science to make their point. Think about how such disparate opinions can be made using science that is supposedly politically neutral.
