Pardee Center Director Quoted in Press on Climate Science Debate

Prof. Adil Najam, DIrector of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future and Boston University Professor of International Relations and of Geography and Environment, was quoted in two press stories about the ongoing debate on recent controversies about climate change science and about the results of a new U.S. poll that suggests waning public support for climate action in the United States.

A news report in The Boston Globe (March 8, 2009) cites Prof. Adil Najam , saying:

“This issue is so politically sensitive, scientists need to be careful they [focus] on the science and not advocacy. . . . The science is robust and can speak for itself,’’ said Adil Najam, a lead author of two Intergovernmental Panel assessments and director of Boston University’s Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future. He said the recent errors do not undermine the fact that man is significantly contributing to global warming, “but the review process needs to be strengthened’’ for future reports.

A different news report, in The Christian Science Monitor (March 8, 2009), also cites Prof. Najam:

“In the US, it’s going to be more difficult [to pass climate legislation] than it might have been a year ago,” says Adil Najam, a lead author of two IPCC reports and the director of Boston University’s Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future. “The same legislation is going to find more opposition, because the political mood has changed.”

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The mistakes, say Najam of Boston University may have lasting effects on the public’s confidence in science. “I hope what we are not seeing is an erosion of trust in science,” he says. “Societies need to be able to trust science, and scientists need to inspire trust. Climate scientists have to be more careful.”