ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO

Bruce Babbitt, the US Interior Secretary, last week urged 3,000 scientists gathered for the annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America to fulfil their “civic obligation” by helping to convince the American public of the case for man-made global warming.

Babbitt: ‘civic obligation‘ on scientists to convince the US public over man-made global warming. Credit: WILFREDO LEE/AP

“We have a scientific consensus but we don't have a public consensus” that man-made global warming is taking place, Babbitt said. “We can't get the message through by speeches from people like me. It is all of you that have that obligation.”

Babbitt acknowledged scientists’ tradition of caution when entering political debates. “But there are times that cry out for scientists’ involvement, because the public doesn't have anywhere else to turn to.”

During the past month, the administration of President Bill Clinton has embarked on an effort to win over an uninterested American public and a sceptical Congress to the idea that the United States should agree to binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions at December's meeting of nations in Kyoto, Japan (see Nature 388, 407; 407 1997).

Despite the fact that the administration has still failed to specify targets for emissions, as it was required to do in June under the international agreement known as the Berlin mandate (see Nature 374, 584; 584 1995), Babbitt called for ecologists’ support in this belated charm offensive.

But Babbitt pleaded for ecologists’ forbearance on two other issues – forest management and the Endangered Species Act – on which the administration has taken compromise positions that anger some conservationists. He said that some forests need thinning to prevent fire. And he asked the audience to support the process under way in the Senate to reauthorize the act in a way that may insure property developers against future liability (see Nature 388, 506; 506 1997).

Babbitt declined to comment afterwards on reports that the United States and Japan are pushing Europe to withdraw its ambitious proposal for a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of 15 per cent from 1990 levels by the year 2010. He also denied that the administration was moving too late to shift public opinion. “The important thing is what happens from here forward,” he said.

Jerry Melillo, associate director for the environment at the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) at the White House, backed Babbitt's plea. He called on ecologists to rebut a recent guest editorial in the Washington Post by Robert Eaton, the chairman of Chrysler, which played down the importance of car exhausts in climate change by arguing that 97 per cent of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere comes from plants, and less than 0.5 per cent from vehicle exhausts. While true, the statement is not relevant to the question of what has caused the recent sharp increase in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.

Melillo said: “It is our responsibility as scientists to make sure that this kind of problem is straightened out.”

OSTP is arranging workshops around the United States at which scientists, politicians and others will assess the impact of climate change and possible responses to it.

But Steven Sanderson, a political scientist and vice-president of Emory University in Georgia, expressed doubts about Babbitt's call for help. “There's an invitation here to turn science into politics, and I think there's a problem with that. The contribution scientists have to make is to do good science, not to become policy wonks.”