Revkin on Katrina, Climate Science, Policy

September 21st, 2005

Posted by: Roger Pielke, Jr.

Andy Revkin is one of the nation’s most influential and widely respected journalists covering climate (and other environmental) issues. In a news release, the AAAS provides a rare look at the views of someone who plays a significant role in shaping public and policy debate over climate. Here are some interesting excerpts from the AAAS news story:

“”We have to understand, and society has to become comfortable with, making decisions in uncertainty,” Revkin said in the Robert C. Barnard Environmental Lecture at AAAS headquarters in Washington, D.C. He spoke to an audience of AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellows and others …

In his lecture, Revkin said that after covering global warming for almost 20 years, he is convinced that there will never be a time when he can write a story that states clearly that global warming “happened today.” “It is never going to be the kind of story that will give you the level of certainty that everyone seems to crave,” he said. “We are assaulted with complexity and uncertainty. Somehow, we need to convey that in all that information, with those question marks, there is a trajectory to knowledge.” American society is uneasy with the equivocal answers that often are the best environmental scientists can provide, said Revkin. Newspapers are uncomfortable with “murk,” and politicians and Congress “hate it,” he said. Yet, despite the lack of crystal clarity, “you can still make decisions. Uncertainties don’t let you off the hook,” he said, even though some people in politics have used the uncertainties for that purpose…


The effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans is an example of how society has responded to a risky situation, he said. Since 1969, when Hurricane Camille churned ashore nearby, it was known that New Orleans “was designed to survive a hit from a Category 3 hurricane, but was now living in a Category 5 world,” said Revkin. “We were willing to live with that gamble in all of the years since then, and now many people are paying the cost.” In the wake of Katrina, he said, Americans must decide how to deal with risks. He said society can either make greater use of science in planning for long-term risks or “we can just hunker down and weather each storm as it comes. I am not sure which way we are going to go yet.” …

Revkin said he finds comfort in the fact that there are still scientists and other people who are trying “in an open-minded and transparent way” to understand how the environment can be preserved and who are “braving the landscape of policy.” “It is very easy to be a scientist and just do your work and try to avoid (policy questions),” he said, “but it is getting harder and harder and it is also getting less and less responsible not to get into that landscape.”"

Read the full AAAS news story here.

2 Responses to “Revkin on Katrina, Climate Science, Policy”

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  1. Dylan Otto Krider Says:

    What’s your expert advice for someone living in Houston? Stay or flee?

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  3. Roger Pielke Jr. Says:

    Dylan- Listen to you local officals is my expert advice!! Good luck!