First Principles - Sustainable Design: The Science of Sustainability and Green Engineering - page 32

chapter 2
First Principles
THE CASCADE OF SCIENCE
When science finds its way to the front page of the newspaper, or to the movie
theater box office, or to the office water cooler, it is often both a blessing and a
curse. We live in a time when explanations often lack the rigor and attentiveness
that scientists can bring to important topics. The scientific method is based on the
patience and progression of observation and experimentation. Its explanations are
supposed to be circumscribed and exclusively fact based. Variables are controlled.
All plausible hypotheses must be considered before scientists are comfortable with
ascribing a cause.
Unfortunately, the popular press and most people, especially those whose lives
do not revolve around science, will not sit idly waiting for this thorough and
abiding process to run its course. Even fellow scientists grow weary waiting for a
long-term study to be completed and are tempted to release “preliminary results”
that may have not undergone appropriate peer review. Also, those reporting the
results—the lay public, media, and even scientists—often do not include all of the
caveats and contingencies intended by the scientists who conducted the studies.
No current issue is more fraught with this dichotomy than is sustainability .
Many who use the term have little understanding of its meaning. Even fewer
understand the scientific principles that underpin widely held opinions. This is
apparent in the science of global climate change. As shown in Figure 2.1, to
understand changes in climate and what can be done to mitigate damage requires
a cascade of knowledge, all underpinned by physics, followed by chemistry, fol-
lowed by biology, followed by engineering, followed by policy decisions, followed
by the collective of personal choices.
Most “big” issues must be approached by a three-step strategy that addresses
(1) awareness, (2) decision making, and (3) behavior. Films such as An Inconvenient
Truth and even missives from the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change
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