On Tuesday, the Guardian ran a story “The 1977 White House climate memo that should have changed the world.”
The memo is worth reading.
The advice and recommended actions have not changed much since 1977.
What got me thinking is why does it take so long for scientific advice to have any impact on public policy thinking and action? Do scientists want their work to be the sole preserve of the cloisters of academia and research parks? Is there some part of their training that insists that they must not communicate in ways policymakers understand what they are saying/writing?
This is not a recent issue. Cloistered guilds have long sought to protect their work from outside scrutiny – from the Latin-speaking priests, and the artisanal guilds, to much of today’s academia.
I’ve worked with a small group of scientific experts who have worked out this problem. They employ skilled copywriters who turn their research into well-crafted words that decision-makers and influencers can understand and use. They are still a minority.
Are there other reasons? Please let me know.