Page 32 - Environment: The Science Behind the Stories

for all the others that had been tried. The same might be said Note that scientific use of the word theory differs from
about peer review; it is an imperfect system, yet it is the best popular usage of the word. In everyday language when we say
we have. something is “just a theory,” we are suggesting it is a specula-
tive idea without much substance. However, scientists mean
Conference presentations Scientists frequently pre- just the opposite when they use the term. To them, a theory is a
sent their work at professional conferences, where they inter- conceptual framework that effectively explains a phenomenon
act with colleagues and receive comments on their research. and has undergone extensive and rigorous testing, such that
Such feedback can help improve a researcher’s work before it confidence in it is extremely strong.
is submitted for publication. For example, Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selec-
tion (pp. 68–71) has been supported and elaborated by many
Grants and funding To fund their research, most sci- thousands of studies over 150 years of intensive research. Large
entists need to spend enormous amounts of time requesting bodies of research have shown repeatedly and in great detail how
money from private foundations or from government agencies plants and animals change over generations, or evolve, express-
such as the National Science Foundation. Grant applications ing characteristics that best promote survival and reproduction.
undergo peer review just as scientific papers do, and competi- Because of its strong support and explanatory power, evolution-
tion for funding is generally intense. ary theory is the central unifying principle of modern biology.
Scientists’ reliance on funding sources can occasionally Other prominent scientific theories include atomic theory, cell
lead to conflicts of interest. A researcher who obtains data theory, big bang theory, plate tectonics, and general relativity.
showing his or her funding source in an unfavorable light may
be reluctant to publish the results for fear of losing funding— Applications Knowledge gained from scientific research
or worse yet, could be tempted to doctor the results. This situ- may be applied to help meet society’s needs and address soci-
ation can arise, for instance, when an industry funds research ety’s problems. As discussed earlier (see Figure 1.8), scientific
to test its products for safety or environmental impact. Most research informs and facilitates new technologies, engineering
scientists resist these pressures, but when you are critically approaches, policy decisions, and management strategies. Still,
assessing a scientific study, it is always a good idea to note even when research is able to provide clear information, decid-
where the researchers obtained their funding. ing on the optimal social response to a problem can be difficult.
Moreover, many predicaments addressed by environmental sci-
ence are so-called wicked problems: problems complex enough
WEIGHING THE ISSUES to have no simple solution and whose very nature changes over
FOLLOW THE MONEY Let us say you are a research scientist, time. For this reason, society will benefit if it trains and funds
and you want to study the impacts of chemicals released into scientists to continue studying such problems as they evolve.
lakes by pulp-and-paper mills. Obtaining research funding has
been difficult. Then a representative from a large pulp-and-
paper company contacts you. The company also is interested Science goes through “paradigm shifts”
in how its chemical effluents affect water bodies, and it would As the scientific community accumulates data in an area of
like to fund your research. What are the benefits and draw- research, interpretations sometimes may change. Thomas
backs of this offer? Would you accept the offer?
Kuhn’s influential 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revo-
lutions argued that science goes through periodic upheavals in CHAPTER 1 • SCIENCE AND SUSTAIN ABILITY : AN INTR ODUCTI ON T O ENVIR ONMENTAL SCIENCE
thought, in which one scientific paradigm, or dominant view,
Repeatability The careful scientist may test a hypoth- is abandoned for another. For example, before the 16th cen-
esis repeatedly in various ways. Following publication, other tury, European scientists believed that Earth was at the center
scientists may attempt to reproduce the results in their own of the universe. Their data on the movements of planets fit
experiments and analyses. Scientists are inherently cautious that concept somewhat well—yet the idea eventually was dis-
about accepting a novel hypothesis, so the more a result can be proved after Nicolaus Copernicus showed that placing the sun
reproduced by different research teams, the more confidence at the center of the solar system explained the planetary data
scientists will have that it provides the correct explanation for much better.
an observed phenomenon. Another paradigm shift occurred in the 1960s, when
geologists accepted plate tectonics (pp. 52–54). By this time,
Theories If a hypothesis survives repeated testing by evidence for the movement of continents and the action of
numerous research teams and continues to predict experi- tectonic plates had accumulated and become overwhelmingly
mental outcomes and observations accurately, it may poten- convincing. Paradigm shifts demonstrate the strength and
tially be incorporated into a theory. A theory is a widely vitality of science, showing science to be a process that refines
accepted, well-tested explanation of one or more cause-and- and improves itself through time.
effect relationships that has been extensively validated by a Understanding how science works is vital to assessing how
great amount of research. Whereas a hypothesis is a simple scientific interpretations progress through time as information
explanatory statement that may be disproven by a single accrues. This is especially relevant in environmental science—
experiment, a theory consolidates many related hypotheses a young field that is changing rapidly as we attain vast amounts
that have been supported by a large body of experimental and of new information, as human impacts on our planet multiply,
observational data. and as we gather lessons from the consequences of our actions. 31

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