{"id":22753,"date":"2016-08-10T09:51:06","date_gmt":"2016-08-10T14:51:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scienceblogs.com\/gregladen\/?p=22753"},"modified":"2016-08-10T09:51:06","modified_gmt":"2016-08-10T14:51:06","slug":"a-call-for-a-presidential-debate-on-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/2016\/08\/10\/a-call-for-a-presidential-debate-on-science\/","title":{"rendered":"A Call For A Presidential Debate On Science!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several dozen nonpartisan organizations have joined together to ask for a Science Debate in the current campaign. The debate would address major issues in science, engineering, health and the environment<\/p>\n

This is part of an effort that has been going on for several election cycles, with a certain degree of success.<\/p>\n

More than 10 million scientists and engineers are represented by the organizations that have joined in this effort. They have provided a list of twenty major issues, and are encouraging journalists and voters to press the candidates on them during the 2016 U.S. Presidential election season.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaken collectively, these twenty issues have at least as profound an impact on voters\u2019 lives as those more frequently covered by journalists, including candidates\u2019 views on economic policy, foreign policy, and faith and values,\u201d said Shawn Otto, who has been a principle organizer of this project. (Shawn is also the author of this recent book<\/a>, and he speaks with Mike Haubrich and me about science in politics in this interview<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

ScienceDebate.org<\/a> recently commissioned a poll, in cooperation with Research!America, which showed that nearly 90% of Americans want the presidential and congressional candidates to have at least a basic understanding of policy-relevant science.<\/p>\n

But what questions should be asked in a science debate? One of the counter arguments to such a debate, and this perception is a concern of the organizers, is that people will confuse \u201cscience debate\u201d with \u201cscience quiz.\u201d This is not about science, but how science and policy relate. So, the question, \u201cwhat is the mechanism, at the atomic or molecular level, that makes some gasses greenhouse gasses, as opposed to others, which seem inert in this respect?\u201d would NOT be good question. A more appropriate question might be, \u201cWhat your best guess as to the most likely warming scenario, caused by human greenhouse gas pollution, over the next several decades; based on the best science, how much more global warming is going to happen during your administration, and what can we do about it?\u201d<\/p>\n

The ScienceDebate group has been asking for suggestions, from the general public, as to what issues and questions might form the core of a public discussion and organized debate. They then submitted the 20 most pressing questions to the Presidential campaigns of Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Gary Johnson, and Jill Stein, “along with an invitation to the candidates to answer them in writing and to discuss them on television,” said Otto. The results of this effort would then be widely distributed to guide journalists in their coverage, the general public in their voting, and perhaps even scientists in, well, adjusting their level of alarm!<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a video Sciencedebate.org produced a while back with a slightly different spin on the question process. Personally, I think these kids should run the debate!<\/p>\n