Final Reflections, the 2020s, and the Road Ahead

The framework described here for this course was adopted as a lens for exploring fundamental questions about science-based public policy issues, such as:

• How does scientific knowledge differ from other types of knowledge?

• In cases where the scientific basis of a public policy issue is ambiguous, when is it appropriate to take political action?

• What constitutes sufficient evidence that political action should be taken?

• When is it justified to spend money for additional research to investigate the scientific basis of a public policy decision?

We analyze the relationship between science and public policy by immersing ourselves in the following broad science and policy topic areas:

• Galileo and the Church: Science, Religion, and Public Policy

• Creation, Evolution, and the Age of the Earth

• Global Warming and Climate Change

• The COVID-19 Pandemic: Human Health and Earth Systems

• Earthquakes, the Environment, and Living on an Active Planet

These topic areas contain a rich amount of material related to the fundamental questions we address in the course, and they involve a wide range of core scientific concepts. In additon, these topic areas also provide excellent examples of how scientists and public policy makers interact when they need to make decisions about scientific issues. Thus, by delving into these topic areas in detail we shed light on the general picture of how science and public policy are, in many realms, deeply intertwined with each other.

But, does the theme, framework, and storyline of the course still apply to the new science and policy challenges of the 2020s?

Life in the 2020s is bringing new challenges to our understanding of the intersection of Earth systems and public policy. The theme for this course—that life is uncertain, and issues concerning Earth systems and public policy can be understood through a lens of how people respond to uncertainty—was developed based on my own experiences. I experienced science and public policy from the 1950s through to today. Based on that experience, it seems to me that science and public policy evolved from a time of great optimism that science will be able to solve (nearly all of?) our problems (the 1950s) to the early 2000s when these issues became increasingly complicated and uncertain. In the early 2000s era we have been faced with having to deal with such challenges as what to do (or not do) about global warming, COVID-19, devastating hurricanes and tornados, and tragic earthquakes that couldn't be predicted. This has all been exacerbated by political divides, anti-science movements, and for some citizens a new era of distrust of science.

As a final reflection, we will explore the extent to which my storyline for the course applies in this early 2000s era. Is it still relevant today. Does it still fit with the current "science vs anti-science" culture we are experiencing? It seems to me that a lot of what's going on in this realm today is still highly influenced by the different ways that people respond to uncertainty. But what is at play today that might be different from the storyline developed in the 20th century?

My sense is that, in the realm of geoscience and public policy, a lot has changed over the years and yet a lot remains the same. Hopefully, the understanding of the intersection of Earth systems and public policy that we have gained in this course will serve us well on the road ahead.