20110322_R4

Source: BBC Radio 4: Today Programme

URL: N/A

Date: 22/03/2011

Event: Professor Bob Watson is interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Today Programme

People:

• Sarah Montague: Presenter, BBC Radio 4: Today Programme
• Professor Bob Watson: Chief scientific advisor to UK Government's Department for the Environment

Sarah Montague: The Department for the Environment's chief scientific advisor Professor Bob Watson is giving a speech tomorrow about how to convince people that there really is a threat from climate change. The leaked e-mails from UEA and mistakes in a report from the Independent [sic] Panel on Climate Change made many people doubt the science. Well, Professor Bob Watson joins us now. Good morning.

Bob Watson: Good morning.

Sarah Montague: What effect did that Climategate scandal have on how sceptical people are about climate change?

Bob Watson: I think it did cause people to question whether the scientific community was being honest and telling them the truth about the threats of climate change. We now have to try and convince the public at large that climate change is a serious issue and that we have to take it seriously. Climate change is occurring, it is likely due to human activity and it will have adverse effects, not only in England, the rest of the UK but in the globe as a whole.

Sarah Montague: You say it caused people to question. Don't you feel, in some sense, that you're almost starting again because so many people thought "Look, I can't believe this science any longer, I'm going to stop doing some of the things I was doing to try to make a difference"?

Bob Watson: Yes, absolutely. We have to tell the public what we know, what we don't know and why we need to act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, that we have to move to a low-carbon economy, we need to produce the energy more cleanly, we need to use it more efficiently, and this will take action by everybody, not only the government putting the right policies in place, but the private sector and the individual in the household also has a role to play.

Sarah Montague: But in a sense, that's an argument, what you're saying there is something that was being said years ago. It's the, sort of, the first building block of the case for changing our lives.

Bob Watson: That's correct. I think that many people do believe the scientists, when they say that climate is changing. They also do believe that it will have serious consequences. Um, but, you know, when we get cold winters with very heavy snow, as we had just before Christmas, we as the scientific community have to explain them [sic], the difference between variable weather, where you can have a cold winter, you can have heavy snowfall, and the long-term effects of human activities on the climate system.

Sarah Montague: So how do you do that, when you've got a - sort of - other things at the top of the political agenda, other things that are covering the news agenda at the moment? How do you get that message through?

Bob Watson: I think that's the point, it has to be through the media, and of course the average person is confused. If they see me debating on television, quite often, there is a sceptic or a climate denier, so they see two points of view. There's not enough time, quite often, to get across to the public, what is the scientific evidence that shows that we are changing the Earth's climate, what is the scientific evidence that show that most of the effects, both in the UK and globally, will be adverse. So they get a soundbite from someone like myself, and opposite me is Nigel Lawson. So we have to work through the media, we have to work through television, radio and the press, to get across: what is the scientific evidence, why is the scientific case solid, and why are the climate deniers incorrect.

Sarah Montague: Professor Bob Watson, thank you very much.