Confronting Economic and Social Realities, 1980–1999 179
doomsayers from hypothesizing radical transfor-
mations and other adverse effects in the future.
We do not know what caused severe climatic
changes in the geological past, but we can be sure
they were not due to human industrial activity.
Most likely, the causes were and still are colos-
sal cosmic forces, quite outside human ability to
control. Now that we live in an industrial, high
technology society, there is no reason to believe
that such cosmic forces have ceased to exist.
* * *
The course of public events, especially in
nuclear science and now increasingly in the
chemical industry as well, has demonstrated over
the last 10 to 15 years that scientists and engi-
neers who speak on behalf of nuclear power and
the chemical industry are not trusted. The pub-
lic does not distinguish the Natural Resources
Defense Council from the National Academy
of Sciences and is far more likely to believe the
opponents of science and technology than the
supporters.Source: Dixy Lee Ray with Lou Guzzo, Trashing the Planet:
How Science Can Help Us Deal with Acid Rain, Depletion
of the Ozone, and Nuclear Waste (Among Other Things)
(New York: HarperPerennial, 1992), pp. 3, 5-7.[to be] more closely aligned with public opinion
than with our estimated risks.” And with scien-
tific evidence, too, I hasten to add!
Now as to the second example, radiation
exposure, including radon, the simple fact is that
we live in a radioactive world. We always have
and we always will. Yet now a few scientists have
made the unsubstantiated claim that any amount
of radon is harmful... and many have come to
believe it.
As to the “greenhouse effect,” it’s true that
the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmos-
phere has been increasing. It is also true that the
rate of the carbon dioxide increase—and meth-
ane, hydrocarbons, sulfur and nitrogen oxides,
and a few other substances—is now approxi-
mately one percent a year. Since increases of car-
bon dioxide have also occurred in the geological
past, without the help of human industry, it is
unclear whether the burning of fossil fuel is the
preeminent or only cause of the present increase,
however much it may be adding to the current
totals. Moreover, it is not known what the con-
sequences may be, if any, of this increase, nor
how long it may last. But this does not stop the