When science demands action

Re “Should advocacy be out of bounds for scientists?” Opinion, Nov. 17

It was gratifying to see Nicholas Goldberg endorse the activism of climate scientists.

The fossil fuel lobby purposefully used denialist spokespersons with scientific credentials to enhance credibility in their brazenly invalid scientific pronouncements. Multiple admirable climate activists were excellent scientists long before they became activists.

Climate scientist Peter Kalmus’ knowledge and heartfelt eloquence are extremely powerful. The allegation of bias against him and others is a standard “merchants of doubt” technique.

Policy recommendations that cite the best science cannot be dismissed as unfairly prejudicial against the fossil fuel industry. Relevant expertise, if anything, increases the responsibility of the individuals who understand an issue more clearly than pundits, political figures or lobbyists, to become activists.

Gary Stewart

Laguna Beach

Science is, to a large extent, made by scientists — people with values, experiences and identities that shape their research agenda. The scientific questions that scientists ask are steeped in values, and so are the questions scientists choose not to ask, if not outright ignore or suppress.

Fortunately, social justice movements have made it a moral imperative for scientists to proactively consider the role of certain variables that were previously discouraged, ignored or politically suppressed.

Moreover, the research agendas of scientific communities are shaped not exclusively by the findings from previous studies, but also by scientists’ personal concerns, such as Kalmus’ worry for his children. Accordingly, scientists are at their best when they are socially engaged and their research agendas proactively include the righting of wrongs.

Advocacy is the epitome of a responsible scientist. Take, for example: What is the role of racism in global warming, and what are we scientists doing about it? Andrés J. Consoli

Santa Barbara The writer is an associate professor in the department of counseling, clinical and school psychology at UC Santa Barbara.