Grand Challenges in Environmental Sciences (2001) / Chapter Skim
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Implementation Issues
Implementation Issues
Pages 70-78
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From page 70... ...
, there was considerable diversity of opinion among committee members. COMPLEXITY OF ENVIRONMENTAL PHENOMENA: AN OVERALL RESEARCH VISION The grand challenges set forth in this report cannot be pursued effectively in isolation from each other because they are closely interrelated.
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From page 71... ...
These groups will require a large number of scientists with broad, interdisciplinary perspectives, as well as an increased capability for cross-disciplinary collaboration among environmental scientists, who may develop more interdisciplinary orientations as a result. Science is becoming increasingly capable of developing the observational basis, focused process studies, and coupled models needed to provide a firm foundation for considering multiple causal factors (multiple stresses)
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From page 72... ...
to focus combined field and model process studies on areas or topics of critical uncertainty; and (c) to construct increasingly comprehensive regional system models in which the discipline of forecasting, evaluation, and improvement is rigorously applied.
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From page 73... ...
Some members argued that learning in regional natural laboratories cannot be adequately achieved without the interdisciplinary social and professional environment provided by a shared physical location. Those members argued that regional centers would act as nodes for intellectual organization and innovation and would be ideal sites for providing interdisciplinary training and for increasing the capability of environmental scientists to collaborate effectively on cross-disciplinary problems.
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From page 74... ...
We recommend that each of these workshops consider the usefulness and importance of regional approaches and integrated laboratories for advancing the specific area of research, and if such approaches are considered important, that the appropriate institutional form for such laboratories be considered as well. The interrelationships among the grand challenges make it necessary for NSF to consider ways of supporting integrated research efforts that can help develop the observations, process studies, and models needed to investigate problems of multiple causal variables, cross-media relationships, and linkages across the grand challenge areas.
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From page 75... ...
There are relatively few broadly interdisciplinary environmental scientists available to tackle the grand challenges outlined in this report. To utilize the talents of those interdisciplinary natural and social scientists, to increase their numbers, to encourage environmental scientists to collaborate across disciplines on cross-disciplinary problems, and to build interdisciplinary research communities, it will be necessary for funding structures to free individuals from the constraints imposed by disciplinary departments within universities and by the disciplinary panels that judge research proposals within funding agencies.
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From page 76... ...
Collaborations among both kinds of agencies on the grand challenges, such as apparently successful collaborations between NSF and mission agencies in funding environmental research on watersheds, industrial transformations, and other issues, could add depth and insight to the research and its results. The collaborating agencies will need to find ways to foster interdisciplinary collaboration and design research programs that adequately meet both curiosity-driven and decision-driven research needs.
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From page 77... ...
These intermediaries include mass media organizations, political commentators and interest groups, trade associations, social movement organizations, insurers, law firms, consultants, and government bureaucracies at all levels. When environmental scientists write reports and make public statements, they typically do not consider whether effective intermediaries are in place to reach the intended audiences, or whether existing intermediaries may ignore, shade, misinterpret, or deliberately distort the scientific conclusions.
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From page 78... ...
Sometimes, however, having a clear picture of the needs of decision makers, including public officials, private and nonprofit organizations, and interested and affected members of the informed and attentive public can allow the scientific community to develop more relevant information than would otherwise be the case. Dialogue between environmental scientists and those whose lives the science is intended to improve can help uncover such possibilities for mutual benefit and clarify the limitations of science for those who want information that lies beyond present scientific capabilities.
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