Sir David King: The man who changed the world... but can he save it?

摘要

Sir David King has been Chief Scientific Adviser to the British Government since 2000. In 2002 he changed the world when he declared 'climate change is a greater threat to civilisation than terrorism'. At a stroke, the threat of climate change startedto be taken seriously by all but President George Bush. Latterly he played a substantive role in the writing of the Stern Review on The Economic Impact of Climate Change, which has debunked the economic argument against taking action, to avert what SirDavid now describes as potential climate catastrophe. So Sir David is a man who undoubtedly takes climate change seriously and is keeping it high on the political agenda, at home and abroad. But on the face of it there are inherent contradictions in SirDavid's role. How does fact-based science and politics mix. and how does wealth creation and science mix? These potential conflicts were highlighted late last year when the government gave the go-ahead for trials of genetically modified potato crops in the UK. Had the science, wealth creation possibilities or politics - or a combination of the three - led to the decision that flies in the face of public opposition? Similarly, aiming for a 60 per cent cut in greenhouse gas emissions when a great many climate scientists are saying an 85 per cent cut is required to avoid genocide in Africa smacks of political pragmatism, too, rather than science. We had 30 minutes to discuss these issues when we met at Sir David's office within the Department of Trade and Industry in December, 2006.