Science Writer Andrew Revkin Contemplates An Era Of Risk And Complexity

American society must abandon the notion that science will provide clear-cut answers about the environment and climate change and learn to make policy decisions based on research trends and probabilities rather than absolute conclusions, a New York Times science writer said Tuesday in a lecture at AAAS.

Andrew Revkin, an environmental reporter and the author of two books, said that environmental stories in the 21st century "are all incremental, complicated and laden with uncertainties."

"We have to understand, and society has to become comfortable with, making decisions in uncertainty," Revkin said in the Robert C. Barnard Environmental Lecture at AAAS headquarters in Washington, D.C. He spoke to an audience of AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellows.

For more information, read the full story.