The Earth is losing its battle against humans - animal and plant species are being wiped out daily, entire habitats are shrinking and changing, in ways we cannot predict, and the means to sustain even ourselves over the long term are becoming increasingly fragile. We know we have to act now, but what should we do and how are we going to do it?


How important do you think research is? Quite important? Very important? Not important at all?

Research seems to have become poor cousin of the great actions that we can take as a civilisation - we value political power, celebrity and wealth as great attributes to look up to. Information gathering and formal learning do not convey these things - research certainly lacks the glamour of those three attributes, and the white coated "boffin" does not immediately spring to mind as the key to great things; but this was not always the case. Plato valued formal education above all else and, as has been seen from the rise of the great early civilisations of Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece, it was learning that drove the rise of power above all else.

T.S.Eliot wrote in 1915:

Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?

Without data there can be no information, without information there can be no knowledge, without knowledge there can be no wisdom.

Research is "the systematic investigation into the study of materials and sources in order to establish the facts and reach new conclusions" (OED). Put simply, without research there is no data worth taking notice of, and without research there is no valid information, no knowledge of any importance and no wisdom of the reality of the world around us. It is the bedrock of everything that we know to be true.

When George Bush refused to support the re-election of Bob Watson in 2002 to the chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the behest of ExxonMobil, he clearly recognised the importance of research in informing the climate message. Both the Bush White House and ExxonMobil saw that as a result of many years of objective research, the message coming out of the IPCC was that of irrefutable human induced climate change. With Watson out of the way Bush could, in theory, manipulate the IPCC to his own ends. And this type of thing has been attempted by numerous companies, such as the aforementioned ExxonMobil with their notorious "tin shed" Oregon Institute ; AgBioWorld, a pro-genetic modification "research" organisation funded by, among other companies, Monsanto; and most recently, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, who have selectively misquoted research on glacier retreat to make the case for carbon dioxide. Clearly research can lead to power, wealth and even, in the most notorious cases, celebrity.

If research can be manipulated to maintain the status quo of untrammelled economic growth, unequal wealth creation and political power for those who crave it, then it can also be used as a force for good.

The first step is in ensuring that research returns to its roots of purity - objective, non-commercial research for its own sake - after all, science demands that data sources are free from contamination. We should ensure that the term "contamination" includes commercial and politic influences.

The second step is giving the public the power of critical thinking. This does not mean teaching each person the difference between the various types of fallacy and rhetoric (although that would be an excellent start to any child's education), but simply ensuring that any information on which political and legal decisions are based is presented in a clear, unexpurgated way so that individuals can make up their own minds whether the right decisions are being made. It is impossible to hide behind a wall of truth.

So how does that achieve the solution of Giving The Earth A Future?

With the walls of deception knocked down, the truth that research is increasingly presenting to us can only convince people, and by inference governments, that action is needed. Organisations, such as the IPCC and UN Environmental Programme are showing us where we need to target action and further research that we can run in parallel to our efforts to reverse change. The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, to be published in 2006, will show the unequivocal damage that we are doing to all of the Earth's natural systems and what must change to avoid further harm.

This is the result of pure, objective research and it must not be ignored or manipulated at any cost.

Finally, we have to accept that there will always be scepticism. The climate sceptic will wait for scientific proof, knowing that there is no such thing, trying to protect the system that is killing the planet. Despite all our best research efforts there will always be doubt, there will always be best estimates, and there will never be total agreement; but given the evidence there is no way we can sit back and do nothing.