Environmental Science and Public Policy

surrounding environmental science today it is tempting to adapt the episode of The Simpsons called "Lisa the Skeptic," in which a judge issues an injunction requiring that "politics is to stay at least 500 yards away from religion at all times." Many scientists and policy analysts would probably like to see a similar injunction issued for the separation of science and politics, as this relationship is equally contentious and problematic. Of course, this is not going to happen. Clarity in understanding this hardy perennial can benefit from disaggregating three aspects of the issue. The first aspect concerns the hoary problem of policymaking amidst scientific uncertainty. The second concerns institutional problems that arise from the necessarily bureaucratic nature of both large-scale scientific research and policymaking. The third concerns a bundle of factors that complicates the task of prediction, including the limits on a synoptic understanding of "the environment" as well as unstated competing principles or values that the various actors including scientists bring to the discourse. The problem of "uncertainty" in science has become especially acute in the arena of climate change science and policy today, although