course/objects/purpose-env-sci.html

Purpose of Studying Environmental Science

2004.08.30

There are four interlocking roles that we will play as environmental scientists.

1. We need to be continually curious (1) about our environment.

processes

impacts

2. We should make judgements based on our experiences and what we have learned.

when to imitate prior success or when to innovate

using a rough starting assumption, a guess or a good guess

3. We should help other people understand the problems and possible actions

providing context

some examples

decisions that might be made

possible outcomes that we feel are likely

4. We will provide continuous decision support.

good preliminary evidence

our speculations (2)

more data and information in context

method development (detection and analysis)

assessment of impact

follow up studies

 

 

 

Notes

1. Jane Jacobs (2004. Dark Age Ahead) says that it is our ethical duty to be curious.

2. In post-normal science, scientists are supposed to include their values into the study explicitly and make speculations.

see post-normal science

3. The problem is that most of the real problems are going to be complex or wicked.

see problem-types.html

4. Many decisions are actually limited by bounded rationality and require efficient heuristics for solution.

see heuristics.html