Ronnie,
Below are the summaries of two articles of mine that approach the topic from a science studies perspective respectively focused on: (1) divergent, geopolitically charged scientific interpretations of the carbon cycle in the Brazilian Amazon and (2) processes of constructing and interpreting global climate models. Best, Myanna Myanna Lahsen Associate Researcher Earth System Science Center, The Brazilian Institute for Space Research (INPE) Brazil “*A science–policy interface in the global south: The politics of carbon sinks and science in Brazil**,” **Climatic Change**, *Vol. 97, Issue 3, 2009, p. 339 (DOI 10.1007/s10584-009-9610-6). http://www.springerlink.com/content/9455584w05522267/ Focusing on the uptake of politically consequential scientific arguments as to whether or not the Amazon is an overall carbon sink (i.e. absorbs atmospheric carbon), the paper reveals important divergences in interpretations on this issue among scientists at the international level and within Brazil. European-led empirical research in the Amazon initially showed the undisturbed Amazon to be a large sink. European scientists participating in the LBA modified downwards these earlier estimates, but they still tend to find the Amazon to be a sink. American LBA scientists, by contrast, are inclined to be skeptical of these findings. Brazilian scientists are divided between the two views. Backed by prominent Brazilian scientists, however, the Brazilian media have privileged scientific views and evidence suggesting that the Amazon forest is a carbon sink. The paper presents evidence of this pattern and shows that powerful Brazilian decision makers, by contrast, have proven resistant to this “pro-sink” argument. It concludes that decision makers’ resistance to this particular scientific interpretation is supported by uncertainties characterizing present understanding of the global carbon cycle but that it also reflects features of national political culture, in particular prominent, national-level understandings of the Amazon, interpretations of Brazilian interests in international politics related to human-induced climate change, and long-standing tendencies in Brazilian environmental policy making. This case study thus serves as a basis for more general conclusions about the importance of national and regional political cultures in the absorption of scientific information. It concludes that policy advances in the area of global environmental problems at times depend less on additional scientific research than on more thorough understanding of the internal struggles and the cultural and political particularities that characterize the interpretive frameworks, the struggles, and the traditions of policy formation in countries and regions with leverage in global environmental politics. *“**Seductive simulations? Uncertainty distribution around climate models**” * Article published in *Social Studies of Science* 35 (December 2005), pp. 895-922. <http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/admin/publication_files/resource-1891-2005.49.pdf> This paper discusses the distribution of certainty around General Circulation Models (GCMs) – computer models used to project possible global climatic changes due to human emissions of greenhouse gases. It calls for a multi-dimensional and dynamic conceptualization of how uncertainty is distributed around this technology. Processes and dynamics associated with GCM modeling challenge the common assumption in science studies and beyond that producers of a given technology and its products are the best judges of their accuracy. Drawing on participant observation and interviews with climate modelers and the atmospheric scientists with whom they interact, the study analyzers the political dimensions of how modelers talk and think about their models, suggesting that modelers sometimes are less able than some users to identify shortcomings of their models. On Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 3:50 PM, David A. Sonnenfeld <[email protected]>wrote: > Hi Ronnie & all, > > There's also a new special issue of *Global Environmental Change* out on > the politics and policy of carbon capture & storage, see: > > http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09593780 > > vol. 21, no. 2, March 2011 > > Kind regards, > David > > > >> On Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 11:24 AM, Ronnie Lipschutz <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> > Dear All: >> > >> > Does anyone know of any work on the "social construction of carbon?" >> > >> > Ronnie >> > >> > -- >> > Ronnie D. Lipschutz, Professor of Politics, 234 Crown College >> > >> > UC-Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 USA >> > Phone: (831) 459-3275; Email: [email protected]; >> > Web: http://people.ucsc.edu/~rlipsch >> > >> > “All down history nine-tenths of mankind have been grinding corn for the >> > remaining tenth and have been paid with husks and bidden to thank god >> they >> > had the husks.” ---David Lloyd George--- >> > >> > >> > > > > -- > David A. SONNENFELD, Ph.D. > Professor of Sociology and Environmental Policy > Department of Environmental Studies > 106 Marshall Hall > State University of New York > College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) > 1 Forestry Drive > Syracuse, NY 13210–2787 > USA > > tel. +1.315.470.4931/ 6636 > fax +1.315.470.6915 > e-mail: [email protected], [email protected] > Homepage: http://www.esf.edu/es/sonnenfeld/ > LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/dasonnenfeld > > *** *In Press:* Symposium on "Social Theory and the Environment in the New > World (dis)Order," *Global Environmental Change* 21(3), with Arthur P.J. > Mol, eds. > *** Affiliate Faculty, Department of Sociology, Syracuse University > *** Research Associate, Environmental Policy Group, Wageningen University, > the Netherlands > *** Board Member, Research Committee on Environment and Society (RC24), > International Sociological Association, 2010-14 (elected) > >
