Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Zur unzumutbaren politischen Rolle der Naturwissenschaften in der umweltpolitischen Debatte

1992; oekom verlag; Volume: 1; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.14512/gaia.1.3.9

2625-5413

Peter Knoepfel,

Environmental Science and Technology

By means of four examples (curve diameter formula for the construction of highways; heavy metal standards for sewage sludges; evaluation of environmental impacts in environmental impact assessment procedures; evaluation of the greenhouse effect) important political implications within pretended scientific and technical research results are demonstrated. While politicians today offen decide on pretty unimportant matters (for example, the introduction of the summer time and so on) crucial aspects of environmental quality are actually increasingly decided by the scientific community without any precise political mandate. Hence, real political substances within environmental policies seem to have disappeared. But this is a misleading optical illusion. The present paper puts foreward some strategies aiming at making again appear these still existing political contents within “technizised” environmental policies. The political responsibility for these political contents must be assumed by those being democratically elected to bear the burden of political risks, namely the politicians. Whenever natural or social sciences should assume this heavy responsibility they inevitably run the risk of loosing their independency.