Sarah Burgess
From Common Energy UVic
| Sarah Burgess, BA, BSc | |
| Position: | Interdisciplinary MA candidate |
|---|---|
| Location: | Faculty of Science, Faculty of Humanities, Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, History, Philosophy |
| Organisation: | University of Victoria |
| Supervisor: | Andrew Weaver, Harold Coward, Conrad Brunk |
| Contact: | sihburgess(at)shaw.ca |
I'm interested in the nature of the uncertainties that surround climate change mitigation. Specifically, I'm interested in the environmental risks of technical mitigation strategies, like Carbon Capturing and Sequestration (CCS). I approach the issue from the frameworks of post-normal science and the Jaina epistemology, anekanta-vada, which means "the theory of the many-sided nature of reality". Anekanta-vada holds that no propositions asserted without conditions or limitations can possibly be true, because reality is inherently multifaceted. Post-normal science is science in which facts are uncertain, values in dispute, stakes high and decisions urgent - a situation in which it is very hard to make good policy, but essential to do so. Funtowizc and Ravetz (1993) argue that a new methodology is needed to deal with complex, dynamic, and emergent natural systems, a methodology that assumes unpredictability and incomplete control. In order to develop this new methodology, we must transcend an “atomic” view of science. Atomism is not limited to our conception of the physical world, but also characterizes how problems are framed and how knowledge is organized. Good scientific practice and good policy formation now require management of irreducible uncertainties in knowledge and ethics, as well as legitimization of different perspectives and ways of knowing. In light of this, if we admit irreducible uncertainty about the environmental impacts of CCS, what should we make of it as a mitigation strategy? In general, what social processes are required in order to come to wise consensus on mitigation strategies?
Keywords: Mitigation, uncertainty, risk management, science for policy, post-normal science, anekanta-vada
References:
Funtowizc, S.O. and Ravetz, J.R. ‘Science for the post-normal age’, Futures, 25(7), September 1993, pages 739-755.
Matilal, B.K. The Central Philosophy of Jainism (Anekānta-Vāda) (Ahmedabad, L.D. Institute of Indology, 1981).
Ravetz, J.R. ‘Usable knowledge, usable ignorance: incomplete science with policy implications’, in W. Clark and R. Munn (editors), Sustainable Development of the Biosphere (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1987).
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