ENV320H1 Chapter : summary of science in environmental policy paper
16 Feb 2012
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Ted schrecker argues in this reading that different factors inhibit science from determining. Canadian environmental policy and therefore policy is not based on science alone. One example used was that of the atlantic cod industry where bureaucratic influence had seriously compromised the scientific basis for fisheries management (schrecker, ted. From lack of transparency in the studies concerning this issue overly optimistic scientific reports were used to determine regulations in fisheries management without any external review or critique. Schrecker also argues that when faced against the market with the power of economic return advocates for environmental conservation normally lack comparable resources (schrecker, ted. Canada, being economically reliant on natural resources, will often pick economic returns over environmental conservation even if it means that in the long run the market will fail, as seen in the atlantic cod case. Science is never certain, but to reach closer to certainty scientists try to minimize their chances of getting a false positive.
