NUCLEAR GUARDIANSHIP FORUM, On The Responsible Care of Radioactive Materials
Issue # 1, Spring 1992, p. 4.
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                           VALUES ARE EVERYTHING

                            by Stephen Schneider

     Never forget: Whenever an expert tells you there is a scientific
     basis for something, that expert is out of his depth or making a
     logical mistake because policy is always a tradeoff among
     alternatives.

     Ask three questions of scientists:

       1. What can happen?

       2. What are the odds?

       3. How do you know?

     That is where the scientific expertise stops. Scientists will have
     opinions about what to do. If I have a microphone and I'm asked a
     question then I'm going to tell you my values.

     Never think that you are not expert enough to deal with a
     technically complex decision, because you don't need to understand
     the technical details to make the decision.

     You need to know from technical experts what can happen and what
     are the probabilities because that leads to the values which you
     are as good as anybody else in applying.

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     As printed in the San Francisco Chronicle, February 2, 1992.

     Stephen Schneider is an atmospheric scientist at the National
     Center for Atmospheric Research who works in the areas of global
     warming and climatic change. His remarks are excerpted from
     comments made recently at the College of Wooster in Ohio.



Issue # 2, Spring 1993, p. 15

                           IT'S A VALUE JUDGEMENT

                    Technical information has its place,
                     but protecting the environment is
                   not ultimately about technical issues.
                  It's about the values that people hold.
                     It may be a technical question for
                  scientists to determine if a particular
                   chemical causes cancer. It is a value
                  judgement, however, for people to decide
                      if they want themselves or their
                     children exposed to that chemical.

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               From the Introduction to Where We Live, a
               Citizen's Guide to Conducting a Community
               Environmental Inventory (Working Draft), by
               Donald F. Harker and Elizabeth U. Natter,
               Mountain Associates for Community Economic
               Development, 443 Chestnut St., Berea KY
               40403   USA