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AAAS: From Darwin to Obama

This year’s American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting has the all-encompassing subtitle “Our planet and its life: origins and futures”. As AAAS president James McCarthy put it, “it’s been fun but my advice to any future AAAS president is to pick a theme with just one word”.

McCarthy explained how scientists from different disciplines have been joining together to link up our understanding of the Earth’s systems. In the past it was rare for physical oceanographers to communicate with biological oceanographers, for example, but nowadays there’s much more insight into how biology influences climate.

Appropriately enough for a theme that encompasses the origins of life, the conference kicks off on the 200th anniversary of the birthday of Charles Darwin, founder of the theory of evolution. The mid- to late- 1800s, when Darwin’s ideas appeared, also saw the development of new technologies such as the internal combustion engine and oil extraction and refinement.

“We were beginning, although no-one knew it at the time, technologies that today we look to as having significantly altered the environment of this planet, especially with regards to climate change,” said McCarthy. “We have choices to make and the choices we make today will have a profound effect a few decades out. Organisms that have co-evolved with other species to a particular climate regime now have to adapt.”

Today is also the birthday of US president Abraham Lincoln, which prompted a lot of questions for McCarthy at this morning’s press briefing about the latest US government administration. “Obama has recruited scientific talent of extraordinary calibre,” he said. “In energy and environment it would be hard to find better people. I am very optimistic.” And McCarthy remains optimistic despite the fact that there will be “distractions, such as the economy”. He reckons that Obama is “not simply saying let’s invest in climate change research, he’s saying let’s look at the broader picture, the employment problem - how renewable energy can create new jobs and improve energy security”.

 

 

Posted by Liz Kalaugher on February 12, 2009 7:42 PM | Permalink