Scientists at work at the Greenpeace Laboratory
Greenpeace needs good quality science but that does not mean we or society should uncritically accept new scientific findings without scrutiny. Similarly, citizens and consumers shouldn't automatically trust whatever new products and processes that science and technology produces and deploys.
One aspect of this is that 'scientific evidence' is quite different from 'the opinion of some scientists' but the difference between these is sometimes obscured in debates about the uses to which science is put or the policies and products it is being used to support. This confusion, especially around the use of science in policy, has led to a drop in trust in scientists over time.
Greenpeace is quite clear about where it is coming from; where there is uncertainty we will interpret the uncertainties in favour of environmental protection, using the Precautionary Principle.
Further reading
- A brief history of science and society
- Our critique of science and society
- The Precautionary Principle
