Physics and Politics
by Molly Webb
I walk past City University's social science building every day, and in the window is posted the phrase, 'politics is more difficult than physics.' Sounds like wishful thinking on the part of social scientists who could never do math. But the point has been made over and over by environmentalists and indeed many others: Even when technological solutions exist, they rarely become the panacea that we might wish. Witness the claims made by lobbyists for nuclear energy, genetically modified crops, etc. Or something even more basic, like we might know how to filter water, but there are plenty people in the world who drink contaminated cupfuls every day.
China's sustainability challenge is no exception. Defra, the FCO and Dfid got a group of people together yesterday to discuss the challenges facing the UK and China in energy and environment. Politics is the centre of any solution that needs to meet economic, evironmental and social targets, pointed out Dr. Seungho Lee of the University of Nottingham. And negotiating the political terrain might be one of the toughest tasks we'll face if we want joint solutions to global problems.
More on physicists and politicians getting together in our project Atlas of Ideas China, India, South Korea and the new geography of science.