"One of the things about the [Center for Science and International Affairs] faculty is that they really think that the science and technology matters," says Vicki L. Norberg-Bohm, a doctoral fellow at the Kennedy School. "You can't treat them like black boxes."
The project's researchers say that people often forget that policy makers often have to weigh scientific information against political and economic considerations, and that they must also decide whose advice to believe when there is a lack of consensus among the scientific community.
"So much of the policy problems come from the uncertainties from the science not yet done," says Branscomb.
Another thing that makes the Social Learning project unique among policy research is that it brings together specialists from many different fields, the researchers say.
"[The project draws on] a confluence of conceptual skills--dealing with negotiation, valuing environmental policy, fostering international cooperation and dealing with uncertainties...that sort of infuse the Kennedy School over the past 10 years," says Richard J. Zeckhauser, Ramsey professor of political economy.
The project requires input from people who study law, negotiation, the environment, politics and the press, the researchers say.
"It's the kind of study that can only be done in a school of public policy," says Clark. "Its focus is clearly not natural science, but it's also not a project of theory building."
Straddling the fence between the natural and social science, the project is sometimes criticized for doing neither one well. "On a bad day [natural and social scientists] look on [our research] as something that real scholars do not do," Clark says. "[We are trying to find] the middle ground between critical knowledge and responsible action, and that is a very rare thing in this country or anywhere around the world."
Clark and his colleagues agree that environmental research, in order to be effective, must take more than just one approach.
"One of the things that environmental research is, is interdisciplinary," says Geraldine Kaye, administrative assistant to the University Working Group on Environment, a Harvard group that advises President Derek C. Bok about environmental curriculum and research. "We're identifying the intersections between traditional disciplines...in individual people's work and we are seeing that this is the way environmental studies will have to go."
Particularly, it is a study well suited to Harvard, Clark says, pointing to the large number of professors and students involved in similar investigations. "There is a critical mass of people working on related issues and that is the crucial factor."
A Balancing Act
And while Clark is trying on one hand to integrate the natural and social sciences, he is also trying to strike a balance between the worlds of thought and action. With this project, Clark says, he is trying to put together a theory that academics will find useful in understanding how societies cope with environmental problems, and to generate viable policy alternatives for bureaucrats.
"Bill Clark is trying to do policy design, not just analysis," says Lewis M. Branscomb, Pratt public service professor and director of the Kennedy School's Science, Technology and Public Policy Program.
Connections to Action
Clark says he hopes that the process of interviewing people involved in managing environmental problems will get them to reflect critically on their experiences and think about ways to be more effective.
"Our whole point is that this interaction will generate ideas," Clark says.
And while researchers say they plan to target their findings at government agencies, others can benefit from their results.
"Corporate boardrooms, the National Academy of Sciences, new environmental research organizations" will all be contacted, says Clark.
"It is not that you will fix these problems," Clark says. "But maybe let other [policy makers and scientists] enter into these [debates] with their eyes a little more wide open and with a little less naivete."