• Question: Do you think certain science branches may have a major negative impact on the environment in the future?

    Asked by anon-188318 to Warren, Shanti, Pizza Ka Yee, Paul, Nadine on 8 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Warren Mansell

      Warren Mansell answered on 8 Nov 2018:

      I think that the impact on the environment depends on how the science is used and anything made using the science is regulated, rather than the science itself. That said, I would rather put money into sustainable development and mental health, than particle acceleration and space travel….

    • Photo: Nadine Mirza

      Nadine Mirza answered on 10 Nov 2018:

      I wouldn’t know this 100% but I can guess that science involving the use of chemicals, particularly toxic or radioactive chemicals, would probably have the most negative impact on the environment. In contrast, it feels good to be in a branch of science where the most environmental damage we do is using a LOT of paper- and even that we recycle!

    • Photo: Paul Matusz

      Paul Matusz answered on 11 Nov 2018:

      I don’t think that any given branch of science is more dangerous than others – unless it is indeed involving radioactive chemicals. We do indeed use a lot of paper as scientists and academics, but also we travel a lot and that has a bad effect on environment – but that’s characteristics of all sciences (and we are working on changing how we “meeet” scientifically, like not to travel across the oceans too often) as well as in business..

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