A call for integrative thinking.

IN THE 30 NOVEMBER 2012 ISSUE OF SCIENCE, WE WERE STRUCK by the juxtaposition of two News & Analysis stories by R. A. Kerr. One article (“Experts agree global warming is melting the world rapidly,” p. 1138) summarizes the discussions among glaciologists about the rate at which global warming is accelerating the melting of the Greenland ice sheet, as well as the net losses of ice in Antarctica. The other (“An oil gusher in the offi ng, but will it be enough?,” p. 1139) analyzes the International Energy Agency’s most recent report, which shows that it is possible to meet the world’s energy demands through 2035 by drawing upon increasingly diffi cult-to-process oil reserves. Neither article refers to the information contained in the other. Yet, the two topics present a glaring contradiction between scientists’ concern about increasingly rapid climate change (amid World Bank warnings of the dire consequences for human well-being) and the oil industry’s preoccupation with how it can meet an undiminished world market demand for fossil fuel. If there was ever a call for the kind of problem-solving and integrative thinking that K. V. Hodges advocates in the same issue (“Solving complex problems,” Essay, p. 1164), undoubtedly this is it.