CANTON – A local professor who has been an advisor to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will speak about the intersection of science, politics and public policy at the next meeting of the St. Lawrence County Environmental Management Council at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 20 in Room 226 of the County Courthouse, 48 Court St.

Philip K. Hopke, Distinguished Professor and Director of the Institute for a Sustainable Environment at Clarkson University, will present “Climategate vs. Climate Change: Science, Politics and Public Perception.”

As Hopke describes his presentation: “What happens when scientists engaged in research are expected to provide results that support the development of public policy, law, and even ethics? Can the scientific method – slow, deliberate, and abstracted from everyday life – be expected to inform public policy debates that are passionate and motivated by special interests beyond the ‘facts?’ For 100-plus years, scientists have been studying the ‘greenhouse effect,’ highly complex systems in which gases trap solar heat and warm the atmosphere. Is it too much to ask that scientists leave their beliefs and opinions at the laboratory entrance? Is science always as ‘objective’ as it is sometimes portrayed? Is ‘Climategate’ really all it is purported to be? What do we know about climate? How certain is certain enough?”

If you attend the presentation, you might stop by the corridor outside the Planning Office to see posters submitted for the EMC’s Earth Day Poster Contest. The theme of this year’s contest was “"Climate Change: What Does It Mean to You? What Would You Do About It?"