The Business Ethics Blog

Two months ago I blogged about Business Ethics and the Science of Climate Change. I asked in general how businesses should deal with scientific controversy, and used climate change as an example.

Here’s an interesting story about a businessman who, tired of being confused by the climate change issue, decided to spend some money on getting top-notch scientific input on the matter.

Here’s a print version of the story, from Scoop: Gareth Morgan delivers his climate change verdict.

If you want to get it from the horse’s mouth, check out this podcast interview, from New Zealand’s ABC National Radio’s Life Matters: Poles apart: Gareth Morgan.

Of course, Morgan’s method of getting the advice he needed isn’t generalizable. Most companies don’t have the resources, and even if they did it would be terribly inefficient for thousands of companies each to host their own conferences on the topic. I’m curious to know why Morgan thought he had to do so himself — surely there are suitable conferences going on already? More generally, though, it makes me wonder how many businesses (ones, say, who don’t already employ relevant scientists) know where to access good scientific information.

(p.s., here’s Gareth Morgan’s book: Poles Apart: The Great Climate Change Debate.)
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Thanks to Mark Edwards for passing this along to me.