Abstract: Our knowledge of the complex Earth system is very incomplete, and climate science is under ideological attack. What are our responsibilities as environmental scientists and how can we meet them? I will first discuss some of the broad issues; and then use slides from public talks to illustrate how global climate issues [e.g. the coupling of ecosystem, the water cycle, water vapor greenhouse and snow albedo) can be grasped in terms of the seasonal climate transitions at northern latitudes, which are part of common experience. (This section will be of interest to forecasters.)

Betts, A. K. (2009), Scientists’ Responsibility to Society. Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc., 90, p. 759.