Many controversies over new technologies and science applications have been viewed as p ublic opposition to risks being ‘unloaded’ onto society. In this article a case is discussed that appears to be the reverse, since it points to public pressure for the application of research, with a call for action in face of known knowledge gaps and lack of certainty. Using the example of the ecological restoration of an opencast mining pit in the southern outskirts of the city of Leipzig in eastern Germany, I will illustrate how social acceptability and scientific reliability can be described with an experimental framework. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.