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climate science

Data, more data and climate change

March 15, 2012 by David Hone
with 216 views
0

Climate change is one of those subjects that is awash with data, leading to an almost endless capacity for analysis and ultimately conclusion drawing. The same data can be used to create different analytical output and a single analysis can lead to more than one conclusion. This comes about not just from the climate data itself, but from energy use data, energy use projections and the combination of all of these into both simple and highly complex models which seek to map out climate scenarios for the balance of this century and beyond. [read more]

How should climate change be taught?

February 23, 2012 by David Hone
with 222 views
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The external release of documents relating to the activities of the Heartland Institute has raised many questions, but an important issue that is now in the open again relates to the teaching of climate change in schools. How should this be handled and what should be taught? Is there justification in arguing that “both sides” of the issue should be covered? Are there “two sides” to this issue? If so, what exactly are the “two sides”, particularly in the context of a high school education? [read more]

Science, risk management or just politics?

February 3, 2012 by David Hone
with 412 views
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An opinion piece that appeared in the Wall Street Journal (Europe) on Tuesday (a few days earlier in the USA) presented the views of sixteen scientists on the issue of climate change under the heading “No Need to Panic About Global Warming“. Unfortunately there isn’t much in the way of science discussed and the reality of the policy world is very different from the story they have written. [read more]

Back to Basics on Climate Science

July 5, 2011 by David Hone
with 1,345 views
13

Last week I had the privilege to attend an MIT forum and listen to the keynote address given by Nobel laureate Mario Molina. The subject of the address was the issue of conveying an understanding of the science of climate change to the general public. Professor Molina won the Nobel Prize and is best known for his work in identifying the role of chloro-fluorocarbons in the destruction of the ozone layer. [read more]

2011: A Year Of Weather Extremes

June 15, 2011 by David Hone
with 488 views
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By many accounts 2011 has been a year of weather extremes and some commentators have used certain events to highlight the risks associated with climate change. While there is increasing evidence of unusual global weather events, should we just assume that every disaster is a sign of things to come? [read more]

Our Climate Fate On The Toss Of A Coin?

April 8, 2011 by David Hone
with 187 views
4

Perhaps in response to the initial findings of the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature project and the reported disappointment of some climate skeptics after the lead of the project testified before a Congressional committee, the Wall Street Journal Europe published an article on April 5th by former commodity market statistician Douglas Keenan which questions the significance, in statistical terms, of the warming of the planet over the last century. [read more]

And the 2010 Citizen Kane award for non-excellence in climate journalism goes to …

December 21, 2010 by Joseph Romm
with 796 views
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I think it’s pretty obvious who the winner will be this year.  I have tried to be responsive to those who felt last year’s Citizen Kane award didn’t give enough weighting to the unprincipled bad actors, as opposed to those who are merely doing a bad job.  As always, though, I welcome your thoughts on the “winners” and any... [read more]

Energy and climate books I read in 2010

December 20, 2010 by Barry Brook
with 1,480 views
1

Here is a selection of sustainable energy and climate change books I read in 2010. I’ve provided a few sentence summary of each book (from my perspective) and a Rating out of 5. Some books have been reviewed in more detail on BNC already — enter from the title of the book in this website’s search box to find the review (or... [read more]

Michael Oppenheimer delivers American Geophysical Union’s first Stephen Schneider Lecture - Scientists, Expert Judgment, and Public Policy: What is Our Proper Role?

December 20, 2010 by Joseph Romm
with 675 views
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One of the climate scientist I have learned the most from is Michael Oppenheimer the Albert G. Milbank Professor of Geosciences and International Affairs at Princeton University, and Director of the Program in Science, Technology and Environmental Policy (STEP). [read more]

Eye-Opening Videos

December 9, 2010 by Michael Tobis
with 1,074 views
7

Via Treehugger, a ten minute interview by Revkin of McKibben. (I think they talk past each other a bit without noticing. Revkin injects a bit of Pielkeism in there and I don't know if McKibben even notices.) But McKibben has come to the same place in the last year or so that many of us have. Our future is down to difficult vs impossible... [read more]

Revisiting the science: Climate Change Exhibit at the London Science Museum

December 3, 2010 by David Hone
with 1,048 views
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At about this time last year thousands of people were standing in the snow in long lines outside the convention centre in Copenhagen where COP 15 was underway. There was great expectation in the air, but equally concern that months of unrelenting public attack on climate science was undermining the UN process, not to mention emissions mitigation policy development at national level in many countries. Roll on a year and in similar snowy weather I was able to get a brief preview of “atmosphere: exploring climate science”, a new gallery that will open in London’s Science Museum this week. [read more]

Business as usual is a formula for 4C of warming by 2060

November 29, 2010 by Lou Grinzo
with 765 views
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Everyone is piling on with press releases and documents to coincide with the beginning of the Cancun talks, but I would bet that the most important such event is a series of papers published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. The papers look at where we’re headed, and while I haven’t had a chance to do more than... [read more]

On the Persecution of Michael Mann

November 24, 2010 by Charles Barton
with 1,145 views
8

The Republican treatment of famed Climate Scientist Michael Mann, goes well beyond rational concern about scientific misconduct, and looks more and more like outright persecution of a scientist who has dared, like Galileo to contradicts the dogmas of the powerful. But Mann, like Galileo is likely to have the last laugh.The firing of... [read more]

The forecast for climate blogs

November 17, 2010 by Simon Donner
with 564 views
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The previous post drawing analogies between the state of climate blogging and cable news drew a wide variety of responses, some here, some over at the Energy Collective, and some in private e-mails (if such a thing exists). There's no right answer to the question of how to respond to skepticism about well-founded scientific findings. I'm... [read more]

Climate rapid response communications team gears up - Scientists get off the sidelines to right media wrongs

November 16, 2010 by Joseph Romm
with 700 views
1

Last week, Dr. John Abraham of St. Thomas University helped launch a “climate rapid response team.”  CAP’s Sean Pool interviewed Abraham about this effort in this Science Progress cross-post.  It’s not easy being a climate scientist these days. They live in a world where well-funded organizations collude to spread lies and... [read more]