With President Trump fully embracing fossil fuels and indicating that he intends to abandon US efforts to address climate change (and even the scientific inquiry underlying those efforts), there is no time like the present to refresh what we know about climate change, what we can do about it, and what kinds of research still need to be done to improve our understanding. This episode is the first of what will become a mini-series of episodes on the science of climate change, and it starts by looking at the debate over climate change, the counter-arguments of climate change skeptics and the rebuttals to those arguments, and what recent scientific observations can tell us. It also suggests that ultimately, there may be a lot more willingness amongst the rank and file of all political parties to take action on climate, regardless of ideological perspectives on the left and right.
Geek rating: 5
Guest: Dr. Joseph Majkut is director of climate science at the Niskanen Center. He is an expert on climate science, the global carbon cycle, and risk and uncertainty analysis for decision-making. Before joining the Niskanen Center, he worked on climate change policy in Congress as a congressional science fellow, supported by the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Geoscience Institute. He holds degrees from Princeton University, the Delft University of Technology, and Harvey Mudd College.
On Twitter: @JosephMajkut
On the Web: niskanencenter.org
Recording date: January 21, 2017
Air date: February 8, 2017
Links
Kerry Emanuel & Joseph Majkut, “Trump Should Embrace the Energy Future,” Real Clear Policy. (Jan 12, 2017)
Chris Mooney, “Trump meets with Princeton physicist who says global warming is good for us,” Washington Post. (Jan 13, 2017)
Chris Mooney, “U.S. scientists officially declare 2016 the hottest year on record. That makes three in a row,” Washington Post. (Jan 18, 2017)
Chris Mooney, “The huge crack in this Antarctic ice shelf just grew by another 6 miles” Washington Post. (Jan 19, 2017)
Roz Pidcock, “World’s major climate agencies confirm 2016 as hottest year on record,” Carbon Brief. (Jan 18, 2017)
Michael MacCracken, “The Real Truth about Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change: Paragraph-by-Paragraph Comments on an Article by Dr. William Happer,” Climate Institute. (Sep 2011)
Joseph Majkut, “Will Global Greening Save Us All?” Niskanen Center. (Oct 27, 2016)
Joseph Majkut, “California’s Climate Policy Crisis,” Niskanen Center. (Jul 7, 2016)
Skeptical Science, “What evidence is there for the hockey stick?”
Gayathri Vaidyanathan, “Did Global Warming Slow Down in the 2000s, or Not?” ClimateWire. (Feb 25, 2016)
Joseph Majkut, “Should We Make Peace with CO2?” Niskanen Center. (Nov 7, 2016)
Joseph Majkut, “Climbing the Staircase of Global Warming” Niskanen Center. (Jul 27, 2016)
Joseph Majkut, “Study: No Evidence Climate Models Too Sensitive to CO2” Niskanen Center. (Jun 29, 2016)
Joseph Majkut, “Cool It: Megan McArdle Has It Right” Niskanen Center. (Jun 8, 2016)
Joseph Majkut, “Buying Urgency: Overcoming Political Barriers to Carbon Pricing” Niskanen Center. (May 19, 2016)
Greg Laden, “A Global Warming Expectation Confirmed: Upper Troposphere Warming,” Science Blogs. (May 14, 2015)
Rhodium Group, Dr. Robert Kopp, Dr. Solomon Hsiang, Risk Management Solutions, American Climate Prospectus. (Aug 2015)
Energy Information Administration, Assumptions to AEO2016. (Dec 21, 2016)
Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Outlook 2017. (Jan 5, 2017)
HSBC, Global oil supply – Will mature field declines drive the next supply crunch? (Sep 2016)
Cal ISO press release: Tests show renewable plants can balance low-carbon grid (Jan 11, 2017)
Allan Dahl Andersen, “No transition without transmission: HVDC electricity infrastructure as an enabler for renewable energy?” Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, Volume 13, December 2014, Pages 75-95, ISSN 2210-4224, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2014.09.004.
Steve Hanley, “China, Japan, Russia, And South Korea Plan Super Grid For Renewable Energy,” Solar Love. (Sep 16, 2016)
DNV GL press release, “DNV GL certifies new prototype of Siemens’ 8 MW offshore wind turbine” (Jan 17, 2017)
Siements product page: Offshore Direct Drive Wind Turbine SWT-8.0-154
Teaser photo credit: By WiNG – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7155522
