April 3, 2009

Rising Seas Concentrate the Mind

All too many members of the American intelligentsia dismiss concerns about global warming, all too often in collusion with the mainstream media. Freeman Dyson, for example, got extensive, sympathetic coverage of his skepticism in last Sunday's New York Times Magazine. As near as I can tell, critics confuse deficiencies in modeling with deficiencies in measurement, arguing models where measurements clearly show a warming planet. Unfortunate, because there's not a moment to lose. In Europe, however, climate experts have taken the lead, moving the debate on to pragmatic questions. To get a sense of what's happening at the cutting edge of science I turned to Dr. Katherine Richardson, an optimist from the University of Copenhagen. It was kind of Katherine to take the time, I enjoyed talking with her, and I learned a lot. Total runtime fifty one minutes. Stand your ground!