Science As a Contact Sport: Inside the Battle to Save Earth S Climate

Science as a Contact Sport: Inside the Battle to Save Earth’s Climate Reading Questions

Schneider, S. (2009). Science as a Contact Sport: Inside the Battle to Save Earth’s Climate. National Geographic Society. Washington, DC. http://stephenschneider.stanford.edu/SAACS/saacs_book.htm

Chapter 1. Smoke on the Horizon

1.1. Briefly, describe the following scientists’ contribution to climate change research.

Roger Revelle

Charles David Keeling

Ishtiaque Rasool

Jim Hansen

1.2. When did Earth Day begin and what it call for?

1.3. When did climate science really begin? What instruments were available to begin this field of science? (See p. 22.)

1.4. What is NCAR? (See the website http://www.ncar.ucar.edu/.)

1.5. What is a GCM?

1.5. Schneider was an early system’s scientist. What did Schneiders’ early work with Rasool focus on?

Chapter 2. Drawing Up the Battle Lines

2.1. What is the IPCC and its purpose? Why is it repeated every 6 years?

2.2. In the early 1970’s, what was revolutionary at NCAR?

2.3. What does Schneider mean by a hierarchical approach to modeling?

2.4. On page 43, there is a good example of the nature of science and Schneider’s early modeling work. Explain.

2.5. How is modeling different from empirical science?

2.6. How does Schneider explain the degree of confidence regarding sea level rise? (See pp. 48-49.)

2.7. Watch the video of Greg Craven, a physics teacher, and his perspective on uncertainty and confidence at http://www.gregcraven.org/. What do you think?

2.8. How did Schneider influence the 1974 Global Atmospheric Research Program? (See p. 57.)

1 2.9. What is John Holdren’s job today?

2.10. There is a good example of serendipity and science on page 63. Explain.

2.11. What is the Gaia Hypothesis?

2.12. How did Margaret Mead influence Schneider? There is a nice quote by Margaret Mead on page 69.

Chapter 3. Deep Inside the Battle to Save Earth’s Climate

3.1. What journal was Schneider a founder of? What was unique about it?

3.2. What was historic about the First World Climate Conference in 1979?

3.3. Describe the debates in the first US hearings on climate and energy policy and how the Carter and Reagan administrations differed on climate issues.

Chapter 4. A Fragile Planet Grows Alarmed

4.1. How did we solve the problem of the hole in the ozone layer?

4.2. What did the 1988 heat wave trigger?

4.3. What are some of the techniques used by critics to discredit or distract the mainstream climate scientists?

Chapter 5. The Battle Heats Up and So Does the World

5.1. View the video of Sevren Cullis-Suzuki talking at the Earth Summit in 1992 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZsDliXzyAY). What did you think?

5.2. What are the three working groups in the IPCC’s Second Assessment Report?

5.3. Countries have to reach consensus when approving the ICPP reports. Which countries objected the most to chapter 8 in the science of climate working group? What ended up happening? (See pp. 137-142.)

5.4. What were some of Seitz’s methods for attacking Santer and the Second Assessment Report and scientists’ findings? (See pp. 142 – 148.)

5.5. Do scientists have to present their personal codes to reviewers and critics? Explain. (See p. 148.)

5.6. What issue did Schneider take up in the next IPCC reports (after the second IPCC reports)? Explain. (See pp. 148 – 154.)

5.7. What is the Kyoto Protocol and why didn’t the US sign it? (See pp. 154 – 159.)

5.8. What do you think of Schneider’s and Gore’s carbon footprint?

2 5.9. What happened in 1998?

5.10. What did Terry Root’s (Schneider’s wife) research on plants and animals indicate?

5.11. What consequences were hard to ignore? (See pp. 173 – 175.)

Chapter 6. Awareness Dawns on Planet Earth

6.1. According to Schneider, what is the relationship between hurricanes and global warming?

6.2. How did the battle over Chapter 19 in the Working Group II report end? What was the most contentious issue? (See pp. 180 – 197.)

6.3. What prize did Schneider share with several other scientists

Chapter 7. The Media Wars

7.1. What is a reason for the distortion in media reports?

7.2. How does Schneider distinguish deniers from skeptics?

7.3. How does Schneider explain the deniers’ claim that more ice is accumulating on the top of Greenland?

7.4. How does the nature of science differ from courtroom epistemology?

7.5. Andrew Revkin writes for the New York Times. Read his article that Schneider referred to at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/29/science/earth/29clim.html.

Here is a link to his current articles: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/andrew_c_revkin/index.html

Why does Schneider think that that his reporting is encouraging?

7.6. What does Bjorn Lomborg content and believe should be done?

7.7. If you are interested, watch the film, The Great Global Warming Swindle sometime this semester at: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4860344067427439443#

What does the movie claim?

7.8. What guidelines does Schneider use when dealing with the media? (See pp. 229 – 232.)

3 Chapter 8. Habitats for Humanity and Others

8.1. How is global warming affecting different ecosystems?

8.2. What are some consequences of Schneider’s worse case scenarios?

8.3. What is the human cost of climate change?

8.4. What is the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill?

8.5. What did Schneider recommend to the Inuits of Greenland?

8.6. What methods did Terry Root use to study the impact of global warming on different species?

8.7. What happened to Jim Salinger, a climate scientist in New Zealand, when he spoke publically?

Chapter 9. What Should Keep Us Awake at Night

9.1. How long has passes since US congress and many other government authorities throughout the world known about the climate change problem?

9.2. What did the oil companies do in 2007 and early 2008?

9.3. What does Schneider think should keep us up at night?

9.4. What are some steps or recommendations that Schneider thinks could help make climate policy?

9.5. What does Schneider think about a “tipping point?”

9.6. What does Schneider think about Obama’s first actions?

9.7. Finally what is his last advice on the end of the book?