<p> Science as a Contact Sport: Inside the Battle to Save Earth’s Climate Reading Questions</p><p>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</p><p>Chapter 1. Smoke on the Horizon</p><p>1.1. Briefly, describe the following scientists’ contribution to climate change research. </p><p>Roger Revelle</p><p>Charles David Keeling</p><p>Ishtiaque Rasool</p><p>Jim Hansen</p><p>1.2. When did Earth Day begin and what it call for?</p><p>1.3. When did climate science really begin? What instruments were available to begin this field of science? (See p. 22.)</p><p>1.4. What is NCAR? (See the website http://www.ncar.ucar.edu/.)</p><p>1.5. What is a GCM? </p><p>1.5. Schneider was an early system’s scientist. What did Schneiders’ early work with Rasool focus on?</p><p>Chapter 2. Drawing Up the Battle Lines</p><p>2.1. What is the IPCC and its purpose? Why is it repeated every 6 years?</p><p>2.2. In the early 1970’s, what was revolutionary at NCAR?</p><p>2.3. What does Schneider mean by a hierarchical approach to modeling? </p><p>2.4. On page 43, there is a good example of the nature of science and Schneider’s early modeling work. Explain.</p><p>2.5. How is modeling different from empirical science?</p><p>2.6. How does Schneider explain the degree of confidence regarding sea level rise? (See pp. 48-49.)</p><p>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?</p><p>2.8. How did Schneider influence the 1974 Global Atmospheric Research Program? (See p. 57.)</p><p>1 2.9. What is John Holdren’s job today?</p><p>2.10. There is a good example of serendipity and science on page 63. Explain.</p><p>2.11. What is the Gaia Hypothesis?</p><p>2.12. How did Margaret Mead influence Schneider? There is a nice quote by Margaret Mead on page 69.</p><p>Chapter 3. Deep Inside the Battle to Save Earth’s Climate</p><p>3.1. What journal was Schneider a founder of? What was unique about it?</p><p>3.2. What was historic about the First World Climate Conference in 1979?</p><p>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.</p><p>Chapter 4. A Fragile Planet Grows Alarmed</p><p>4.1. How did we solve the problem of the hole in the ozone layer?</p><p>4.2. What did the 1988 heat wave trigger?</p><p>4.3. What are some of the techniques used by critics to discredit or distract the mainstream climate scientists?</p><p>Chapter 5. The Battle Heats Up and So Does the World</p><p>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?</p><p>5.2. What are the three working groups in the IPCC’s Second Assessment Report?</p><p>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.)</p><p>5.4. What were some of Seitz’s methods for attacking Santer and the Second Assessment Report and scientists’ findings? (See pp. 142 – 148.)</p><p>5.5. Do scientists have to present their personal codes to reviewers and critics? Explain. (See p. 148.)</p><p>5.6. What issue did Schneider take up in the next IPCC reports (after the second IPCC reports)? Explain. (See pp. 148 – 154.)</p><p>5.7. What is the Kyoto Protocol and why didn’t the US sign it? (See pp. 154 – 159.)</p><p>5.8. What do you think of Schneider’s and Gore’s carbon footprint?</p><p>2 5.9. What happened in 1998? </p><p>5.10. What did Terry Root’s (Schneider’s wife) research on plants and animals indicate? </p><p>5.11. What consequences were hard to ignore? (See pp. 173 – 175.)</p><p>Chapter 6. Awareness Dawns on Planet Earth</p><p>6.1. According to Schneider, what is the relationship between hurricanes and global warming?</p><p>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.)</p><p>6.3. What prize did Schneider share with several other scientists</p><p>Chapter 7. The Media Wars</p><p>7.1. What is a reason for the distortion in media reports?</p><p>7.2. How does Schneider distinguish deniers from skeptics?</p><p>7.3. How does Schneider explain the deniers’ claim that more ice is accumulating on the top of Greenland?</p><p>7.4. How does the nature of science differ from courtroom epistemology?</p><p>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.</p><p>Here is a link to his current articles: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/andrew_c_revkin/index.html</p><p>Why does Schneider think that that his reporting is encouraging?</p><p>7.6. What does Bjorn Lomborg content and believe should be done? </p><p>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#</p><p>What does the movie claim?</p><p>7.8. What guidelines does Schneider use when dealing with the media? (See pp. 229 – 232.)</p><p>3 Chapter 8. Habitats for Humanity and Others</p><p>8.1. How is global warming affecting different ecosystems?</p><p>8.2. What are some consequences of Schneider’s worse case scenarios?</p><p>8.3. What is the human cost of climate change?</p><p>8.4. What is the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill?</p><p>8.5. What did Schneider recommend to the Inuits of Greenland?</p><p>8.6. What methods did Terry Root use to study the impact of global warming on different species?</p><p>8.7. What happened to Jim Salinger, a climate scientist in New Zealand, when he spoke publically?</p><p>Chapter 9. What Should Keep Us Awake at Night</p><p>9.1. How long has passes since US congress and many other government authorities throughout the world known about the climate change problem? </p><p>9.2. What did the oil companies do in 2007 and early 2008?</p><p>9.3. What does Schneider think should keep us up at night?</p><p>9.4. What are some steps or recommendations that Schneider thinks could help make climate policy?</p><p>9.5. What does Schneider think about a “tipping point?”</p><p>9.6. What does Schneider think about Obama’s first actions?</p><p>9.7. Finally what is his last advice on the end of the book?</p><p>4</p>