| Laura Tenenbaum. Science communicator and moderator. – jsu |
[1] |
Joshua Fisher. – jsu |
| Laura Tenenbaum. Science communicator and moderator. – jsu |
| Question. What types of realistic policy changes do you think are the most effective at countering climate change? – Ben_SQuare |
| Answer. We are not public policy experts. Energy efficiency measures, on institution/individual levels. More fuel efficient cars, public transportation etc.Monitoring deforestation, carbon credits, tax & trade, good accounting from satellite observations. Subsidies geared toward alternative fuels.Empowering women, lower birthrate. – jsu |
| Question. Why are there still people who don't believe in climate change? – jsu |
| Answer. Habit! Like cigarette smokers. We're stuck to our ways.Also, we're bad at seeing "slow" changes and reacting to it. – jsu |
| Question. What keeps you up at night? We're not going to change anything without urgency ... – jsu |
| Answer. Some get so alarmed they stop being scientists, and focus purely on advocacy. This can be dangerous, because it can result in a loss of objectivity. What we need are problem solvers. – jsu |
| Question. What makes you say Jim Hanson is losing his objectivity? – jsu |
| Answer. David: I've known Hanson for decades and respect him immensely. I don't think he ever lost his objectivity in an absolute way. But he lost it because he came out so strongly against emissions, that many stopped listening to him from a scientific standpoint. People then end up questioning the models he runs, measurements he makes. As you become more of an advocate for anything, you lose your objectivity in the eyes of others. – jsu |
| Answer. In a democracy, rumored that you need a crisis before you can make something happen. This is 50% true. Need a carrot as well as a stick. We also need a place to go, a better way of doing something that is known to us. – jsu |
| Answer. There is a right amount of panic to have. Enough to urge action, but not enough to be paralyzed. How to move forward in a realistic & responsible way.And people are moving forward, we have reduced our carbon footprint ...We used to burn whales, trees -- we are improving. Hydrological fracking is a step ahead, believe it or not. – jsu |
[1] |
Joshua Fisher. – jsu |
| Question. Earth is a living oroganism, same as the human body. If a human develops a disease the body works to counteract it. Is earth responding in the same way? And if so, what are the indicative responses? – Ben_SQuare |
| Answer. Amazon rainforests, Andes cloud forests are like the lungs of the planet. How do they respond to the warming? Can they climb upslope? They move fast, but not fast enough.The Earth can self-correct, but it is possible to push beyond its ability to correct. There are winners and losers. (the tropics are starting to die back) – jsu |
| Question. isn't it too early to tell? it has only been 50 years, right? – Ben_SQuare |
| Answer. Good question, because climate happens on large time scale. But we are seeing a LOT of changes already, far in excess of any bounds seen in last hundreds of thousands of years. – jsu |
| Question. what do you guys think about the effectiveness of cap and trade in California? – Richard |
| Answer. Advantages and disadvantages. Probably something we should try, not get right the first time. Rolled out, get bungled, then need to improve. Like ObamaCare ..Just one of many tools in our box.Analogy with slavery: would it be moral to cap and trade slavery? – jsu |
| Question. Low tech and high tech solutions. Which are more feasible? Which are easier to convince others to do? – jsu |
| Answer. Low tech example: tree planting. Another is options for cook stoves in developing countries that produce less soot.Walking vs. driving. We used to be a walking society. Living with others is okay too. – jsu |
| Answer. Humans evolve toward higher tech solutions ... – jsu |
| Question. What's the most beautiful / poetic thing you've found in your studies? – jsu |
| Answer. Mathematical models are beautiful. Poets produce relationships in language that help you to remember things, and get to the point of things. That's what mathematicians and scientists are doing in their everyday work. – jsu |
[2] |
David Crisp. – jsu |
| Question. Tradeoffs: how much $ are you willing to spend to remove one ton of CO2? – jsu |
| Answer. The going price for this is $20/ton. Oil companies buy CO2 from coal companies to pump into underperforming wells, they pay $50/ton for this.How much would one personally pay? David has done a lot on putting solar on his roof, etc. – jsu |
| Question. is global warming really a threat to our everyday life? because I personally don't see it happening right now. – Ben_SQuare |
| Answer. There are people's whose lives are being affected -- farmers, drying up aquifiers .. Most impacted are poorer people living in vicinity of coastline, far from us, unfortunately.Small changes can lead to big effects. Wars & international conflicts can result. – jsu |
| Question. Since the climate is changing and the water levels are rising and I've herd that it would take 1,000 years for the water levels to go down. Is there any way we could speed up the process? – MuirRanch |
| Answer. Yes; there are ways. Stop adding CO2 to the atmosphere and other greenhouse gases ASAP. Sequester CO2, take them out of the atmosphere, will take research and effort.y – jsu |
| Question. I've heard that volcanic eruption can lead to cooler temperatures locally (temporarily at least), is this true, and does it have any implications or lessons concerning global warming? – Albert |
| Answer. Yes it does, volcanoes emit 2-3% as much CO2 as human activity. They emit aerosols into the atmosphere, small particles like smog. Those that make it into the stratosphere reflect sunlight and cool the Earth by a couple of degrees for a couple of years (a very large amount).Some people propose geoengineering, but it is dangerous and unpredictable. – jsu |
| Question. Geoengineering: even given all the drawbacks, can you foresee us getting to the point where it becomes necessary? How much time do we have to decide? – jsu |
| Answer. We are already doing an inadvertent geoengineering experiment. As it goes forward, we will get better at predicting effects, and it may become more possible. The hope is that this becomes true.Example: adding CFCs to the atmosphere & the ozone hole. It was dire enough that they stopped production of these chemicals. – jsu |
| Question. Scary climate statistic: we can burn less than half of the proven oil reserves, and keep within 2 degree limit ... consensus on a carbon budget? – jsu |
| Answer. Burning fossil fuels -- 39 billion tons per year. Not sustainable. 400-450 ppm range is cause for worry, but a bigger part is that CO2 sticks around 300-1000 years. Building into the future, takes a long time to solve.We've actually come down a bit, Americas emit 16 tons CO2/person per year. Chinese emit 7 tons. Should be past peak, but no such luck. – jsu |
[3] |
Julius Su. – jsu |
| Question. how fast is the average global temperature rising every decade? And how will this affect my decadal coffee intake? – Ben_SQuare |
| Question. Will we see a resurgence in earthquakes due to global warming or climate change? – Ben_SQuare |
| Question. Isnt ice in the Antarctic increasing? – Grace |
| Question. Isn't Keeling's CO2 measurements primarily located in the pacific rim? if so, could the last 50 years climate change result of PDO (pacific decadal oscillation)? – Ben_SQuare |
| Question. if we kept co2 outputs constant, when would the last human die? – MuirRanch |
| Question. how long ago is our record of solar constant – Albert |
| Question. I want to know if there is documented connection between Dr. Keeling and Dr Claire Patterson? – Ben_SQuare |
| Question. Is there a way to pump the co2 down to the coral reefs so they can use it to grow, and output o2 in the process? – Marie |
| Question. Why has the USA taken such a slow initiative on climate change? – Marie |
| Question. there is warming on Mars and Jupitor, so the warming on Earth is not due to anthropogenic activities. – Albert |
| Question. does animal extinction have to do with global warming? – Ben_SQuare |
| Question. I heard about a large ice sheet in Antarctica that has a large crack in it... is this a consequence of global warming? What will happen if it breaks off? – Marie |
| Question. what is the main cause of global warming? – Ben_SQuare |
| Question. do drugs effect the climate like cigarets? – MuirRanch |
| Question. Where is the best place to be when the oceanic start rising? will Florida be underwater; if so, when? – cvh |
| Question. What do you think about Jim Hansen promoting nuclear as an energy source? – Marie |
| Question. Who will be some of the most impacted and impacted first? – MuirRanch |
| Question. How do we deal with scientists and engineers who think we can create solutions to these problems and we don't need to worry? – MuirRanch |
| Question. What co2 emission level is sustainable? – MuirRanch |
| Question. Was there an English group of climate scientists that falsified data? what happened there? – MuirRanch |
| – cvh |
| Question. how the desalination affects the ocean biosphere? – Albert |
| Question. what are some of the solutions? – Albert |
| Question. How are we educating the school children about climate change? from the aquarium of the pacific – Ben_SQuare |
| Question. will there be more farmland because of global warming or less? – Albert |
| Question. What should we do first? what could each of us do tomorrow? – Richard |
| Question. why is it so widely believed that climate change is not real, when there's actually a consensus among scientists? – cvh |
| Question. how would severe climate change affect society? – Albert |
| Question. What will be the first or notable symptoms and catastrophes affecting humans that will be observed due to global warming? – Ben_SQuare |
| Question. how do you scientists know that my cows are putting out this thing called methane? – Grace |
| Caltech SKIES Interactive Team. Cassandra HoriiMitch AikenJames MaloneyLaura Flower KimBen BenMagnus HawAnne LaraiaKatherine SaadJinqiang ChenZachary Erickson – jsu |
| – cvh |
| – cvh |
| Kat – cvh |
| James – cvh |
| – Marie |
| – cvh |
| – Ben_SQuare |
