Category Archives: Policy

CO2 emission reductions

Posted on July 14, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

At the risk of sounding rather arrogant, I find myself getting more and more frustrated by people justifying their position on the basis of a flawed understanding of the scientific evidence. One that seems particularly prevalent at the moment is … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Policy | Tagged , , , , | 33 Comments

Independent SAGE – Climate

Posted on June 20, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

Sir David King, who has been leading the Independent SAGE group, is planning to set up a similar group that will focus on climate change (H/T Doug McNeall). It will apparently have 14 experts, from 10 nations, and every continent. … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Environmental change, Global warming, Policy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 32 Comments

Some reflections on (corona) truth wars

Posted on June 9, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

I wrote this in response to a paper by Jaron Harambam called The Corona Truth Wars, published in a journal called Science and Technology Studies. I submitted it to this journal but it was (desk?) rejected because they felt that … Continue reading →

Posted in advocacy, Climate change, Philosophy for Bloggers, Policy, Scientists, The scientific method | Tagged , , , , , | 57 Comments

Declaring a climate emergency?

Posted on June 6, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

Matthew Nisbet, Professor of Communication, Public Policy, and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University, has a new article called Manufacturing Consent: The dangerous campaign behind climate emergency declarations. It makes similar arguments to those made by Mike Hulme in an article … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Philosophy for Bloggers, Policy, Politics, Science, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 57 Comments

The is-ought distinction

Posted on May 21, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

There was an interesting panel discussion, as part of Andy Revkin’s #SustainWhat webcast, involving Naomi Oreskes and Mike Hulme. Andy was highlighting it because of what Naomi Oreskes was saying about people staying in their lanes. There can be a … Continue reading →

Posted in advocacy, Philosophy for Bloggers, physicists, Policy, Scientists, The philosophy of science | Tagged , , , , , , | 55 Comments

Halting the vast release of methane is critical

Posted on May 1, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

A week or so ago there was a New York Times article called Halting the Vast Release of Methane Is Critical for Climate, U.N. Says. As the title suggests, it was reporting on a United Nations Report that (according to … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Environmental change, Global warming, Policy, Science | Tagged , , , , , | 94 Comments

Some thoughts about net-zero

Posted on April 29, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

There’s been a reasonable vigorous, but pleasant, debate on Twitter about “net-zero”. It was largely motivated by a Conversation article by James Dyke, Robert Watson, and Wolfgang Knorr called Climate scientists: concept of net zero is a dangerous trap. The basic … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Environmental change, Policy, Research, Scientists | Tagged , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Plausible emission scenarios

Posted on April 12, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

A paper by Roger Pielke Jr, Matthew Burgess and Justin Ritchie has been submitted that suggests that the most plausible 2005-2040 emission scenarios project less than 2.5oC of warming by 2100. It’s generated a bit of debate on social media, … Continue reading →

Posted in ClimateBall, Global warming, Policy, Roger Pielke Jr | Tagged , , , , , | 67 Comments

Solar Radiation Management

Posted on March 31, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

It seems the latest controversy in the climate debate is whether or not we should be studying Solar Radiation Management (SRM). As Stoat points out, there is a new National Academy of Sciences report on Reflecting Sunlight, which seems to … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Policy, Research, Scientists, The philosophy of science | Tagged , , , , | 49 Comments

‘Net zero’

Posted on March 3, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

There’s been some recent debate about the term ‘net-zero’. Just to give some basic background, given that the zero emission commitment is close to zero (i.e., when we get anthropogenic emissions to zero, global surface temperatures should soon stabilise) means … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, ClimateBall, Environmental change, Policy | Tagged , , , , | 23 Comments