The Science and the Politics of Disasters and Climate Change@CU

Attended: Mar. 2, 3:30 pm at the Institute for Behavioral Sciences, Boulder.

After my visit to the Boulder International Film Festival to see The Big Fix two weeks ago, I wondered what cosmic directions I would receive for my next steps in Boulder. It didn't take long to get my directions, because a couple days later I noticed a web posting for a lecture to be given on the CU campus by Roger Pielke, Jr. on the subject of climate change. It was a perfect transition. Having graduated from Boulder High, so to speak, I could right up to the hill, and continue in the theme of environmentalism as well.

Pielke is rather a famous name in the "climate debate," mostly because of Roger Pielke, Sr., a longtime professor of atmospheric sciences at Colorado State who is now at the CIRES climatology institute in Boulder, as is his son, Roger. Jr. The senior Pielke is one of the most famous "skeptics" of "global warming," and his credentials and career alone should be enough to put to shame anyone who derides as "deniers of science" those of us who refuse to swallow the ideologically-driven "consensus" that ones hear about so often in what passes for news.

The younger Pielke is known more as a "lukewarmer," that is, someone who accepts that man-made carbon emissions are driving climate change, but who is not fully on board with all of the conclusions about what actually will happen.

So I wasn't quite sure how much I'd enjoy the talk, but I thought it would be good to expose myself to the debate. I want to be open to all sides and gather as much information as possible.

The lecture was entitled "The Science and the Politics of Disasters and Climate Change," as was presented as part of the colloquia series of the Geography Department at CU (link). I looked up the location on the map. It turned out to be in the Institute for Behavioral Sciences, on Grandview Avenue, on the lower part of the hill of campus, just a on the other side of the Boulder High School athletic fields. How could it be a more perfect transition from my last Boulder outing?

I hadn't been in that part of campus in a long time, but found the building on Grandview quite easily. The room was quite full by the time I arrived, with over a hundred people in attendance. By the time of the start of the lecture, every seat was taken, and people were lining up alongside the walls.

When Dr. Pielke was introduced, I realized that in fact he is not in atmospheric sciences, but rather received his doctoral in political science, and studies the politics of science as his field of research. Nevertheless he seemed top notch in his work. I could tell by the way he spoke. I thought he was younger than me, until he talked about doing post-doc work at CSU in the early 1990s.

The talk was impeccable and persuasive. Dr. Pielke presented an extremely compelling case for his conclusion, namely the following: the apparent extreme weather events one hears about---be they tornadoes, hurricanes, floods---cannot be ascribed to climate change but rather to societal changes and development of cities.

I was delighted at how sound and persuasive he was. I'm sure it was not a conclusion that many in the audience wanted to hear. It basically put to the sword any attempt to use the recent spate of "bad weather" as proving anything about climate change.

He was especially hard on the IPCC, the United Nations organization that has been spewing the reports about manmade carbon causing the end the world, and driving the politics of climate change. He basically said that they have been lying outright and misrepresenting the science of disasters. He didn't say why they did this. But his detective work was amazing. I was in awe.

Towards the end of the lecture I began to understand his entire approach. Indeed, his is "lukewarmer" and "accepts climate change." As a non-climatologist, he can stand outside the debate. But by taking the stance he does, he can then be free to take the stance he does about the politics of the climate debate without being accused of "denying the science." Like I said, I was in awe.

Overall, it was a splendid way to spend a Friday afternoon. During the talk, it occurred to me that the last time I'd been at a colloquium of any kind was probably 1997 in Austin. It felt like coming back to life, with all kinds of dormant parts of my brain suddenly springing back into action.

There was a nice reception with wine and hors d'ouevres afterwards. I grabbed a salami slice with bread, and thought of sticking around to talk to the lecturer, but decided I could drop by and see him later in his office if I were inspired to do so. Instead I slipped out of the IBS building and walked down the path by the BHS athletic fields, where the girls soccer team was practicing in cold weather gear. I ate an early dinner at Mustard's Last Stand---a double hamburger with a black cherry natural soda, and perused the Colorado Daily for my possible next assignment. Boulder just keeps getting better and better.