Climate Change 10of12: Comfortable Conservation

Lecture by Professor Richard Muller of the University California, Berkeley. Taken from Lectures 20 and 21 of the spring 2008 webcasts of Physics For Future Presidents. Also known as Descriptive Introduction to Physics. Emphasis is on conceptual understanding, rather than mathematics.

This lecture deals with the physics of climate change, the data on global temperature and carbon dioxide changes, and some potential solutions. Also covered are the many mistakes that can be made, including the trap of exaggeration. He warns against the danger of cherry picking and overstating the case. When people discover that the exaggerated case is not valid, they may dismiss the problem altogether. Professor Muller has researched this topic for many years and has co-authored a book with Gordon MacDonald called "Ice Ages and Astronomical Causes".

The reports of the IPCC are referenced much during this lecture. The full IPCC reports can be found here:
http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/assessments-reports.htm

This lecture can also be found here, along with many other lectures:
http://webcast.berkeley.edu/course_details.php?seriesid=1906978515

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• energy
• efficiency
• economic
• growth
• solar
• panels
• cool
• paint
• insulation
• friction

[rusty1491]

Yeah, he did and no that's not a Flux-Capicitor on his desk. Technically he's correct it's still spelled gigawatts, but phonetically sounds jigawatts an alternate pronunciation is gigawatts. The multiple pronunciations for the words 'data & hierarchical' also bug me because different professors would pronounce them differently. I hate when the English dept. meets science class.

[ronpaulbot]

6:17 - Did he say jiggawatt power plants?

[gertomaniac]

true.

[leporidus]

Great stuff! So glad Desertphile linked to this series in the comments of James Randi's Swift newsletter of October 3, 2008.