Climate science critic to be chief scientist at key U.S. climate research agency

Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Waldman
Keyword(s):  
Climate Science ◽  
Climate Research

Making behavioral science integral to climate science and action

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
BARUCH FISCHHOFF
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Behavioral Science ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Behavioral Sciences ◽  
Quarter Century ◽  
Science And Policy ◽  
Climate Research ◽  
Quantitative Estimates

Abstract The behavioral sciences were there at the beginning of the systematic study of climate change. However, in the ensuing quarter century, they largely faded from view, during which time public discourse and policy evolved without them. That disengagement and the recent reengagement suggest lessons for the future role of the behavioral sciences in climate science and policy. Looking forward, the greatest promise lies in projects that make behavioral science integral to climate science by: (1) translating behavioral results into the quantitative estimates that climate analyses need; (2) making climate research more relevant to climate-related decisions; and (3) treating the analytical process as a behavioral enterprise, potentially subject to imperfection and improvement. Such collaborations could afford the behavioral sciences more central roles in setting climate-related policies, as well as implementing them. They require, and may motivate, changes in academic priorities.

Post-Normal Practices Between Regional Climate Services and Local Knowledge

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Werner Krauss ◽  
Hans von Storch
Keyword(s):  
Local Knowledge ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Short History ◽  
Climate Services ◽  
The Public ◽  
Climate Research ◽  
Forms Of Knowledge

Recent surveys show that the communication about climate change between science and the public is severely disturbed. In this article we discuss this problem in focusing on both regional climate services and other, local forms of knowledge. The authors suggest that climate science and its public services have to critically revise their own practices and to acknowledge other forms of knowledge about climate as constitutive. Based on approaches from geography and anthropology, the article first discusses the short history and "normal practices" of regional climate services and how they approach the public. Outlining the potentials and constraints of this concept, the article focuses on the friction, on "its openness to change as it rubs up against society" (Hulme 2007). The focus then shifts to local knowledge systems and how they deal with the challenges of a changing climate. In addition to the "extended peer review" as a new option for climate research in a post-normal setup, the authors discuss the possibility of an "extended knowledge basis," that is, the integration of different forms of climate knowledge with a special focus on regional populations.

scholarly journals Don’t @ Me: What Happened When Climate Skeptics Misused My Work

Eos ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucas Zeppetello
Keyword(s):  
Climate Science ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Online Forums ◽  
Climate Research

A student who saw his climate research misrepresented in online forums shares the experience, as well as lessons learned and recommendations for how to counter efforts to distort climate science.

scholarly journals Scientists Denounce Pending Australian Climate Science Cuts

Eos ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Puneet Kollipara
Keyword(s):  
Data Gathering ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Climate Research ◽  
Australian Climate ◽  
Climate Studies ◽  
Data Gathering And Analysis

The recently unveiled planned shift from basic climate research toward responses to a transformed climate could cost research jobs, hamper climate studies, and limit data gathering and analysis.

scholarly journals Conceptualization and Evaluation of a School Project on Climate Science in the Context of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mareike Schauss ◽  
Sandra Sprenger
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Epistemological Beliefs ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Scientific Work ◽  
Evaluation Study ◽  
Education For Sustainable Development ◽  
Climate Research ◽  
School Project ◽  
Understanding Of Science

Anchored in the thirteenth of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), climate change is one of the key content areas in education for sustainable development. This evaluation study describes a school project that introduces students to scientific work and, more specifically, to scientific research methods in climate research. Using a pre-post design, the evaluation uses a scale measuring epistemological beliefs, as well as two other scales addressing the relevance of climate change in society and career prospects in the field of climate research. The quantitative questionnaire data indicate an increase in future career aspirations in the field of climate research. The qualitative interview data reveal positive changes in the understanding of science and show that an understanding of the nature of science can be promoted.

scholarly journals Climate Science Needs to Take Risk Assessment Much More Seriously

2019 ◽  
Vol 100 (9) ◽  
pp. 1637-1642 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rowan T. Sutton
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Climate Modeling ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Climate Research ◽  
Group I ◽  
Widespread View

AbstractFor decision-makers, climate change is a problem in risk assessment and risk management. It is, therefore, surprising that the needs and lessons of risk assessment have not featured more centrally in the consideration of priorities for physical climate science research, or in the Working Group I contributions to the major assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This article considers the reasons, which include a widespread view that the job of physical climate science is to provide predictions and projections—with a focus on likelihood rather than risk—and that risk assessment is a job for others. This view, it is argued, is incorrect. There is an urgent need for physical climate science to take the needs of risk assessment much more seriously. The challenge of meeting this need has important implications for priorities in climate research, climate modeling, and climate assessments.

scholarly journals Co-producing “Post-normal” Climate Knowledge with Communities in Northeast Bangladesh

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Bremer ◽  
M. Stiller-Reeve ◽  
A. Blanchard ◽  
N. Mamnun ◽  
Z. Naznin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Science ◽  
Science Inquiry ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Normal Science ◽  
Research Practice ◽  
Climate Research ◽  
Science Theory ◽  
Climate Knowledge ◽  
Production Research ◽  
Concepts Of Knowledge

Abstract Concepts of knowledge “co-production” are increasingly encouraged in climate research, including as an extended mode of climate science inquiry. So-called “post-normal” science offers opportunities to advance this branch of co-production research with theory and methods. However, the literature lacks material of how to “do” climate knowledge co-production as extended science, and particularly as post-normal science. This paper presents an account of post-normal science theory and how it guided the TRACKS (Transforming Climate Knowledge with and for Society) project’s research practice, co-producing climate knowledge with communities in northeast Bangladesh. Key principles of post-normal science are described and explanations given of how they were translated into the research process, and specifically into workshops. The paper therefore provides insights for scholars and practitioners on one form of knowledge co-production, and thus contributes to this growing scholarship.

scholarly journals Divergent Perspectives on Expert Disagreement: Evidence from Astrophysicists, Climate Scientists, Climate Policy Experts, and Non-Experts

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
James R. Beebe
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Climate Policy ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Cosmic Ray ◽  
Standard View ◽  
Scientific Methods ◽  
Climate Research ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives

We report the results of an exploratory study that examines the judgments of climate scientists, climate policy experts, astrophysicists, and non-experts (N = 3,367) about the factors that contribute to the creation and persistence of disagreement within climate science and astrophysics and about how one should respond to disagreements among experts. We found that, as compared to educated non-experts, climate experts believe that within climate science (i) there is less disagreement about climate change, (ii) methodological factors play less of a role in generating existing disagreements, (iii) fewer personal or institutional biases influence the nature and direction of climate research, (iv) there is more agreement among scientists about which methods or theoretical perspectives should be used to examine the relevant phenomena, (v) disagreements about climate change should not lead people to conclude that the scientific methods being employed are unreliable, and (vi) climate science is more settled than ideological pundits would have us believe and settled enough to base public policy on it. In addition, we observed that the uniquely American political context predicted experts’ judgments about some of these factors. We also found that, in regard to disagreements concerning cosmic ray physics, and commensurate with the greater inherent uncertainty and data lacunae in their field, astrophysicists working on cosmic rays were generally more willing to acknowledge expert disagreement, more open to the idea that a set of data can have multiple valid interpretations, and generally less quick to dismiss someone articulating a non-standard view as non-expert, than climate scientists were in regard to climate science.

scholarly journals Post-Normal Climate Science

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Werner Krauss ◽  
Mike S. Schäfer ◽  
Hans von Storch
Keyword(s):  
Climate Science ◽  
Scientific Policy ◽  
Normal Science ◽  
Normative Judgment ◽  
Climate Research ◽  
Social Realm ◽  
Scientific Policy Advice ◽  
Management Of Uncertainty ◽  
Special Symposium

This special symposium grew out of a workshop held in Hamburg in 2011 (Krauss and von Storch 2012) and of a long-term interest in climate research as post-normal science. A decade earlier, Dennis Bray and Hans von Storch (1999) stated that the management of uncertainty and its extension into the political and social realm make climate science a case for post-normal science. Interpreting a survey among German and American climate scientists, they suggested that scientific policy advice is the result of both scientific knowledge and normative judgment.

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