Thursday, January 8, 2015
2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. ET
Registration Here

Climate change is simple. Earth’s climate is determined by the balance between heat received from the Sun and heat radiated back out to space. This fundamental relationship of cause and effect is familiar to us in everyday life, such as when heat from a stove causes a pot of water to warm up. It’s also the same principle that makes day warmer than night, summer warmer than winter, and Miami warmer than Minneapolis. We’ve known for 150 years that CO2 gas absorbs heat radiated by the Earth, slowing the loss of solar heat and keeping us warm. Anyone can understand this basic principle; we don’t have to rely on the authority of experts.

Climate change is serious. CO2 has only increased by 40% since the Industrial Revolution. World energy use is growing 10 times faster than population as billions rise from dire poverty. If global development is powered by coal (which is “Plan A"), CO2 could reach 400% of preindustrial levels, and remain at very high levels for many centuries after emissions cease. That would change the heat balance of the planet more than it changed after the Last Ice Age, with catastrophic consequences for ecosystems, coastlines, the world economy, and billions of people. The consequences of unmitigated climate change are unacceptable to everyone. We must have a plan B.

Climate change is solvable. A huge range of options are available to avoid catastrophic climate change, and people will need to use most of them. Many options are expensive, such as wholesale replacement of our existing infrastructure for generating and distributing energy. Others have enormous cost savings because expensive fuel will no longer be needed for most activities. The overall cost is estimated to be about 1% of global economic output, comparable to the investment made when cities were retrofitted with indoor plumbing a century ago. Optimism about solving the climate problem is based on rational calculation, whereas despair is self-destructive. History has shown civilization to be incredibly resilient, and as long as our descendants are as brave and creative as our ancestors, they’re going to be OK.

About the Speaker:

A. Scott Denning is Monfort Professor of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University. He also serves as Director of Education and Diversity for CMMAP, the Center for Multiscale Modeling of Atmospheric Processes, working to enhance understanding of global climate. He is author of over 95 publications in the peer-reviewed climate literature, is a former editor of the Journal of Climate, and served for five years as founding Science Chair of the North American Carbon Program. He has served on advisory panels for NASA, NOAA, and the National Science Foundation. Denning leads a group of graduate students and scientists using many kinds of observations and models to understand the metabolism of the Earth’s biosphere. A key contribution of their work is the identification and prediction of sources and sinks of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere using new satellite instruments. In addition to using global satellite imagery, he uses data from the woods of Wisconsin, the farms of Iowa, the Oklahoma prairie, the African Savanna, and the Amazon rainforest. Denning takes special delight in discussing the subject of climate change with hostile audiences and has twice been a featured speaker at the Heartland Institute’s annual conference.

For more information

•Climate Change: Simple, Serious, Solvable. (powerpoint presentation) •Informative and hopefully amusing videos on climate change and CO2 (by yours truly) •CSU Course “Global Climate Change” (taught every spring, no prerequisites) •Climates of the Past and Future (2-day course for secondary science teachers)

About the Webinar Series

This monthly climate change webinar series is presented by the NPS Climate Change Response Program. The purpose of the series is to connect NPS employees, volunteers, and partners with scientists and experts in the field of climate change research. The webinar series is a Service-wide forum where researchers can share credible, up-to-date information and research materials about the impacts of changing climate in national parks and provide participants the opportunity to engage with them in discussion.

Presentations begin at 2 PM EDT, on the second Thursday of the month, and last about 90 minutes. They are viewed by logging into GoToWebinar on-line at the time of the presentation. Audio is available via a call-in number (toll charges apply) or through your computer’s speakers (free, but may be limited by connection speed).

For more information about this webinar series contact:

Download webinar materials after the presentation by visiting the Climate Change Sharepoint Site (must be on the NPS network). Presentations, recordings and related materials will be posted to Sharepoint shortly following the webinar.