Scientists do science, pass along the results to decision makers, and better societal outcomes result. This is the model that scientists are historically taught, implicitly or explicitly, and it still conditions our thinking. Yet in the case of climate, in particular, history has proved it false — if it were true, greenhouse gas emissions would be dropping rapidly, but they aren’t.
Some believe this is because the climate problem, at this point, is primarily political, not scientific, and thus much current climate science has little or no practical relevance to solving the problem. Adam Sobel, professor of applied physics and applied mathematics, and of Earth and environmental science at Columbia University, will argue that climate scientists still haven’t fully absorbed this truth, but they should, particularly if they want to maximize chances of making a positive difference in the world. Sobel will also consider some possibilities for how doing so might lead some of us to change the way we do our work and structure our careers. This talk will take place at 4 p.m. on Monday, March 28. The talk, free and open to the public, will take place via Zoom.
Sobel’s research pans basic and applied prediction and risk assessment, and uses observations, theory, and numerical simulations with models that scale in complexity. He is particularly interested in extreme precipitation events such as tropical cyclones, tornadoes, and hail events, and his novel methods for diagnosing key interactions in these systems provide qualitative and quantitative measurements that help us better understand the extremes in the relationship between weather and climate.
Sobels’s talk is part of the spring 2022 EESI EarthTalks series, “Energy and Climate Policy, Part 2: Strategies for Getting to Net Zero.” The series is presented by Penn State’s Earth and Environmental Systems Institute.