Mixing humor with science, Dr. Stephen Schneider, professor of Biological Sciences at Stanford University, cited unexpectedly high melting rates of glacial formations in Greenland as irrefutable evidence for global warning at Tuesday's lecture, "Global Warming: Do We Know Enough to Manage the Risks?" in Filene Auditorium.
Schneider argued that, while opponents of global warming often cite single examples of contradictory observations, such cases cannot refute the body of evidence to the contrary.
"Global warming is about long-term, large-scale climate change," Schneider said.
Schneider pointed to temperature record comparisons of different continents that diverge from predictions which account only for natural variations, thus suggesting that human causes are affecting planetary conditions, he said.
"We have very good correlation, and it's consistent with theory," Schneider said.
Schneider said scientists face a "double ethical bind" in trying to strike a balance between effectively communicating their findings and satisfying the need for full disclosure.
He satirized wild claims about global warming, which have little basis in fact. One slide Schneider displayed, for example, featured a cartoon of Santa Claus and an elf on floating icebergs, with the caption, "The jury's still out on global warming."
Schneider argued that scientists should seek to be more media-savvy, and that universities should begin to reward scientists who can make their positions more accessible to the public.
Schneider also criticized the "contrarian" perspective on global warming, likening arguments about the uncertainty of climate change studies to tobacco companies that question the dangers of cigarettes.
"I would personally argue we had a preponderance of evidence [about climate change] about 25 years ago," he said. "We've got the smoking gun, but we haven't got the mechanism."
Schneider advocated a climate change policy that would aim to manage the risks imposed by rising temperatures instead of seeking idealistic reductions in emissions.
"[Emissions] are going up, and there's no way to stop it," he said. Schneider noted that making necessary investments in technology now can result in reduced emissions growth and possible reduction in the future.
Schneider poked fun at himself throughout the speech, noting the approximately "one-quarter of one percent" of a Nobel Prize he garnered in 2007 for his work with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Addressing audience members' questions, Schneider asserted that increased information and a change in the nation's value system are both vital for improvements in climate change.
Schneider offered hope that attitudes towards climate change are changing for the better, and that some substantive change may occur in the near future.
"I think it could happen sometime in the next two years, right after the 20th of January," he said jokingly, referring to the inauguration of the next president.
The speech was the third installment of a series of six events on global warming sponsored jointly by the John Sloane Dickey Center for International Understanding's War and Peace Studies Program and the Institute of Arctic Studies. The Dickey Center plans to host another speech later in the term about the effects of climate change on the spread of disease, as well as two panel discussions in the spring about policy options, costs and politics associated with climate change.
