Professor Ronald Prinn discusses the science, economics, and policy of climate change as part of the MIT Weather and Climate Club Seminar series. Aimed toward a general audience and particularly undergraduates.
With the advisement of several Joint Program on Global Change researchers—including the co-director Ron Prinn and co-director emeritus Jake Jacoby—the MIT Museum opened a new exhibition “Rivers of Ice: Vanishing Glaciers of the Greater Himalaya.” The exhibit draws from mountaineer and filmmaker David Breashears’ breathtaking photographs, and places them in context with those of earlier mountaineer photographers—revealing the glacial melt that has occurred over time.
Breashears, who took the photos throughout his forty-five expeditions to the Himalaya, views the Rivers of Ice exhibition as an opportunity to trigger public dialogue as scientists and policymakers work to better understand what exactly is happening to the glaciers of the Greater Himalaya. Formed by the collision of continents, the water from the glacial ice melt in the Himalaya contributes to watersheds that serve the drinking, agriculture and business needs of more than 1 billion people throughout Asia. As the snow cover melts and the glaciers of the Greater Himalaya retract and change, the need for greater and more detailed understanding of their importance to human and ecological systems increases.
Breashears hopes the exhibit—and a related symposium taking place on Saturday, April 21—will provide insight into some of the groundbreaking research being done to better understand the glaciers’ potential impact on global environmental issues.
Rivers of Ice, once viewed, cannot be forgotten. By experiencing the photography 'in the round' and at large scale, by viewing artifacts from expeditions past and present, and by learning about the people who call the Himalaya home, MIT Museum visitors gain a deeper understanding of the grand beauty of these mountains, as well as their significance to the global challenges we face today.
The exhibit, which will be open from April 13, 2012 to March 17, 2013, is a collaboration between the MIT Museum, GlacierWorks, and the Asia Society and designed by ThincDesign.
More information about the exhibit can be found here: web.mit.edu/museum/exhibitions/rivers-of-ice.html
Study finds significant potential to displace coal, reducing greenhouse gas emissions
Natural gas will play a leading role in reducing greenhouse-gas emissions over the next several decades, largely by replacing older, inefficient coal plants with highly efficient combined-cycle gas generation. That’s the conclusion reached by a comprehensive study of the future of natural gas conducted by an MIT study group comprised of 30 MIT faculty members, researchers, and graduate students. The findings, summarized in an 83-page report, were presented to lawmakers and senior administration officials this week in Washington.
The two-year study, managed by the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI), examined the scale of U.S. natural gas reserves and the potential of this fuel to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Based on the work of the multidisciplinary team, with advice from a board of 16 leaders from industry, government and environmental groups, the report examines the future of natural gas through 2050 from the perspectives of technology, economics, politics, national security and the environment.
The report includes a set of specific proposals for legislative and regulatory policies, as well as recommendations for actions that the energy industry can pursue on its own, to maximize the fuel’s impact on mitigating greenhouse gas. The study also examined ways to control the environmental impacts that could result from a significant expansion in the production and use of natural gas — especially in electric power production.
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VIDEO of Climategate discussion
Event and participant details
At Dec. 10 forum, MIT faculty experts discussed what 'Climategate' really means for climate science and the ongoing policy negotiations in the Congress and at Copenhagen.
The leaked e-mails from the climate scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have caused a huge public relations headache. The e-mails, in which the scientists seemed to question or even exaggerate their research, have provided new fodder for climate-change skeptics, who now feel they have "proof" that global warming is a hoax. The e-mails may be proof of nothing other than frustrated or impatient scientists, but the scientific community nonetheless has to deal with the fallout — the public’s increasing doubt about the validity of climate science, and maybe even doubt about scientific research in general.
"The Great Climategate Debate," held on Dec. 10 (see event and participant details) featured a panel of MIT faculty addressing the issues — both scientific and political — surrounding the controversy in the hopes that it wouldn't become the main focus of this month's United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. The debate involved the many issues raised by the scandal: the validity of climate science, the motives of the hackers who leaked the e-mails, the need for responsible scientific reporting and ethical standards, and the way the public interprets and understands information from the scientific community.
Kerry Emanuel, the Breene M. Kerr Professor of Meteorology, fears that Climategate was a "premeditated distraction from the main issues" of climate science. Emanuel said he's concerned with the identity and motives of the hackers, citing the very rich "machine" of global warming deniers as a possible culprit. As for the e-mails, he thinks they show nothing more than "humans — a few with failings. Mostly, it shows scientists hard at work."
Richard Lindzen, the A. P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology, believes the e-mails were leaked by a whistleblower within the Climate Research Unit who, like Lindzen, is disillusioned by what he sees as the scientific community’s one-sided argument over climate change. "Undeniably," he said, "we are dealing with issues illegal and unethical." The debate, he said, is whose illegal and unethical behavior is the larger issue: the scientists or the hackers?
Although Ron Prinn, the TEPCO Professor of Atmospheric Science and director of the Center for Global Change Science, thinks the e-mails are unethical and unprofessional, he believes this means little for the validity of the UEA scientists' studies. This controversy, he said, should not cause us to reevaluate our concern over global warming. Prinn notes that the larger body of evidence remains robust: The UEA scientists represent just a few of the many scientists from institutions around the world who are studying climate-change issues.
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