My CNN geoengineering question to Sen. Cory Booker

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Alan Robock

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Sep 5, 2019, 8:03:21 PM9/5/19
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Dear Colleagues,

Last night I attended CNN's Climate Town Hall, and asked my Senator Cory Booker a question about solar geoengineering research.  You can see it starting at 27:44 on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHIMD2E6DgE&list=PL29Rq0wvBhgOcY9ew5490FwzT5U5N6CqT&index=11&t=0s  He immediately called me "Sir," and said he did not know anything about it, but would find out.  Today Rutgers got an email from his office asking for more information and I will explain what it is and why we need more resources for research.

I did not intend to embarrass him.  I submitted the same question to CNN to be asked of all 10 candidates, and they decided to invite me and have me ask it of my own Senator.  I spent 4 hours in the audience listening to Biden, Sanders, Warren, Buttigieg, O'Rourke, and Booker, and was the last person to ask a question.  It was a long time, but very interesting.  Mine was the only geoengineering question.  Booker referenced one, and it must have been to one of the four other candidates who appeared before my 4 hours.

The other interesting email I got today was the one below.  How do you recommend I answer?   My plan is to say that appearing there would give legitimacy to a "debate" about settled science.  I have not debated global warming deniers for years now for this reason.
Alan

Alan Robock, Distinguished Professor
  Associate Editor, Reviews of Geophysics
Department of Environmental Sciences             Phone: +1-848-932-5751
Rutgers University                    E-mail: rob...@envsci.rutgers.edu
14 College Farm Road            http://people.envsci.rutgers.edu/robock
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8551  USA      ☮ http://twitter.com/AlanRobock


-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: INVITATION: Sept. 23 Debate on Global Climate Change and Need for Action
Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2019 13:11:59 +0000
From: Jim Lakely <JLa...@heartland.org>
To: rob...@envsci.rutgers.edu <rob...@envsci.rutgers.edu>


Dr. Robock,

 

[NOTE: This letter is sent on behalf of Frank Lasée, president of The Heartland Institute.]

 

In the wake of your excellent public performance on CNN last night, The Heartland Institute would like to invite you to participate in an interactive discussion and debate on climate change in New York City on September 23 in conjunction with the United Nations Climate Action Summit. The goal of the Heartland Institute event is to broaden public knowledge about the most important and most discussed issues related to climate change.

 

The event will feature up to five climate experts and policymakers who warn of an imminent climate crisis, and up to five climate experts and policymakers who are skeptical of an asserted crisis. Each evenly matched side will be given equal time to make their case in a live event streamed globally on YouTube. Each participant will be given time to make an opening statement as well as answer questions posed by a moderator. One participant from each side will be allowed to present a final summary. 

 

We welcome suggested questions from each side. The moderator’s questions may also include:

 

§  Does the world really have just 12 years left to radically transform our lifestyles and energy sources to prevent unstoppable and catastrophic climate change?

§  Will melting glaciers release cataclysmic ancient diseases?

§  How have United Nations climate models fared in their temperature predictions?

§  How much of the observed warming is caused by people and how much is caused by nature?

§  Is climate change making extreme weather events more frequent and severe?

§  Is climate change causing a refugee crisis?

§  Is observed climate change already harming food production?

§  What observational evidence would induce you to change your current position on the causes and consequences of climate change?

§  Would action by the United States or Western democracies have much impact without substantial reductions from China and other rapidly developing nations?

§  Is it possible for scientists with differing views to cooperate together rather than form isolated camps?

 

The Heartland Institute will cover all of your travel expenses and will contribute $1,000 to the charity of your choice in lieu of a personal honorarium. We hope this event will provide a valuable public service by increasing public knowledge on key climate change issues and also bringing together scientists from all perspectives to facilitate greater future cooperation and scientific advancement.

 

Regards,

 

Frank Lasée

President

The Heartland Institute

 

EMAIL SENT BY:

Jim Lakely

Director of Communications

The Heartland Institute

3939 North Wilke Road

Arlington Heights, IL 60004

o: 312-377-4000

f: 312-277-4122

c: 312-731-9364

 

Jonathan Marshall

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Sep 5, 2019, 8:12:54 PM9/5/19
to Geoengineering, rob...@envsci.rutgers.edu
For me the problem is that the debate is run by the Heartland Institute. I would not expect them to play fair, or to moderate in an unbiased manner. I'd want to know who the other 'experts' are going to be in advance as well.

jon

________________________________________
From: geoengi...@googlegroups.com <geoengi...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Alan Robock <rob...@envsci.rutgers.edu>
Sent: Friday, 6 September 2019 10:03 AM
To: Geoengineering
Subject: [geo] My CNN geoengineering question to Sen. Cory Booker

Dear Colleagues,

Last night I attended CNN's Climate Town Hall, and asked my Senator Cory Booker a question about solar geoengineering research. You can see it starting at 27:44 on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHIMD2E6DgE&list=PL29Rq0wvBhgOcY9ew5490FwzT5U5N6CqT&index=11&t=0s<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHIMD2E6DgE&list=PL29Rq0wvBhgOcY9ew5490FwzT5U5N6CqT&index=11&t=0s> He immediately called me "Sir," and said he did not know anything about it, but would find out. Today Rutgers got an email from his office asking for more information and I will explain what it is and why we need more resources for research.


I did not intend to embarrass him. I submitted the same question to CNN to be asked of all 10 candidates, and they decided to invite me and have me ask it of my own Senator. I spent 4 hours in the audience listening to Biden, Sanders, Warren, Buttigieg, O'Rourke, and Booker, and was the last person to ask a question. It was a long time, but very interesting. Mine was the only geoengineering question. Booker referenced one, and it must have been to one of the four other candidates who appeared before my 4 hours.

The other interesting email I got today was the one below. How do you recommend I answer? My plan is to say that appearing there would give legitimacy to a "debate" about settled science. I have not debated global warming deniers for years now for this reason.

Alan

Alan Robock, Distinguished Professor
Associate Editor, Reviews of Geophysics
Department of Environmental Sciences Phone: +1-848-932-5751
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David Appell

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Sep 5, 2019, 8:14:15 PM9/5/19
to rob...@envsci.rutgers.edu, Geoengineering
Alan, you might talk to Scott Denning of Colorado State University and watch some of his interactions with the Heartland Institute. Just Google "scott denning heartland institute" and some videos immediately pop up. He's tried to present the science to them a few times at their conferences. 

David



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Andrew Revkin

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Sep 5, 2019, 8:44:57 PM9/5/19
to Alan Robock, Geoengineering
Glad you stuck in there, Alan.

There actually was one other geoengineering question - asked by a Columbia student of Andrew Yang. His answer was pretty great: 

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The Earth Institute, Columbia University

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Alan Robock

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Sep 5, 2019, 8:49:39 PM9/5/19
to Andrew Revkin, Geoengineering
Dear Andy,

Yes, that is a great answer.  I had not seen it, as those 3 hours were while I was on the train to NY for my 4 hours.

Alan

Alan Robock, Distinguished Professor
  Associate Editor, Reviews of Geophysics
Department of Environmental Sciences             Phone: +1-848-932-5751
Rutgers University                    E-mail: rob...@envsci.rutgers.edu
14 College Farm Road            http://people.envsci.rutgers.edu/robock
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8551  USA      ☮ http://twitter.com/AlanRobock

Jessica Gurevitch

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Sep 5, 2019, 9:38:06 PM9/5/19
to Alan Robock, geoengineering
Alan, 
Thanks for this. I watched the first 4 candidates, but I confess I fell asleep before your question, but I just watched the YouTube link. Excellently put, and an honest answer. I'm glad this is getting national attention.
And if you don't debate skeptics, the Heartland thing is probably out--the problem is the false equivalence. My only response to the denial is the consequences of Type I and Type II error: What is the worst thing that can happen if the denialist politicians are wrong and we act to reduce climate change? (economic slowdown, loss of jobs, takeover by liberals seems to be it) What is the worst thing that can happen if the scientists are wrong and we continue business as usual? (Well, you know....) [I refuse to call the denalists anything but politicians (or worse)]. To them: Do you (literally) want to bet the farm (house on the beach, etc.) that there is no chance you're wrong, denalists? Not even a 2% chance that the scientists are right? 
Of course, probability is not something most people think in terms of, but they do understand gambling. Other than that, arguing or debating seems futile.
Jessica


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jessica Gurevitch 
Distinguished Professor 
Department of Ecology and Evolution
Stony Brook University
Stony Brook, NY 11794-5245 USA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


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On Thu, Sep 5, 2019 at 8:03 PM Alan Robock <rob...@envsci.rutgers.edu> wrote:
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Olivier Boucher

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Sep 6, 2019, 3:06:24 AM9/6/19
to rob...@envsci.rutgers.edu, Geoengineering
Alan

I now decline such invitations because I consider them to be a trap. A symmetric one-to-one or four-to-four debate with skeptics does not work in the eyes of the public. It becomes a rhetoric thing. The public gets out that the scientists disagree, which is the primary objective of the organizer. This is a pity bceause beyond climate change there is a real debate to have on energy choices and so on.

Olivier (depuis / from smartphone)
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Andrew Lockley

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Sep 6, 2019, 6:54:39 AM9/6/19
to olivier...@lmd.jussieu.fr, Alan Robock, geoengineering
I think that the list of questions heartland presented is very interesting

 far from being settled science, many of these are open questions and I think you can make an important contribution 
 you can always state that you will not get drawn into a debate about what is settled science, and decline to answer questions in that regard.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/geoengineering/07BAE877-B84F-4AD6-BFE6-AEA70A619397%40lmd.jussieu.fr.

Klaus Lackner

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Sep 6, 2019, 2:17:00 PM9/6/19
to rev...@gmail.com, Alan Robock, Geoengineering

You can’t convince people who are already convinced.  This email offers you an opportunity to change someone’s mind.

Klaus

Hawkins, David

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Sep 6, 2019, 2:19:53 PM9/6/19
to rev...@gmail.com, Alan Robock, Klaus....@asu.edu, Geoengineering
The audience is not the people in the room.  The audience is the people who will receive the spin about the meeting and Heartland, not you, will control that activity.

From: geoengi...@googlegroups.com <geoengi...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Klaus Lackner <Klaus....@asu.edu>
Sent: Friday, September 6, 2019 2:16 PM
To: rev...@gmail.com <rev...@gmail.com>; Alan Robock <rob...@envsci.rutgers.edu>

Gernot Wagner

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Sep 6, 2019, 2:23:50 PM9/6/19
to David Hawkins, rev...@gmail.com, Alan Robock, Klaus....@asu.edu, Geoengineering
Indeed. The very fact that they are staging a "debate" -- and e.g. pretend its somehow linked to UN climate week -- is bad news all around. For what it's worth, they've been making the rounds among climate scientists/economists, (fortunately) only getting rejections, as far as I can tell.

One strong vote to simply ignore.

Cheers,
G

Gernot Wagner, New York University
gwagner.com
Keep in touch: gwagner.com/#newsletter 



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Alan Robock

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Sep 6, 2019, 2:31:14 PM9/6/19
to Gernot Wagner, David Hawkins, rev...@gmail.com, Klaus....@asu.edu, Geoengineering
Yes, I already told them no.  I just thought others would find this request interesting.
Alan
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