Category Archives: Policy

Untangling the March for Science

Posted on April 22, 2017 by | 223 comments

by Judith Curry

Pondering some thorny issues regarding science, its place in society and its relationship to politics.

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223 Comments

Posted in Policy, Sociology of science

A ‘Red Team’ Exercise Would Strengthen Climate Science

Posted on April 21, 2017 by | 411 comments

by Judith Curry

Put the ‘consensus’ to a test, and improve public understanding, though an open and adversarial process. – Steve Koonin

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411 Comments

Posted in Policy, Scientific method

House Science Committee Hearing

Posted on March 29, 2017 by | 502 comments

by Judith Curry

My testimony at the House Science Committee Hearing on Climate Science: Assumptions, Policy Implications and the Scientific Method.

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502 Comments

Posted in Policy, Scientific method

A roadmap for meeting Paris emissions reductions goals

Posted on March 25, 2017 by | 391 comments

by Judith Curry

“I think this should be the way forward, translating [overarching climate goals] into ‘policy portfolios’ and then asking policymakers if they are going to do it or not.” — Oliver Geden

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391 Comments

Posted in Policy

House Science Committee Hearing – Climate Science: Assumptions, Policy Implications and the Scientific Method

Posted on March 22, 2017 by | 424 comments

by Judith Curry

Witnesses:  John Christy, Judith Curry, Michael Mann and Roger Pielke Jr.

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424 Comments

Posted in Policy, Politics

Discussion thread – improving the interface between climate science and policy

Posted on March 20, 2017 by | 376 comments

by Judith Curry

I’m looking for ideas and discussion on ways to improve what I regard to be a broken interface between climate science and policy.

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376 Comments

Posted in Policy

Brussel declaration on principles for science & policy making

Posted on February 25, 2017 by | 186 comments

by Judith Curry

In this age of politicization of science and activist scientists, the Brussel Declaration offers some very good advice and deserves to be widely read and discussed.

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186 Comments

Posted in Policy, Sociology of science

The new ‘climate denial’

Posted on February 10, 2017 by | 393 comments

by Judith Curry

Interesting article in The Atlantic, but I’m still trying to figure out what is being ‘denied.’

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393 Comments

Posted in Policy, Sociology of science

Conflating the climate problem with the solution

Posted on February 3, 2017 by | 181 comments

“one of the real tragedies that totally distorted the debate over climate change was that it got tied into the solution in a way that if you accepted the first you had to accept the second. And I think that was profoundly wrong.” – Newt Gingrich

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181 Comments

Posted in Policy, Politics

Ozone attainmnent

Posted on January 29, 2017 by | 56 comments

by Roger Caiazza

At this time there is quite a bit of noise about potential problems if Scott Pruitt is confirmed to head EPA because he would “hamstring EPA’s authority to set nationwide environmental standards”.

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56 Comments

Posted in Policy

Rethinking the Social Cost of Carbon

Posted on January 17, 2017 by | 203 comments

by Judith Curry

The Social Cost of Carbon is emerging as a major source of contention in the Trump Administration.

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203 Comments

Posted in Economics, Policy, Sensitivity & feedbacks

Discussion thread – Social Cost of Carbon

Posted on December 30, 2016 by | 242 comments

by David Wojick

The Social Cost of Carbon is absurd but entrenched.

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242 Comments

Posted in Policy

The tragedy of the horizon

Posted on December 21, 2016 by | 290 comments

by Judith Curry

Too rapid a movement towards a low-carbon economy could materially damage financial stability: a climate Minsky moment — Mark Carney

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290 Comments

Posted in Policy

King Canute versus the climate planners

Posted on December 20, 2016 by | 225 comments

by Judith Curry

On sea level rise, President Obama and King Canute.

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225 Comments

Posted in Policy

How to constrain the abuse of science by Federal agencies

Posted on September 28, 2016 by | 112 comments

by David Wojick

There is a recurring pattern of Federal agencies twisting science in order to support confiscatory actions. The agencies can get away with these tricks because there is a general lack of controls on how they use science when making policy, crafting regulations, etc.

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112 Comments

Posted in Policy, Sociology of science

Decision theory and the doom scenario of climate catastrophe

Posted on September 11, 2016 by | 203 comments

by Lucas Bergkamp

Can decision theory help a rational person decide whether to believe in climate catastrophe?

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203 Comments

Posted in Policy

Senator Markey’s Climate Education Act Goes The Wrong Way

Posted on September 4, 2016 by | 265 comments

by David Wojick

The “Climate Change Education Act” (S.3074) directs the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to establish a climate change education program focused on formal and informal learning for all age levels.

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265 Comments

Posted in Policy

Climate policy: Fake it ’til you make it

Posted on August 30, 2016 by | 340 comments

by Judith Curry

The economic models that are used to inform climate policy currently contain an unhealthy dose of wishful thinking. Technologies that remove carbon dioxide from the air are assumed in the models that avoid dangerous climate change – but such technologies do not yet exist and it is unclear whether they could be deployed at a meaningful scale. – Tim Kruger

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340 Comments

Posted in climate models, Policy

COP21 & Developing Countries

Posted on August 16, 2016 by | 109 comments

by Robin Guenier

The Paris agreement’s failure to achieve the West’s most basic aim: that powerful emerging economies should be obliged to share in emission reduction.

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109 Comments

Posted in Policy

Some comments on neoskepticism

Posted on August 14, 2016 by | 197 comments

by Steven E. Koonin

Stern et al. offer “The challenge of climate-change neoskepticism” as a Policy Forum piece in the August 12 issue of Science magazine (hereafter SPSK; paywalled here).

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197 Comments

Posted in Policy, Skeptics

AMS: Weather, Water and Climate Priorities

Posted on July 18, 2016 by | 65 comments

by Judith Curry

An eminently sensible and constructive statement from the American Meteorological Society.

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65 Comments

Posted in Policy, Sociology of science

Is much of our effort to combat global warming actually making things worse?

Posted on May 23, 2016 by | 227 comments

by Judith Curry

Humanity is owed a serious investigation of how we have gone so far with the decarbonization project without a serious challenge in terms of engineering reality. – Michael Kelly

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227 Comments

Posted in Energy, Policy

Twilight of the Climate Change Movement

Posted on April 10, 2016 by | 432 comments

by Judith Curry

Don’t be fooled by the post-Paris fanfare: The climate change movement faces big trouble ahead.

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432 Comments

Posted in Policy

Paris agreement: A risk regulation perspective

Posted on March 28, 2016 by | 330 comments

by Judith Curry

The Paris Agreement and, more generally, climate change policy, almost perfectly illustrate the contradictions of the post-modern industrialized world risk society, characterized by perceived threats confirmed by politicized science and governed by sub-politics beyond democratic control. – Lucas Bergkamp

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330 Comments

Posted in Policy

New York’s Reforming the Energy Vision and Environmental Control Initiatives

Posted on February 18, 2016 by | 158 comments

.by Roger Caiazza

The excellent series of posts on energy planning by Planning Engineer and Rud Istavan, a similar series at the Science of Doom and a recent post by Peter Lang all outline the difficulties implementing renewable energy and other components of the so-called energy system of the future.

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158 Comments

Posted in Energy, Policy