MEMO:
TO: Stephen M. Di Giacomo, James Donnelly,
       + Members of the Association for Energy Engineers
FROM: T.C. Weiskel
DATE: 7 Feburary 2007
RE: Further Resources for the Study of Climate Change Science and Public Policy

It is very encouraging to see that you have taken the initiative to show the New England Chapter AEE members the important new movie, "An Inconvenient Truth." The evidence of global climate change has been mounting for the last thirty years in specialist, scientific and academic circles, but this movie succeeds in getting some of this complex information before the public.

In reality, the information coming forward with each passing week -- in fact, each day -- renders a documentary like "The Inconvenient Truth" (and any similar book or journal article) instantly "outdated" as soon as it is published. Some of this information adds support to the case made by Al Gore in this documentary and other information refines our understanding in ways not fully understood at the time he completed the film, just a few months ago..

To keep policymakers informed of the latest consensus understandings of scientists around the world, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) publishes updates of their findings in a "Summary for Policy Makers." The latest of these publications was released on Friday, 2 February 2007 in Paris. (See: Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis: Summary for Policymakers).

While this report, in many respects, represents the latest understanding of the scientific community, even it is not fully up to date. Specifically, the report was compiled over the last four years from researchers all over the world, but it had to be submitted for publication before the latest information about the rates of melting in Antarctica and from Greenland's icesheet were fully available. Therefore,even though this report is less than a week old by today (February 7, 2007), it is nonetheless out of date. Its estimates of the rate and magnitude of climate change may well be significantly understated.

Although we are now facing global problems on a massive scale, fortunately computers, the Internet and the electronics revolution now make it possible to investigate, communicate and organize on a scale never previously imagined. One way for AEE members to keep abreast of the latest information in this realm would be for them each to receive this CD or to post similar information on your Association's website. In effect, this disk is designed to connect anyone who uses it to a regularly updated Internet research platform that provides links to key developments in this field. The disk has been developed in connection with the university course on Global Climate Change from the Harvard Extension School, it can function as a "one stop shop" on climate information for anyone who uses it (see explanation of course access and procedures as well as the first 2 class sessions).

[This disk was designed for a PC platform, and may not work on a MAC. I am sure any of your members can hack a solution to make it work on MACs if needed. In any case, to enable this disk to function properly, people will need to have a current version of Adobe's Acrobat PDF Reader and a RealPlayer and Microsoft Windows Media player installed on their computers. In addition, they will need to be connected via a high-speed link to the Internet.]

With the intention of getting this material into the hands of both the maximum number of specialized researchers and concerned citizens here are some of the links that could be of use to all AEE members. There is material of particular interest to those in New England, but other members of AEE nationwide made find this disk of use as well.

To begin with it is helpful to get a sense of the gravity of our circumstance from the leading journalists in this field. AEE members could benefit from listening to Ross Gelbspan at every possible occasion, in this regard. His statement to my class at Harvard is probably the most succinct and incisive statement made on the topic made by anyone in recent history. He is not alone however. AEE members should be aware, for example, of the views of Dr. James Hansen of NASA's Lab at Columbia University of the views of Dr. James Lovelock in England.

In any case, AEE members should feel free to draw upon any material I have placed on the Internet for my students in the Global Climate Change course (2006 or 2007) or those things available through The Climate Consortium. Further, Professor John Holdren has given two very important lectures that would be of interest to both your faculty and their most serious students. One was last February and the other was just last month: John Holdren's February 2006 lecture - "What to Do about Global Climate Change: The Interplay of Science, Technology, Economics, and Politics in Shaping Climate Policy." and December 2006 lecture - The Future of Energy Lecture Series, "Meeting the Energy-Environment Challenge ...and How Harvard Can Help" Thursday, 14 December 2006.

     In addition, as I mentioned above, Working Group 1 of the IPCC issued is "Summary for Policymakers" on Friday, 2 February. Their press conference is particularly worth viewing. In addition, you may want to consider some of the coverage, summarizing the features of the report compiled by the BBC. In addition, a large and rapidly growing number of resources exist to support faculty and student research on climate issues. These include: