The Scouting Report: Climate Change

Transcript

12:30 [Comment From Carlos]
In all my reading on climate change, I haven't seen a discussion of this ultimate question: could an increase in greenhouse gas ultimately make our planet unlivable, perhaps because earth's atmosphere changes to an extent that it no longer supports life?

12:32 Bryan Mignone:
I think that there are plenty of impacts of climate change that could be rather extreme, although they are unlikely to make our planet unlivable. For example, there are lot of questions about the stability of ice sheets as the planet warms over a couple degrees C -- that could have profound impacts on coastal communities.

12:33 [Comment From Arman (Atlanta)]
I'm wondering if you have an opinion on why global warming science (as opposed to policy) has become so politically charged here in the U.S. as opposed to Europe. Do you think the U.S. press has somehow affected or perception of the quality of the science?

12:34 Bryan Mignone:
There is a tendency in the media to report both sides equally -- that is to give equal weight to both arguments even if the evidence supports once side more than the other. I also think that for a long time that was a useful argument for those who wanted to delay action. More recently, the argument has turned to the economics of climate change rather than the science. There is similar posturing around that issue now.

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