Breakthrough: Overview of Our Debate with Energy Blogger Joe Romm

Last month, Roger Pielke Jr. and two co-authors published a landmark commentary in the science journal Nature suggesting that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had probably dramatically underestimated the likely growth of carbon emissions over the next century. Many environmentalists did not take the news well, attacking Pielke, his co-authors, and the Breakthrough Institute, where Pielke is a Senior Fellow, for conspiring to undermine efforts to address climate change. Some of the harshest attacks came from Center for American Progress's Joe Romm.

Joe Romm's Challenge
Roger Pielke, Jr. responds to Joe Romm's challenge to back up the Nature piece claim to "shatter the notion that we have all the technology we need to deal with climate change."

Deconstructing Joe Romm
Ted Nordhaus examines the misinformation campaign Romm and others launched against Breakthrough and Roger Pielke, Jr. immediately after the publication of the Nature piece.

Romm versus Expert Consensus on Energy Technology
Michael Shellenberger contrasts Romm's position -- that we don't need technology breakthroughs to stabilize emissions -- with that of energy experts.

What is Joe Romm Compaining About?
Roger Pielke, Jr. ponders ad hominem attacks from someone who seems to share many of his views on energy policy. In complementary posts, Pielke takes Romm to task for focusing heavily on semantics rather than substance, and for fuzzy math.

The Debate Gets Civil
Joe Romm apologizes, and we move towards more productive debate.

Solar Energy Not Quite Ready For Prime Time
Ted Nordhaus on why Joe Romm is being overoptimistic about the current state of solar power. "It's a great time to expand R&D, not contract it."

The Wisdom of Investment in a World of Mounting Wedges
Ted Nordhaus on why it's a pretty risky bet to count on current technology and currently proposed policies to meet the climate challenge.

I read that Dr. James Hansen with NASA testified under oath in a courtroom last year that if we don't stabilize atmospheric carbon at 450 parts per million we risk ocean levels rising by 20 feet this century. I feel Hansen is a credible scientist. It's not hard to imagine a 20 foot sea level rise if you think about the 2 mile thick ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica that are melting quickly. Meanwhile the IPCC is warning of sea levels rising by 0.6 to 2 feet. Clearly it's a very conservative estimate.

Posted by: Justine at May 21, 2008 6:58 PM

Post a comment