Science and Policy Crossroads

• Stephen Schneider, Presentation on Climate Change, NSW State Parliament House, Australia, July 7, 2003 (Real Player) Steve Schneider discusses climate change with the New South Wales (Australia) Parliament House.
• Article on climate change published on The Edge. 2003. Steve Schneider comments on why the concept of "balance" used in the media and politics is not applicable, accurate, or fair in the world of science. Schneider distinguishes the role of scientists (determining probabilities and consequences) from that of politicians (making value judgments) and explains how each group needs the other.
• The Global Warming Controversy -- Can we separate scientific signal from political noise? Steve Schneider lectures on the tendency of governments and media to polarize issues (and the inappropriateness of doing so to scientific concerns) and discusses the true science behind climate change and the need for scientists to assign probabilities to the climate change consequences they forecast. The lecture was given at the Stanford University Computer Systems Laboratory to the EE380 Colloquium. View video (requires ASX player).
• "Schneider ponders whether scientists should advocate public policy" (Stanford University News Service) and "Should scientists advocate public policy? Stephen Schneider ponders the ethics." (Stanford Report). May 2001. Summaries of a May 4, 2001 presentation by Steve Schneider at Stanford's "Ethics at Noon" program entitled "Is the 'scientific advocate' an oxymoron?".
• Global Climate Change - An East Room Roundtable. 24 July 1997. This publication gives the proceedings of testimonies made by various scientists to the Clinton Administration. All warn that climate change is indeed occurring, and they outline a range of possible consequences that could occur in the future.
• "Climate Change: Causes, Impacts and Uncertainties". 10 July 1997. Steve Schneider testifies to Congress on climate change, its possible impacts, policy implications, and the distorted media debate. The testimony appears in the Congressional Record, 10 July, 1997: D726-D729.
• The Earth as Lab. 1995/1996. Lecture by Steve Schneider to STS 160 (Science, Technology and Society 160 - Technological Opportunities for Humanity) on the interrelatedness of science and policy and the function of induced technological change. This lecture also appeared as a London Times Higher Education Supplement (6 October 1995).
• Values are Everything. Spring, 1992. Steve Schneider distinguishes between science, which involves laying out probabilities and consequences, and policy, which involves value judgments in Nuclear Guardianship Forum (issue #1, p.4).
• U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Hearing on “The Case for Climate Change Action”, October, 2003
  • Summary of Lieberman/McCain Draft Proposal on Climate Change
  • The Climate Stewardship Act
  • MIT Joint Program on Science and Policy of Global Change: Emissions Trading to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the United States: The McCain Lieberman Proposal
  • Hearing on the Case for Climate Change Action - Testimony of Dr. Stephen Schneider. 1 October 2003. Steve Schneider discusses climate change, its projected effects, the potential for "surprises" and other "dangerous" climate change, and the policy implications of all this in a testimony to the Senate Committe on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
  • Steve Schneider's answers to climate change questions posed by Senator McCain. 26 October 2003. Steve Schneider answers John McCain's questions on his October 1, 2003, testimony in regards to temperature change to 2100 and the probabilities of various climate sensitivities.
  • Steve Schneider's answers to climate change questions posed by Senators Kerry and Hollings. 26 October 2003. Steve Schneider answers Senators Kerry and Holling's questions on his October 1, 2003, testimony in regards to temperature change to 2100 and the probabilities of various climate sensitivities.
  • Hearing on the Case for Climate Change Action - Testimony of Dr. Tom Wigley. 1 October 2003. Tom Wigley, a senior researcher at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) testifies to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation about evidence of the occurrence of climate change.
  • The 2001 Assessment of Climate Change - Testimony of Dr. Kevin E. Trenberth. 2 May 2001. Kevin Trenberth, the head of the climate analysis department at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and a member of Working Group I of the IPCC testifies before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on the science behind climate change.
  • McCain-Lieberman Bill Vote: Global Warming: Finally a Hot Issue on the Political Agenda, Senate Warming up to Climate Issue (Environmental Defence)
    • Actual vote by Senators

Peer Review

• “Self-Governance and Peer Review in Science-for-Policy: The Case of the IPCC Second Assessment Report”. 2001. Chapter by S. Schneider and P. Edwards appearing in Miller, C., and Edwards, P. (eds.), Changing the Atmosphere: Expert Knowledge and Global Environmental Governance (Cambridge: MIT Press), 219-246.

"Dangerous" Climate Change

• Effects of Global Warming on Plants and Animals Worldwide. 10 January 2003. Dr. Terry Root is interviewed by Ira Flatow on Talk of the Nation - Science Friday (a program on National Public Radio). She outlines a recent article she wrote with her colleagues that appeared in Science on the effects of global warming on plant and animal communities. (RealPlayer -- Dr. Root's segment begins at 14:45 minutes into the show, so when connected advance the RP slider to that point)
• The Future and Natural Disasters. 19 November 2002. Steve Schneider and other scientists are interviewed on EarthBeat, a radio program produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. They discuss how climate change is contributing to severe weather and could invoke other natural disasters. Listen to the interview via Real Audio.
• “What is 'Dangerous' Climate Change?” 3 May 2001. Article by Steve Schneider in Nature (vol. 411, p. 17-19) encouraging scientists to assign subjective probabilities to the climate change consequences they believe will occur.
• “Identifying Dangers in an Uncertain Climate”. 5 July 2001. Rebuttal of Schneider's promotion of the use of subjective probabilities in the Nature article above, "What is 'Dangerous' Climate Change?", by A. Grübler and N. Nakicenovic in Nature (vol. 412, p. 15).
• “Probabilities will help us plan for climate change”. 20 September 2001. Support for Steve Schneider's commentary on dangerous climate change by A. Pittock, R. Jones, and C. Mitchell in Nature (vol. 413, p. 249).
• “Earth Systems: Engineering and Management”.  18 January 2001. Steve Schneider discusses possible alternative methods for avoiding dangerous climate change in Nature (vol. 409, p. 417-421).
• A Consensus Emerges Around Global Warming. 10 January 1998. Steve Schneider discusses the effects climate change may have on weather in an article on the MSNBC website.
• SHS: Xerox PARC Forum presentation, 9/19/02.
• Dr. Terry Root was interviewed by Ira Flatow on Science Friday about the impacts of global warming on species (RealPlayer -- Dr. Root's segment begins at 14:45 minutes into the show, so when connected advance the RP slider to that point), Science Friday, Talk of the Nation, NPR, Jan. 10, 2003.

Scientific Uncertainty

• “Characterizing and Communicating Scientific Uncertainty”. July/August 1996. Series of presentations on uncertainty by various authors constituting Session II of an Aspen Global Change Institute workshop.
• "When Doubt is a Sure Thing". 1 August 2002. In a Nature article (vol. 418, p. 476-478), J.Giles discusses a paper by S. Schneider and R. Moss on dealing with uncertainty and the use of confidence bands.

Environmental Education and Mediarology

• “Defining and Teaching Environmental Literacy”. 1 November 1997. Commentary by Steve Schneider defining environmental literacy in TREE (vol. 12, no. 1, p. 457).
• Journalism and Environmental Reporting, interview on The Environment Show, Greg Dahlmann, WAMC, March 8, 2002
• “Evolutionary Organizational Models for Interdisciplinary Research and Training of Global Environmental Change". 1995. Chapter by S. Schneider on the need for interdisciplinary environmental organizations within academic institutions in Waddington, D.J. (ed.), Global Environmental Change Science: Education and Teaching (Berlin: Springer), 9-32.
• SHS: Seminar (Real Player) [Created by Carlos Seligo]
• SHS: Interview (Real Player) [Created by Carlos Seligo]
• Journalism and Environmental Reporting, interview on The Environment Show, Greg Dahlmann, WAMC, March 8, 2002
• Politics and Cost/Benefit. July 19, 1977. Steve Schneider interviewed by Johnny Carson (Real Player: Modem; High-Speed)
• 'Mediarology', Chapter 7 of Global Warming

Climate Change Meetings and Workshops

• Special events that occured at the UNFCCC Fourth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP-4). 2-13 November 1998 (Buenos Aires, Argentina). Presentations include the following issues: Promotion of cleaner vehicles in cities, an overview of the trends and projections for Annex I countries discussed at COP-4, perspectives on the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), review of panel presentations, etc...