Extreme weather and climate change

Background

Katrina. Irene. Droughts in Texas and the Horn of Africa. Floods in the Midwest, Thailand and Pakistan. What’s next?

Does the progression of climate change portend future bouts of ‘extreme weather’? Predicting the timing of such events remains an uncertain business. How, then, should scientists communicate such risks to a skeptical public? How are members of the public likely to assess these risks? And how can policymakers make plans for adaptation, mitigation and development in the face of this uncertainty? Four distinguished panelists will address these and related questions in a series of short presentations followed by a dynamic panel and public discussion.

• Gabriel Vecchi, Research Oceanographer, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

• Baruch Fischhoff, Howard Heinz University Professor of Social and Decision Sciences and Engineering and Public Policy Carnegie Mellon University Click here for background readings.

• Joe Witte, George Mason University, Center for Climate Change Communication, broadcast meteorologist, formerly Chief Meteorologist at NBC TV Network

• Richard Moss, Senior Staff Scientist with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Joint Global Change Research Institute at the University of Maryland and Visiting Senior Research Scientist at Maryland's Earth Systems Science Interdisciplinary Center

Discussants from Rutgers University

• Lee Clarke, Sociology

• Phaedra Daipha, Sociology

• Benjamin Lintner, Environmental Science

• Ken Miller, Earth and Planetary Sciences

• David Robinson, Geography

• Rachael Shwom, Human Ecology