February 2014 Communication Workshop TTU Climate Science Center hosts a workshop about communicating the science of climate change. Early this month the South-­‐Central Climate Science Center hosted a workshop in which a variety of experts on climate change representing nearly every region of climate science centers across the nation met to address approaches to communicating the science of climate change. This workshop not only provided an opportunity to learn from renowned speakers who presented a variety of topics on communicating climate change, but also offered an ideal space for facilitating new ideas among the attendees to pursue action in translating their existing work on the science of climate change to broadening general understanding of the issues at hand as well as addressing the potential and limitations for influencing public policy. Topics presented at the workshop included a discussion presented by Susan Hassol on Telling the Climate Change Story: How Not to Talk like a Scientist; a presentation based on the Global Warming’s Six Americas Study regarding public opinion messaging on climate change by Teresa Myers and Justin Rolfe-­‐ Redding; a presentation on The Climate Change Denial Movement by Riley Dunlap; a visual illustration of his work around the world by Gary Braasch entitled Photographing Climate: The Effectiveness of the Visual Image; a discussion based presentation by Elizabeth McNie on Stakeholder Outreach and Engagement: Lessons Learned from the NOAA RISA Program; a presentation on Climate Change, Hazards, and Disaster Preparedness by Brian Gerber; and an interactive presentation on Climate Change as a Political Issue by Dennis Patterson of Texas Tech University. The consensus amongst attendees was that the workshop was ultimately a worthwhile endeavor which opened up an opportunity for an ongoing conversation on how to effectively communicate climate change in a way that influences advancement in addressing current and forthcoming challenges. Picture Dr. Robert Forbis Dr. Forbis joined the TTU Climate Science Center last year. This month he was awarded the Professing Excellence Award at TTU. His research has focused primarily on hydraulic fracturing (fracking), since 2004. He is currently working with Dr. Hayhoe (TTU) and Dr. Andrew Kear (Bowling Green State Univ.) on a paper illustrating the direct relationship between fossil fuel energy development and degradation to the environment. Dr. Forbis strongly believes in the importance of working with our current resources to mitigate risk, and develop responsible communities and tangible policy changes. http://www.depts.ttu.edu/politicalsci ence/Faculty/Robert_Forbis.php This Month’s Featured Texas Tech Climate Publication: “Texas Tech Biologist, Climate Scientist Begin Painting Macro-­‐Portrait of Future Bird/Wetland Scenarios Under Climate Change” http://goo.gl/cJ3mgm February Climate Science Seminar Speakers Dr. Clifford Fedler Dr. Jeff Lee Dr. Katharine Hayhoe Civil & Environmental Engineering Texas Tech University “Biomass Recycling” Geosciences Texas Tech University “Wind Erosion in the Dust Bowl” Political Science Texas Tech University “Global Climate Projections for a Teeny Tiny Watershed” Dr. Fedler's research is focused on energy production that also consumes carbon dioxide through different recycling methods. He found that cattle waste can be used to feed aquatic plants. These plants can be used to feed aquarium fish, or gasified to produce electrical energy. Dr. Fedler found the potential for 500,000 MW with this method, as opposed to the method of gasifying animal waste, with a 35,000 MW potential. Dr. Lee’s presentation demonstrated the relationship between different factors that contributed to the Dust Bowl. If all of the factors that contribute to the force of wind on soil particles become more pronounced than those that cause resistance by soil particles, erosion will occur. Each of these variables is affected by climate, land management practices, economics, or a combination of the three. Hubbard Brook Forest was used as a model to develop climate projections for very small areas. Research shows that human factors are uncertain and difficult to predict, and predictions can often be wrong if the wrong downscaling methods are used. Errors are also more important for smaller areas of study. Mitigating uncertainty in climate models will lead to more accurate predictions. Coming up next month: Olga Murova, Robert Duncan, and Blake Grisham Other highlights from this month: •
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