date: Thu Nov 13 16:19:22 2008 from: Phil Jones subject: Re: [Env.faculty] Global Environmental Change Projects to: Claire Reeves Claire, I've not done this for at least a couple of years, so here's a subject. Have a look through and see if you would want to do it. It worked well last time. The 3-5 papers is try to keep the students focussed on specific papers - otherwise it could spiral out of control. Happy for you to check with Corinne if you think necessary. In the MSc course we have the students debating some of the hot topics in Climate Change, and they seem to really enjoy it. Climate Change: Is the science done and dusted? (Phil Jones, p.jones@uea.ac.uk) Most governments around the world have signed up to Kyoto, and it is likely that the US will engage much more readily in many processes after Jan 20, 2009. The UK has a climate change bill which seeks to reduce emissions by 80% by 2050, and to produce national risk assessments every 5 years. To almost all in government circles (including the US from Jan 20, 2009), the science is done and dusted. The reporting of climate stories within the media (especially the BBC) is generally one-sided, i.e. the counter argument is rarely made. There is, however, still a vociferous and small majority of climate change skeptics (also called deniers, but these almost entirely exclude any climate-trained climate scientists) who engage the public/govt/media through web sites. Mainstream climate science does not engage with them, and most of these skeptics/deniers do not write regular scientific papers in peer-review journals. The project would address the division through the reporting (in mainstream media and bloggs) of a number (to be decided but 3-5) recent scientific papers. Issues to be addressed include: should a vociferous minority be able to bully mainstream scientists?; should mainstream climate scientists have to change the way they have worked for generations (through the peer-review literature)? and should the science be conducted across blogg sites? Phil Jones will supply a list of possible papers (to select from) and a couple of the main web sites involved. Finally, it's possible I won't be able to make the presentations. I'm down for a meeting that week, but it hasn't been confirmed yet. I could persuade one or two in CRU to stand in for me then if needed. Cheers Phil At 10:44 13/11/2008, you wrote: Dear Colleagues, As in previous years we are looking for around 25 faculty to volunteer to mentor a project for the Global Environmental Change course. This involves proposing a project which includes both a human/social and natural aspect and supervising a group of around 6 students. We expect mentors to spend six hours with the students between end of January and end of March. The project mentors will also be asked to mark two projects and to attend, if possible, the GEC conference scheduled for March 31st, 9am to 4pm. May I remind you that each faculty member is asked to supervise a group project once every three years, so if you have not done this over the last 2 years then you will be expected to volunteer this year. Obviously we are happy for people who been mentors in the last 2 years to volunteer again this year. Please can you send a title plus a 2-3 sentence description of the project by the end of Novemeber. Last year's projects are attached to give you an idea of the nature of the projects. If you proposed a project last year which was not used, please let me know if you wish to propose the same project again. Many Thanks, Claire P.S. I have taken over as the coordinator of the Group Projects for this module. Corinne Le Quere is the convenor for the module. ***************************************** Dr. Claire E. Reeves School of Environmental Sciences University of East Anglia Norwich NR4 7TJ UK Tel: 44-1603-593625 ***************************************** _______________________________________________ Env.faculty mailing list Env.faculty@uea.ac.uk [1]http://www.uea.ac.uk/mailman21/listinfo/env.faculty Prof. Phil Jones Climatic Research Unit Telephone +44 (0) 1603 592090 School of Environmental Sciences Fax +44 (0) 1603 507784 University of East Anglia Norwich Email p.jones@uea.ac.uk NR4 7TJ UK ----------------------------------------------------------------------------