Recent Website Updates
06/15/24
I have provided links to three wonderful videos which I think will be enjoyable and useful for students, teachers and adults. The first one is an interview by an excellent and humorous climate communicator ("Climate Adam") of perhaps the best known of all climate science communicators, Katharine Hayhoe. I also provide links to two short videos: one by Climate Adam himself and the other by Katharine Hayhoe. To view all three, scroll down to Resources in the left hand column of the home page and then go to either "For Teachers and Students" or "Video"
05/17/24
An essay entitled "What's causing the current rapid rise in global temperatures:
A little-discussed and strong piece of evidence," has been posted as Essay #37. It discusses a recent analysis of this evidence, namely the cooiing stratosphere. I concur with the opinion expressed by the authors of this recent analysis. Namely, that the case for human consumption of fossil fuels as being almost entirely responsible for the unprecedented very rapid rise in the Earth's surface temperature is now incontrovertible. To read this essay, click on Essays on the left hand column of the home page. Then, under Essay #37, click on: what_is_cause_of_current_rise_edx.pdf
02/15/24. A notice about a forthcoming talk by Dr. Weymann on the Morro Bay Wind Farm has been posted on the Alerts and Event Notices of the website.
02/14/24
An essay, entitled "Is the rapid rise of global temperature now occurring "unprecedented?" has been posted as Essay #36. It was prompted by a reader asking the same question. The essay discusses the evidence about this and concludes that indeed it is unprecedented, at least over about the last 25,000 years. But it is emphasized that this is not the question we should be focused on. Rather we should be asking what the cause of the present rate of warming is and its consequences are. An essay to follow explores this question and includes a powerful piece of evidence not frequently seen in popular discussions. To read essay #36, click on Essays on the left hand column of the home page. Then go to essay #36 and click on the blue highlight reading unprecented_rise.pdf
An essay, entitled "Energy Budgets, Peak Global Temperatures, and Their Implications" has been posted as Essay #35. It discusses the concept of an Energy Budget, the total future amount of carbon dioxide we are limited to if we are not to exceed specified peak global temperatures and experience the serious adverse consequences such temperatures will bring. At the same time it is ill-advised to say that if such a budget is not met then we are "doomed" as such a statement breeds hopelessness and despair. Every pound of emission we can avoid lessens the damage we experience. To read it, scroll down to Essays in the left hand column of the Home page. Then, under Essay #35 click on the blue highlight reading Energy_budgets.pdf
03/01/23
My review of a highly recommended book, "The Climate Book" by the young Swedish woman Greta Thunberg has been placed in the Resources/Books section of this website. To read it go to Books ; scroll down to the Thunberg book.
01/20/23 Links to two short videos with a humorous touch have been placed in Video . The two are by climate scientist Adam Levy and are part of a series he calls "Climate Adam." The first explains why it is virtually certain that 2023 will be among the hottest years ever recorded since instrumental record keeping began. The 2nd deals with the prospects for floating offshore turbines as a renewable energy resource, a topic of special interest here on the California Central coast with the leasing of areas of the Morro Bay offshore wind area.
12/23/22 A link and brief summary about an opinion piece by Los Angeles Times contributor Tony Barboza has been placed in For Teachers & Students. It describes how Mr. Barboza has talked to his Kindergarten and 2nd grade daughters about climate change. I have added a few comments of my own about talking with older children.
07/13/22A new essay "Lithium-ion batteries: Can we meet the demand sustainably?" has been posted. It discusses whether there is enough lithium and cobalt--two critical materials in lithium-ion batteries--to meet the expected surge in worldwide demand as electric vehicles replace internal combustion engines. It is also discusses the societal and environmental impact of extracting these two minerals. To read it, click on Essays. It is Essay #34.
05/05/22 A new essay, "Waste Heat," is intended to illustrate how simple physical ideas and arithmetic can discriminate between factors which are important and those which are not. It also is intended to show how "big numbers" are not obstacles to carrying out simple arithmetic. The application is to the warm water ("waste heat") deposited into the cooler ocean by power plants. It also estimates the amount of 'avoided' carbon dioxide emissions from nuclear power plants. To read it, click on Essays. It is Essay #33.
03/26/22 A new essay, "Solar energy and the duck curve: If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck it must mean...what?", examines the limitations which are imposed on adding increasing amounts of wind, and especially solar, energy.
To read it, click on Essays. It is Essay #32
01/16/22 A new essay, "Justified Anger at Climate Change Inaction: A Movie, an Editorial and three Books", recommends a Movie, an excellent Editorial, and three books, expressing in various degrees the anger and frustration at the failure of our leaders to adequately deal with the ongoing climate crisis. While humor and satire are effective in mobilizing public support for action, research shows that public anger is also. I conclude with some comments, suggestions, and one hopeful note. To read it click on Essays. It is essay #31.
12/02/21 A new essay " Desert Tortoises, Birds, Nuclear Waste and Climate Change: Difficult Tradeoffs"
addresses the tension between the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and some legitimate environmental issues involved. Because of the length of this essay I have provided a table of contents so readers can scroll to items of interest. To read it click on Essays. It is essay #30.
10/20/21 Resources For Teachers & Students Two new resources for teachers and students have been posted. One,10/20/21_2, is written by me explaining the physical concepts and the math used for calculating the passage of radiation through the earth's atmosphere and thus the greenhouse effect. It is mainly intended for college teachers and their students in physics, earth sciences or applied math. But it may also be suitable for advanced high school students and for readers with some acquaintance with basic calculus and hopefully for the general reader as well. The other resource, 10/20/21_1, is a very readable and authoritative article on the greenhouse effect and the role of infrared radiation in controlling the temperature of the Earth, as well as Venus and Mars. It is written by one of the world's experts on the topic, Dr. Raymond Pierrehumbert, and was originally published in the April 2011 issue of Physics Today. To access either one of these resources click on For Teachers & Students where you will find these two resources.
10/15/21 Resources for Teachers and Students:
A resource for parents and teachers of primary grade children: Activities for Environmentally Friendly Living:
Reader Mykael Ray kindly sent the following resource for involving chlldren and their parents or teachers in sustainable and environmentally friendly practices. While it is written for parents of children, it can equally well be used by teachers as part of hands-on school activities. To access it, click on For Teachers & Students
where you will see a brief description and the link to this resource.
09/08/21 Guest Scientists My good friend and distinguished climate scientist, Dr. Ben Santer, has written an excellent account of how climate scientists have been able to identify the contribution of human activities (due to fossil fuel consumption) to the changing climate, examples of which Ben brilliantly documents and which have been all too evident recently. To read it, click the Guest Scientists blue button above. Then, in the Guest Scientists page, click on the title of his opinion piece
"How do climate scientists study the causes of climate change?" where it is highlighted in blue
08/22/21 Essays Essay #29 This essay, "Reducing greenhouse gas emissions: 'But What About China?'", addresses a frequent comment concerning what U.S. policy should be, in view of the fact that China is currently by far the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide.
05/28/21 Video A video of a presentation on Solar Geo-engineering. This video is a discussion by Dr. Marcia McNutt, president of the National Academy of Sciences, and a geophysicist and Dr. Christopher Field, Director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. Dr. Field has carried out many years of research on the human and ecological impact of climate change.
The topic of solar geo-engineering is a very controversial and complex one, but one which we will have to address.
I believe the two participants and the moderator provide a thoughtful discussion of this topic. The video runs about 57 minutes and may be seen here: www.nationalacademies.org/event/05-20-2021/climate-conversations-solar-geoengineering
Then scroll down to the video screen.
05/06/21 Essays Essay #28 This essay (A "Grand Solar Minimum" Would not cause a new Little Ice Age" discusses the suggestion that a prolonged period of cooling could be caused by prolonged solar dimming associated with a long period without sunspots.
06/06/20 The presentation in the 05/31/20 presentation described just below was taped. It is described and can be found by going to the resources/video page here: Video
05/31/20 Alerts & Event Notices: concerning an online (ZOOM) presentation on June 4th at 11:00 AM to be given jointly by Dr. Weymann and Dr. Timothy LaSalle, Cal Poly Emeritus Professor of Agriculture. Please go to the Alerts and Event Notices page for a description and instructions for participation.
04/22/20 Essays Essay #27 This essay discusses habits of thinking among liberals as well as conservatives which inhibit important dialogue among these two 'tribes'. An invitation is issued aimed at initiating such dialogue.
03/21/20 Essays Essay #26 This essay is part 2 of the series "Storing Electricity" and is a survey of the more important technologies for storing electricity.
02.20.20 Essays Essay #25 This essay "Agriculture and the Green New Deal concerns a very promising method for sequestering carbon by proper agricultural and soil management techniques. There are also numerous other advantages to practicing what is called "BEAM": biologically enhanced agricultural management.
02.11.20 Essays Essay #24 This is the first in a series on ‘Storing electricity’. This first part describes the importance of being able to store electricity to avoid the ‘overgeneration’ of solar energy and minimizing the need for expensive gas-fired generators that sit idle much of the time. It illustrates these concepts using what has come to be known as the ‘duck curve’.
11.20.19 Essays Essay #23 This is the 2nd part of a post about Oceanographer Josh Willis, describing how he uses humor to teach about climate science
11.06.19 Essays Essay #22 OMG: The "Oceans Melting Greenland" project - part 1 of 2 about JPL Oceanographer Dr. Josh Willis
10.08.19 Essays Essay #21 An essay describing the attacks on climate scientists including the deeply personal story by climate scientist Dr. Benjamin Santer
09.21.19 Resources -> For Teachers and Students, A college students guide to living sustainably on campus
09.20.19 Essays Essay #20. A guest essay by Mr. George Williams, Two sources of Critical Energy and Climate Information
03.15.19 Alerts & Event Notices: An upcoming online event of interest : A public lecture: Sea level rise and what we should do about it
03.13.19 Resources -> Reports, Booklets, and White Papers
CLIMATE SCIENCE AND CLIMATE RISK: A PRIMER. A good, short source of information about climate science written by an expert and intended for the non-specialist.
02.21.19 Essays Essay #19: Why do climate deniers deny?
This is an extended version of my commentary that is scheduled to appear in the February 22nd version of the Atascadero News. It is in response to a February 1st column by a climate denier appearing in the same paper with the title “A pretense to save the planet.” That February 1st column is included as Appendix 1 of this essay.
02.08.19 Essays Essay #18: Dealing with Climate Change: A Moral Imperative
A power point slide presentation and a word document for a presentation at the Unitarian-Universalist Church in Cambria, California. Because I had only a limited time for the presentation and could not cover all the prepared material, I am posting the full text along with the slide slow that accompanied the presentation so that interested members of the congregation may access it. But it may be that the presentation will also be of interest to other readers of this website.
07.24.18 Although much of the material on this website is devoted to basic climate science, it is important to also discuss communications skills with people you encounter with different attitudes and backgrounds. In some cases, there are those who are genuinely interested in the factual basis of climate change. But there are others, whose ‘world view’ is such that facts are not enough. In fact they may be even counter-productive. Climate scientist and communicator par excellence Dr. Katherine Hayhoe addresses how to discuss climate change with this group. On the home page, watch her 13 minute video about this.
There are others who are genuinely concerned about climate change and are anxious to learn about some of the steps that have been taken to deal with it. I recently received a link to a video and the transcript to it sent by a reader whose daughter had discovered it as part of a student project: It deals with the emissions standards for cars that both states and the federal government enacted. It has been posted under Resources/For Teachers and Students. This video was posted on the website Lawshelf.com produced by the National Paralegal College and devoted to basic elements of law. I cannot vouch for the validity of the legal posts, but this video seems accurate. However note that there is a numerical error: A statement is made that the emissions standards have saved “130 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide”. It should be 130 MILLION metric tonnes of carbon dioxide.
A final important note: Since this video was posted, there is a threat to severely roll back or eliminate these standards and possibly not grant the waiver that California, the leader in emissions standards, has usually received.
07.13.18 Alerts and Event Notices A summary of my guest appearance on a radio show.
On July 12, 2018 I was a guest on the San Luis Obispo radio station KVEC “Dave Congalton” show (hosted by Guy Rathbun since Congalton was recovering from an auto accident.) Since several readers of this website said they were not able to listen for one reason or another, I have provided a summary of some of the topics that came up, along with some that did not come up. I also provide numerous links to various items.
06.09.18 Essays Essay #17: Weather Safety and Preparedness
With many hazardous weather events increasing as the planet warms, this essay focuses less on climate science itself but more on the steps to take before and during many types of hazardous weather events to insure the safety of yourself and your family and pets.
01.05.18 On Wednesday, January 3rd the San Jose Mercury-News published an Editorial on which I was a co-author.
The text is reproduced in the Essays section of this website: Essays. The text is identical to the Mercury-News
publication except for the title which they altered. Our submitted title was:
CITIZENS AND SCIENTISTS MUST STAND UP FOR U.S. SCIENCE
I hope readers will heed our suggested courses of action and will circulate the Editorial as widely as possible.
12.06.17 A new approach for small groups of kids to work on learning about Climate Science has been described and
posted in Resources/For Teachers and Students.
I believe it is suitable for 7-10 grade kids but possibly both younger and older. If you know any science teachers
please call this to their attention.
10.15.17 Resources/Video
A new video has been posted on the Resources/Video page. It is a one of a series of reports by NBC Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engle and aired on an MSNBC program. The video runs for about 15 minutes and it documents the extraordinary and ambitious path towards renewable energy and electric cars that China and India. have embarked on.
When President Trump announced his intention to withdraw from the Paris Accord, one of the reasons given was that
China and India were not making any effort to cut emissions, a claim that has been often echoed since. This documentary
segment not only shows how erroneous this belief is, but it also points out the enormous economic opportunities that
the U.S. is missing out on under the current U.S. Administration’s energy policies.
(China and India have a combined population nine times that of the U.S. population)
09.12.17 Resources/Video
A new video has been posted on the Resources/Video page. It is the last post of a series of talks on climate change "Earth, Fire, Winds of Change, Being Stewards of God's Creation” given at the First Presbyterian Church in San Luis Obispo.
This talk is by Dr. Lou Pitelka on the Ecological Impacts of Climate Change. Dr. Pitelka is a professional ecologist who has been heavily involved in the design and running of The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON). NEON is a continental-scale ecological observation facility, sponsored by the National Science Foundation that gathers and synthesizes data on the impacts of climate change, land use change and invasive species on natural resources and biodiversity.
A personal word of apology and explanation from me about this post is in order: Due to my error, the original video recording of Dr. Pitelka’s talk was unusable. Dr. Pitelka kindly agreed to reproduce his talk under less than ideal
circumstances--hence the absence of video showing him speaking at the Church and the presentation may not appear to flow as smoothly as his original talk. A photograph of Dr. Pitelka is shown below the link to his talk.
As supplements to Dr. Pitelka’s talk I highly recommend two items:
1) “The Sixth Extinction”, a highly readable popular book by Elizabeth Kolbert (Henry Holt and Company) documenting the major role played by humans in the alarming rate of species extinction now occurring.
2) “Chasing Coral”, a beautifully done documentary on the disappearance of much of the world’s coral reefs and the role they play in marine ecology. The documentary is available through Netflix: See: http://www.chasingcoral.com
Once again I wish to thank webmaster Steve Smith and also Simon Nylander of SN Films for donating his time and skill in editing all the videos of this series. Without their efforts and that of Karen Wiles of the First Presbyterian Church of San Luis Obispo, who organized the series, these five posts would not have been possible.
09.02.17 Resources/Video
A new video has been posted on the Resources/Video page. It is the 3rd in a series of talks on climate change "Earth, Fire, Winds of Change, Being Stewards of God's Creation” given at the First Presbyterian Church in San Luis Obispo.
The talk is by Dr. Stephen Hansen, MD on the Health Impacts of Climate Change. This talk was given in mid June, and notes among other things, the hazards posed by likely increasing flooding events and increasingly severe heat waves. Given what has subsequently taken place in Texas and Louisiana as well as the record-breaking heat we are experiencing on the Central Coast of California at the end of August/early September his remarks are eerily prescient.
As previously noted, due to some technical issues caused by me, the editing of the 4th in this series Ecological Impacts of Climate Change by Dr. Lou Pitelka, was delayed, but will be posted in a few days.
Once again I wish to thank webmaster Steve Smith and also Simon Nylander of SN Films for donating his time and skill in editing the video.
08.28.17 Resources/Video
Dear Friends and Subscribers to the Central Coast Climate Science Education website,
A new video has bee posted on the Resources/Video page. It is the 5th and last in a series of talks on climate change "Earth, Fire, Winds of Change, Being Stewards of God's Creation” given at the First Presbyterian Church in San Luis Obispo.
The talk is by Dr. Sharon Rippner, who is head of the local
chapter of the Citizens Climate Lobby, which advocates for a revenue-neutral carbon fee, and bipartisan Congressional action on climate change. Her talk also presents practical steps for citizen involvement in this issue.
Due to some technical issues caused by me, the editing of the 3rd and 4th in this series: Health Impacts of Climate Change by Dr. Stephen Hansen, and Ecological Impacts of Climate Change by Dr. Lou Pitelka, were delayed, but will be posted shortly.
-Ray Weymann
07.05.17 Resources/Video
Two videos have been posted on the Resources/Video page. The first is “Human Caused Climate Change: Basic Science and some Paths Forward”, a talk given by Dr. Weymann at the First Presbyterian Church in San Luis Obispo June 4th, 2017, the first of five presented by the First Presbyterian Church: ""Earth, Fire, Winds of Change, Being Stewards of God's Creation.”
The 2nd video "What is going on with our climate and weather?" is a wonderful and entertaining talk by San Luis Obispo and PG&E meteorologist John Lindsey, the 2nd in this series.
Subsequent talks by Dr. Stephen Hansen (Health Impacts of Climate Change), Dr. Lou Pitelka (Ecological impacts of climate change) and Dr. Sharon Rippner (The Citizens Climate Lobby, a revenue-neutral carbon fee, and bipartisan Congressional action on climate change) will be posted in early August.
Special thanks to Simon Nylander of SN Films for generously contributing his time and exceptional skill to the editing of these videos and to Steve Smith for maintaining this website.
04.24.17 Resources/Video
This short video, “Science in America” by superb science communicator and Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson,
was posted on many websites just prior to the worldwide March for Science. His message is powerful and more
important than ever.
For all website updates see the Update Log
I have provided links to three wonderful videos which I think will be enjoyable and useful for students, teachers and adults. The first one is an interview by an excellent and humorous climate communicator ("Climate Adam") of perhaps the best known of all climate science communicators, Katharine Hayhoe. I also provide links to two short videos: one by Climate Adam himself and the other by Katharine Hayhoe. To view all three, scroll down to Resources in the left hand column of the home page and then go to either "For Teachers and Students" or "Video"
05/17/24
An essay entitled "What's causing the current rapid rise in global temperatures:
A little-discussed and strong piece of evidence," has been posted as Essay #37. It discusses a recent analysis of this evidence, namely the cooiing stratosphere. I concur with the opinion expressed by the authors of this recent analysis. Namely, that the case for human consumption of fossil fuels as being almost entirely responsible for the unprecedented very rapid rise in the Earth's surface temperature is now incontrovertible. To read this essay, click on Essays on the left hand column of the home page. Then, under Essay #37, click on: what_is_cause_of_current_rise_edx.pdf
02/15/24. A notice about a forthcoming talk by Dr. Weymann on the Morro Bay Wind Farm has been posted on the Alerts and Event Notices of the website.
02/14/24
An essay, entitled "Is the rapid rise of global temperature now occurring "unprecedented?" has been posted as Essay #36. It was prompted by a reader asking the same question. The essay discusses the evidence about this and concludes that indeed it is unprecedented, at least over about the last 25,000 years. But it is emphasized that this is not the question we should be focused on. Rather we should be asking what the cause of the present rate of warming is and its consequences are. An essay to follow explores this question and includes a powerful piece of evidence not frequently seen in popular discussions. To read essay #36, click on Essays on the left hand column of the home page. Then go to essay #36 and click on the blue highlight reading unprecented_rise.pdf
An essay, entitled "Energy Budgets, Peak Global Temperatures, and Their Implications" has been posted as Essay #35. It discusses the concept of an Energy Budget, the total future amount of carbon dioxide we are limited to if we are not to exceed specified peak global temperatures and experience the serious adverse consequences such temperatures will bring. At the same time it is ill-advised to say that if such a budget is not met then we are "doomed" as such a statement breeds hopelessness and despair. Every pound of emission we can avoid lessens the damage we experience. To read it, scroll down to Essays in the left hand column of the Home page. Then, under Essay #35 click on the blue highlight reading Energy_budgets.pdf
03/01/23
My review of a highly recommended book, "The Climate Book" by the young Swedish woman Greta Thunberg has been placed in the Resources/Books section of this website. To read it go to Books ; scroll down to the Thunberg book.
01/20/23 Links to two short videos with a humorous touch have been placed in Video . The two are by climate scientist Adam Levy and are part of a series he calls "Climate Adam." The first explains why it is virtually certain that 2023 will be among the hottest years ever recorded since instrumental record keeping began. The 2nd deals with the prospects for floating offshore turbines as a renewable energy resource, a topic of special interest here on the California Central coast with the leasing of areas of the Morro Bay offshore wind area.
12/23/22 A link and brief summary about an opinion piece by Los Angeles Times contributor Tony Barboza has been placed in For Teachers & Students. It describes how Mr. Barboza has talked to his Kindergarten and 2nd grade daughters about climate change. I have added a few comments of my own about talking with older children.
07/13/22A new essay "Lithium-ion batteries: Can we meet the demand sustainably?" has been posted. It discusses whether there is enough lithium and cobalt--two critical materials in lithium-ion batteries--to meet the expected surge in worldwide demand as electric vehicles replace internal combustion engines. It is also discusses the societal and environmental impact of extracting these two minerals. To read it, click on Essays. It is Essay #34.
05/05/22 A new essay, "Waste Heat," is intended to illustrate how simple physical ideas and arithmetic can discriminate between factors which are important and those which are not. It also is intended to show how "big numbers" are not obstacles to carrying out simple arithmetic. The application is to the warm water ("waste heat") deposited into the cooler ocean by power plants. It also estimates the amount of 'avoided' carbon dioxide emissions from nuclear power plants. To read it, click on Essays. It is Essay #33.
03/26/22 A new essay, "Solar energy and the duck curve: If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck it must mean...what?", examines the limitations which are imposed on adding increasing amounts of wind, and especially solar, energy.
To read it, click on Essays. It is Essay #32
01/16/22 A new essay, "Justified Anger at Climate Change Inaction: A Movie, an Editorial and three Books", recommends a Movie, an excellent Editorial, and three books, expressing in various degrees the anger and frustration at the failure of our leaders to adequately deal with the ongoing climate crisis. While humor and satire are effective in mobilizing public support for action, research shows that public anger is also. I conclude with some comments, suggestions, and one hopeful note. To read it click on Essays. It is essay #31.
12/02/21 A new essay " Desert Tortoises, Birds, Nuclear Waste and Climate Change: Difficult Tradeoffs"
addresses the tension between the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and some legitimate environmental issues involved. Because of the length of this essay I have provided a table of contents so readers can scroll to items of interest. To read it click on Essays. It is essay #30.
10/20/21 Resources For Teachers & Students Two new resources for teachers and students have been posted. One,10/20/21_2, is written by me explaining the physical concepts and the math used for calculating the passage of radiation through the earth's atmosphere and thus the greenhouse effect. It is mainly intended for college teachers and their students in physics, earth sciences or applied math. But it may also be suitable for advanced high school students and for readers with some acquaintance with basic calculus and hopefully for the general reader as well. The other resource, 10/20/21_1, is a very readable and authoritative article on the greenhouse effect and the role of infrared radiation in controlling the temperature of the Earth, as well as Venus and Mars. It is written by one of the world's experts on the topic, Dr. Raymond Pierrehumbert, and was originally published in the April 2011 issue of Physics Today. To access either one of these resources click on For Teachers & Students where you will find these two resources.
10/15/21 Resources for Teachers and Students:
A resource for parents and teachers of primary grade children: Activities for Environmentally Friendly Living:
Reader Mykael Ray kindly sent the following resource for involving chlldren and their parents or teachers in sustainable and environmentally friendly practices. While it is written for parents of children, it can equally well be used by teachers as part of hands-on school activities. To access it, click on For Teachers & Students
where you will see a brief description and the link to this resource.
09/08/21 Guest Scientists My good friend and distinguished climate scientist, Dr. Ben Santer, has written an excellent account of how climate scientists have been able to identify the contribution of human activities (due to fossil fuel consumption) to the changing climate, examples of which Ben brilliantly documents and which have been all too evident recently. To read it, click the Guest Scientists blue button above. Then, in the Guest Scientists page, click on the title of his opinion piece
"How do climate scientists study the causes of climate change?" where it is highlighted in blue
08/22/21 Essays Essay #29 This essay, "Reducing greenhouse gas emissions: 'But What About China?'", addresses a frequent comment concerning what U.S. policy should be, in view of the fact that China is currently by far the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide.
05/28/21 Video A video of a presentation on Solar Geo-engineering. This video is a discussion by Dr. Marcia McNutt, president of the National Academy of Sciences, and a geophysicist and Dr. Christopher Field, Director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. Dr. Field has carried out many years of research on the human and ecological impact of climate change.
The topic of solar geo-engineering is a very controversial and complex one, but one which we will have to address.
I believe the two participants and the moderator provide a thoughtful discussion of this topic. The video runs about 57 minutes and may be seen here: www.nationalacademies.org/event/05-20-2021/climate-conversations-solar-geoengineering
Then scroll down to the video screen.
05/06/21 Essays Essay #28 This essay (A "Grand Solar Minimum" Would not cause a new Little Ice Age" discusses the suggestion that a prolonged period of cooling could be caused by prolonged solar dimming associated with a long period without sunspots.
06/06/20 The presentation in the 05/31/20 presentation described just below was taped. It is described and can be found by going to the resources/video page here: Video
05/31/20 Alerts & Event Notices: concerning an online (ZOOM) presentation on June 4th at 11:00 AM to be given jointly by Dr. Weymann and Dr. Timothy LaSalle, Cal Poly Emeritus Professor of Agriculture. Please go to the Alerts and Event Notices page for a description and instructions for participation.
04/22/20 Essays Essay #27 This essay discusses habits of thinking among liberals as well as conservatives which inhibit important dialogue among these two 'tribes'. An invitation is issued aimed at initiating such dialogue.
03/21/20 Essays Essay #26 This essay is part 2 of the series "Storing Electricity" and is a survey of the more important technologies for storing electricity.
02.20.20 Essays Essay #25 This essay "Agriculture and the Green New Deal concerns a very promising method for sequestering carbon by proper agricultural and soil management techniques. There are also numerous other advantages to practicing what is called "BEAM": biologically enhanced agricultural management.
02.11.20 Essays Essay #24 This is the first in a series on ‘Storing electricity’. This first part describes the importance of being able to store electricity to avoid the ‘overgeneration’ of solar energy and minimizing the need for expensive gas-fired generators that sit idle much of the time. It illustrates these concepts using what has come to be known as the ‘duck curve’.
11.20.19 Essays Essay #23 This is the 2nd part of a post about Oceanographer Josh Willis, describing how he uses humor to teach about climate science
11.06.19 Essays Essay #22 OMG: The "Oceans Melting Greenland" project - part 1 of 2 about JPL Oceanographer Dr. Josh Willis
10.08.19 Essays Essay #21 An essay describing the attacks on climate scientists including the deeply personal story by climate scientist Dr. Benjamin Santer
09.21.19 Resources -> For Teachers and Students, A college students guide to living sustainably on campus
09.20.19 Essays Essay #20. A guest essay by Mr. George Williams, Two sources of Critical Energy and Climate Information
03.15.19 Alerts & Event Notices: An upcoming online event of interest : A public lecture: Sea level rise and what we should do about it
03.13.19 Resources -> Reports, Booklets, and White Papers
CLIMATE SCIENCE AND CLIMATE RISK: A PRIMER. A good, short source of information about climate science written by an expert and intended for the non-specialist.
02.21.19 Essays Essay #19: Why do climate deniers deny?
This is an extended version of my commentary that is scheduled to appear in the February 22nd version of the Atascadero News. It is in response to a February 1st column by a climate denier appearing in the same paper with the title “A pretense to save the planet.” That February 1st column is included as Appendix 1 of this essay.
02.08.19 Essays Essay #18: Dealing with Climate Change: A Moral Imperative
A power point slide presentation and a word document for a presentation at the Unitarian-Universalist Church in Cambria, California. Because I had only a limited time for the presentation and could not cover all the prepared material, I am posting the full text along with the slide slow that accompanied the presentation so that interested members of the congregation may access it. But it may be that the presentation will also be of interest to other readers of this website.
07.24.18 Although much of the material on this website is devoted to basic climate science, it is important to also discuss communications skills with people you encounter with different attitudes and backgrounds. In some cases, there are those who are genuinely interested in the factual basis of climate change. But there are others, whose ‘world view’ is such that facts are not enough. In fact they may be even counter-productive. Climate scientist and communicator par excellence Dr. Katherine Hayhoe addresses how to discuss climate change with this group. On the home page, watch her 13 minute video about this.
There are others who are genuinely concerned about climate change and are anxious to learn about some of the steps that have been taken to deal with it. I recently received a link to a video and the transcript to it sent by a reader whose daughter had discovered it as part of a student project: It deals with the emissions standards for cars that both states and the federal government enacted. It has been posted under Resources/For Teachers and Students. This video was posted on the website Lawshelf.com produced by the National Paralegal College and devoted to basic elements of law. I cannot vouch for the validity of the legal posts, but this video seems accurate. However note that there is a numerical error: A statement is made that the emissions standards have saved “130 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide”. It should be 130 MILLION metric tonnes of carbon dioxide.
A final important note: Since this video was posted, there is a threat to severely roll back or eliminate these standards and possibly not grant the waiver that California, the leader in emissions standards, has usually received.
07.13.18 Alerts and Event Notices A summary of my guest appearance on a radio show.
On July 12, 2018 I was a guest on the San Luis Obispo radio station KVEC “Dave Congalton” show (hosted by Guy Rathbun since Congalton was recovering from an auto accident.) Since several readers of this website said they were not able to listen for one reason or another, I have provided a summary of some of the topics that came up, along with some that did not come up. I also provide numerous links to various items.
06.09.18 Essays Essay #17: Weather Safety and Preparedness
With many hazardous weather events increasing as the planet warms, this essay focuses less on climate science itself but more on the steps to take before and during many types of hazardous weather events to insure the safety of yourself and your family and pets.
01.05.18 On Wednesday, January 3rd the San Jose Mercury-News published an Editorial on which I was a co-author.
The text is reproduced in the Essays section of this website: Essays. The text is identical to the Mercury-News
publication except for the title which they altered. Our submitted title was:
CITIZENS AND SCIENTISTS MUST STAND UP FOR U.S. SCIENCE
I hope readers will heed our suggested courses of action and will circulate the Editorial as widely as possible.
12.06.17 A new approach for small groups of kids to work on learning about Climate Science has been described and
posted in Resources/For Teachers and Students.
I believe it is suitable for 7-10 grade kids but possibly both younger and older. If you know any science teachers
please call this to their attention.
10.15.17 Resources/Video
A new video has been posted on the Resources/Video page. It is a one of a series of reports by NBC Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engle and aired on an MSNBC program. The video runs for about 15 minutes and it documents the extraordinary and ambitious path towards renewable energy and electric cars that China and India. have embarked on.
When President Trump announced his intention to withdraw from the Paris Accord, one of the reasons given was that
China and India were not making any effort to cut emissions, a claim that has been often echoed since. This documentary
segment not only shows how erroneous this belief is, but it also points out the enormous economic opportunities that
the U.S. is missing out on under the current U.S. Administration’s energy policies.
(China and India have a combined population nine times that of the U.S. population)
09.12.17 Resources/Video
A new video has been posted on the Resources/Video page. It is the last post of a series of talks on climate change "Earth, Fire, Winds of Change, Being Stewards of God's Creation” given at the First Presbyterian Church in San Luis Obispo.
This talk is by Dr. Lou Pitelka on the Ecological Impacts of Climate Change. Dr. Pitelka is a professional ecologist who has been heavily involved in the design and running of The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON). NEON is a continental-scale ecological observation facility, sponsored by the National Science Foundation that gathers and synthesizes data on the impacts of climate change, land use change and invasive species on natural resources and biodiversity.
A personal word of apology and explanation from me about this post is in order: Due to my error, the original video recording of Dr. Pitelka’s talk was unusable. Dr. Pitelka kindly agreed to reproduce his talk under less than ideal
circumstances--hence the absence of video showing him speaking at the Church and the presentation may not appear to flow as smoothly as his original talk. A photograph of Dr. Pitelka is shown below the link to his talk.
As supplements to Dr. Pitelka’s talk I highly recommend two items:
1) “The Sixth Extinction”, a highly readable popular book by Elizabeth Kolbert (Henry Holt and Company) documenting the major role played by humans in the alarming rate of species extinction now occurring.
2) “Chasing Coral”, a beautifully done documentary on the disappearance of much of the world’s coral reefs and the role they play in marine ecology. The documentary is available through Netflix: See: http://www.chasingcoral.com
Once again I wish to thank webmaster Steve Smith and also Simon Nylander of SN Films for donating his time and skill in editing all the videos of this series. Without their efforts and that of Karen Wiles of the First Presbyterian Church of San Luis Obispo, who organized the series, these five posts would not have been possible.
09.02.17 Resources/Video
A new video has been posted on the Resources/Video page. It is the 3rd in a series of talks on climate change "Earth, Fire, Winds of Change, Being Stewards of God's Creation” given at the First Presbyterian Church in San Luis Obispo.
The talk is by Dr. Stephen Hansen, MD on the Health Impacts of Climate Change. This talk was given in mid June, and notes among other things, the hazards posed by likely increasing flooding events and increasingly severe heat waves. Given what has subsequently taken place in Texas and Louisiana as well as the record-breaking heat we are experiencing on the Central Coast of California at the end of August/early September his remarks are eerily prescient.
As previously noted, due to some technical issues caused by me, the editing of the 4th in this series Ecological Impacts of Climate Change by Dr. Lou Pitelka, was delayed, but will be posted in a few days.
Once again I wish to thank webmaster Steve Smith and also Simon Nylander of SN Films for donating his time and skill in editing the video.
08.28.17 Resources/Video
Dear Friends and Subscribers to the Central Coast Climate Science Education website,
A new video has bee posted on the Resources/Video page. It is the 5th and last in a series of talks on climate change "Earth, Fire, Winds of Change, Being Stewards of God's Creation” given at the First Presbyterian Church in San Luis Obispo.
The talk is by Dr. Sharon Rippner, who is head of the local
chapter of the Citizens Climate Lobby, which advocates for a revenue-neutral carbon fee, and bipartisan Congressional action on climate change. Her talk also presents practical steps for citizen involvement in this issue.
Due to some technical issues caused by me, the editing of the 3rd and 4th in this series: Health Impacts of Climate Change by Dr. Stephen Hansen, and Ecological Impacts of Climate Change by Dr. Lou Pitelka, were delayed, but will be posted shortly.
-Ray Weymann
07.05.17 Resources/Video
Two videos have been posted on the Resources/Video page. The first is “Human Caused Climate Change: Basic Science and some Paths Forward”, a talk given by Dr. Weymann at the First Presbyterian Church in San Luis Obispo June 4th, 2017, the first of five presented by the First Presbyterian Church: ""Earth, Fire, Winds of Change, Being Stewards of God's Creation.”
The 2nd video "What is going on with our climate and weather?" is a wonderful and entertaining talk by San Luis Obispo and PG&E meteorologist John Lindsey, the 2nd in this series.
Subsequent talks by Dr. Stephen Hansen (Health Impacts of Climate Change), Dr. Lou Pitelka (Ecological impacts of climate change) and Dr. Sharon Rippner (The Citizens Climate Lobby, a revenue-neutral carbon fee, and bipartisan Congressional action on climate change) will be posted in early August.
Special thanks to Simon Nylander of SN Films for generously contributing his time and exceptional skill to the editing of these videos and to Steve Smith for maintaining this website.
04.24.17 Resources/Video
This short video, “Science in America” by superb science communicator and Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson,
was posted on many websites just prior to the worldwide March for Science. His message is powerful and more
important than ever.
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