In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Silvia Pianta, a junior scientist at the sister institution to Resources for the Future (RFF), the RFF-CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment. Pianta discusses the influence of social and political factors on climate and energy policymaking, how incorporating these factors into models can help inform the process of climate policymaking, and the efficacy of emissions-reduction strategies at the global and national scales.

References and recommendations:

“Emissions Lock-in, Capacity, and Public Opinion: How Insights from Political Science Can Inform Climate Modeling Efforts” by Silvia Pianta and Elina Brutschin; https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/5462

“On Time and Water” by Andri Snær Magnason; https://www.openletterbooks.org/products/on-time-and-water

Adding the Political Dimension to Climate Models, with Silvia Pianta

In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Amanda Giang, an assistant professor at the University of British Columbia, about considering equity in computational models of systems that are at the interface of people and the environment. Giang discusses the steps involved in adapting the models; weighing the benefits of granular, individualized data against considerations of personal privacy; the limitations of modeling and quantitative analysis; and the challenges of communicating with decisionmakers about the complexity and uncertainty of model results.

References and recommendations:

“Equity and modeling in sustainability science: Examples and opportunities throughout the process” by Amanda Giang, Morgan R. Edwards, Sarah M. Fletcher, Rivkah Gardner-Frolick, Rowenna Gryba, Jean-Denis Mathias, Camille Venier-Cambron, John M. Anderies, Emily Berglund, Sanya Carley, Jacob Shimkus Erickson, Emily Grubert, Antonia Hadjimichael, Jason Hill, Erin Mayfield, Destenie Nock, Kimberly Kivvaq Pikok, Rebecca K. Saari, Mateo Samudio Lezcano, Afreen Siddiqi, Jennifer B. Skerker, and Christopher W. Tessum; https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2215688121

“Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands” by Kate Beaton; https://drawnandquarterly.com/books/ducks/

Adding Equity to Environmental Models, with Amanda Giang

In this week’s episode, host Kristin Hayes talks with Emily Theokritoff, a research associate at Imperial College London. Theokritoff specializes in climate damage attribution—the emerging science of connecting human activity and climate change to extreme weather events. Theokritoff breaks down this evolving field of study, how research that attributes extreme weather events to climate change is conducted, the challenges posed by a lack of historical data in parts of the world, and how scientists deal with uncertainty in determining the causes of past and future events. She also shares her perspective on how scientists in the field of extreme weather attribution are adapting research and communication methods to provide the public with faster, clearer insights in the face of increasingly frequent and intense extreme weather events.

References and recommendations:

“Mapped: How climate change affects extreme weather around the world” from Carbon Brief; https://interactive.carbonbrief.org/attribution-studies/index.html

Connecting Climate Change to the Weather We See, with Emily Theokritoff

Resources Radio is a weekly podcast by Resources for the Future. Each week we talk to leading experts about climate change, electricity, ecosystems, and more, making the latest research accessible to everyone.

New tracks tagged #climate model