Hi Folks,

It’s been a while since I have posted (and I’m not alone, it seems…) but there’s something important I want to bring up.  As part of the Arkes-sponsored Colloquium on the American Founding, Princeton physicist William Happer is coming to campus on Friday.  4PM, in the Red Room.  The subject is “Climate Change: Science or New World Religion.” It’s really important to raise awareness of the falsehoods behind his talk.

I respect the essence of the point he’s likely to make - that it’s unfair to harp on people for questioning climate change.  But he has tended to use this somewhat reasonable basis to overextend, arguing that CO2 is good and needed, and that no action should be taken.

Here are some links to background info:

a Daily Princetonian article on Happer.  Informative.
a Grist story about his group, the Marshall Institute, and their silly new release on costs of combating climate change.
text of a statement he made to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, last month
the video where he claims we have a “CO2 famine”
the Marshall Institute’s central climate change page.
Sourcewatch page on the Marshall Institute, detailing the ExxonMobil contributions to this institution.

I’m working with the Green Amherst Project to organize a response.  Please fill out this form if you’re interested in getting involved, or see the list of who’s interested.

Check back here or email me to learn more or engage in the debate.  Thanks!

UPDATE Apr 28

Definitely a success.  We were, surprisingly, able to engage Dr. Happer in question-and-answer.  We handed out some info on Happer to almost everyone in attendance, and some may have even thought, in our business attire, that we were part of the Young Republicans, or something.  It remained very civil and informative, which I think was appreciated on all parts.

Check out the informational handout I wrote [pdf], or the Amherst Student opinion piece about what consensus might mean, from a rather skeptical-of-the-world point of view.