Brent Sinclair: Plasticity, Variability, Thresholds and Evolution: Why It’s So Hard to Model the Response of the ‘Average’ Insect to Climate Change

Brent Sinclair (University of Western Ontario) Title: Plasticity, Variability, Thresholds and Evolution: Why It’s So Hard to Model the Response of the ‘Average’ Insect to Climate Change   Models of biological systems and their responses to climate change necessarily make assumptions about the biology of the organisms whose behaviour they seek to predict. In many [...]

2015-02-09T10:57:22-05:00February 9th, 2015|2014 Conference, Climate Change|

Adrian Currie: Paleo-Climate & Future-Climate

Adrian Currie (University of Calgary)Title: Paleo-Climate & Future-ClimateUnderstanding the climate’s deep past is essential for understanding its future, however the nature of the paleoclimatological record is problematic. My aim in this paper is to get a conceptual handle on what paleoclimatology can offer climate projections, and what challenges this faces. Climate simulations are validated if [...]

2015-02-06T10:39:40-05:00February 6th, 2015|2014 Conference, Climate Change|

Laura Ballantyne-Brodie: Earth System Ethics: A Proposal for a Systems Approach to Ethics

  25 October  2014   Laura Ballantyne-Brodie (New York University) Title: Earth System Ethics: A Proposal for a Systems Approach to Ethics   The news has been delivered and we now understand with near certainty that the industrial economy is at odds with the physical systems of the planet.1 Shocks such as the credit crunch, [...]

2015-02-04T12:13:27-05:00February 4th, 2015|2014 Conference, Climate Change|

Charlotte Werndl: How Should Climate and Climate Change Be Defined?

Charlotte Werndl (LSE, University of Salzburg)  Abstract: The aim of the paper is to provide a clear and thorough conceptual analysis of the main candidates for a definition of climate and climate change. Five desiderata on a definition of climate are presented: it should be empirically applicable, it should correctly classify different climates, it should not [...]

2015-02-02T09:51:00-05:00February 2nd, 2015|2014 Conference, Climate Change|

Gavin Schmidt: Practical Philosophies of Climate Modeling

http://youtu.be/WfwgaMHmLkU Practical Philosophies of Climate Modeling Gavin Schmidt (National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS))   Abstract: I give an overview of the practice of developing and using complex climate models, as seen from experiences in a major US center for climate sci - ence and through participation in the [...]

2015-01-26T19:07:55-05:00January 26th, 2015|2014 Conference, Climate Change|

Paul Edwards: Knowledge Infrastructures and Climate Change Science

Knowledge Infrastructures and Climate Change Science  Paul Edwards (University of Michigan, Department of History and School ofInformation) Abstract: Climate modeling developed in a series of distinct stages. In the1950s and 1960s, the earliest computer models were built as a “craft” activity by individuals or small groups. By the 1970s, modeling had become a laboratory activity, with larger [...]

2015-01-22T15:30:54-05:00January 22nd, 2015|2014 Conference, Climate Change|

New Video Posted: Robert Lempert – Democratizing Analytics: Scientifically and Ethically Informed Decision Support for Addressing Wicked Problems

 Democratizing Analytics: Scientifically and Ethically Informed Decision Support for Addressing Wicked ProblemsRobert Lempert (Pardee RAND Graduate School, Frederick S. Pardee Center for Longer Range Global Policy and the Future Human Condition)Abstract: Responding to climate change requires both quantitative analysis and ethical reasoning. Ethical reasoning is required because climate change will af - fect many people [...]

2015-01-22T15:23:52-05:00January 22nd, 2015|2014 Conference, Climate Change|

New Video Posted: Eric Winsberg – Missing the Forest for the Fish

Another video from the Climate Modelling conference has been posted on the Institute's YouTube channel. Missing the Forest for the FishEric Winsberg(The University of South Florida, Philosophy Department) Abstract: In a recent series of papers, Roman Frigg, Leonard Smith, and othershave developed a general epistemological argument designed to cast doubt onthe capacity of a broad range of [...]

2015-01-09T15:47:53-05:00January 7th, 2015|2014 Conference, Climate Change|

New Video Posted: James Fleming – Dynamic Climatology: Historical Perspectives on Shape-Shifting Nouns

Here is the first video from the Knowledge and Models in Climate Science: Philosophical, Historical & Scientific Perspectives Conference at the  Rotman Institute of Philosophy, Western University, October 24-26, 2014.James Fleming (Colby College, Science, Technology and Society)Abstract: I present case studies of “shape-shifting nouns” in the history of dynamic climatology and identify some overarching trends [...]

2014-12-12T11:24:18-05:00December 12th, 2014|2014 Conference|

New Video Posted: Roman Frigg – Climate Change and Intergenerational Justice

Should we take drastic measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions now, or should we continue our current practices and leave it to future generations to adapt to the effects of climate change? Opinions on this issue are divided. In this lecture Roman Frigg explains the terms of the debate in plain English (no knowledge of [...]

2016-01-29T11:56:25-05:00November 19th, 2014|2014 Conference, Climate Change|
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