Skip to main content

Media

What Would it Mean to Understand Climate Change?

General Programming

December 6, 2016

Isaac Held (Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, NOAA)
Philip Kitcher (Philosophy, Columbia)
Jonathan Weiner (Journalism, Columbia)

Efforts abound to “understand” climate change. But what kind of understanding is needed? Does “understanding” mean the same thing to concerned citizens as it does to scientists, humanities scholars, or policy makers? At this public event, climate scientist Isaac Held, philosopher of science Philip Kitcher, and science journalist Jonathan Weiner will compare the work of understanding undertaken by different communities engaged with climate change, and address the question of what remains to be understood.