Bronxville students hear experts debate global warming

Bronxville students hear experts debate global warming By GREG CLARY

BRONXVILLE
Veteran scientists on an environmental panel at Bronxville High School yesterday called Al Gore's Oscar-nominated "An Inconvenient Truth" more entertainment than science, but still useful in promoting discussion of global warming.
Hundreds of Bronxville High School students, from ninth to12th grades, spent much of yesterday drilling deeply into the topic, with the help of scientists, environmental lawyers and advocates, and a representative of the nuclear industry.
What they got from Richard Lindzen, an atmospheric physicist and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, sounded at times like a graduate meteorology course, as he peppered his discussions with formulas and detailed findings.
"Looking ahead to college, it made me realize that I know so little," said Gwen Cody, 17, a senior recently accepted at Georgetown University. "It was a little humbling."
That turned out to be the theme of the day for many of the presenters as well as the students.
The debate over whether global warming was as big a problem as Gore presented in his movie wasn't solved, but the general agreement was that residents young and old need to learn as much as they can about the subject from sources as diverse as possible.
"They are confused, as they should be," Klaus Jacob, a longtime researcher at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, said of the students. "But confusion is the start of inquisition."
With the movie laying out a scenario in which arctic ice caps are melting and could soon flood coastal areas, students heard the doomsday forecast Gore and a number of scientists have espoused for years.
Then Lindzen, a vocal opponent of the movie, cited his and others' research in detail, noting projections of only slight increases in global temperatures in the next 100 years and claiming too much would have to happen for the computer models to be correct in projecting catastrophe.
Jacob echoed Lindzen's doubts about global warming being a calamity in the offing.
The panel's third scientist, Amos Linenberg, has a long résumé of accomplishments in water and air-pollution research. He said he was more worried about humankind's poisoning its drinking water than he was about global warming, though he did find some good in Gore's efforts.
"It's getting people to pay attention," he said.
Chris Rizzo, a New York City environmental lawyer, said the United States needs to mobilize on the issue and move faster in its efforts to curb greenhouse gases.
"We should all keep in mind that the rest of the world is going ahead in the regulation of greenhouse gases," Rizzo said. "What's important to remember is that we're being left in the dust."
Ken Mankoff, a Columbia University student and member of the Educational Global Climate Monitoring group, defended Gore's movie despite its lack of scientific credentials.
"It shows the problem is real," Mankoff said. "It shows that humans caused it and that we should do something to help alleviate it."
Laurence Gottlieb, a representative of Entergy Nuclear Northeast, which owns and operates Indian Point, noted the lack of greenhouse gases created by nuclear energy, but said the future will depend on the choices consumers make.
Gottlieb called yesterday's gathering an "amazing accomplishment," congratulating the student organizers for reaching out to experts and devoting so much time and energy to the day.
The Entergy representative credited the Gore film for fostering discussion at such a detailed level.
"If it opens your minds and maybe changes a habit or two, that makes this film probably one of the best films of the year," Gottlieb said. "But you've got to take everything with a grain of salt and do your own discovering. It really is a matter of finding out what the truth is."
Reach Greg Clary at 914-696-8566 or gclary@lohud.com.
http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070130/NEWS02/701300343