This week I watched the interview between Dan Kammen and Professor Goodman. Dan is a professor of energy at UC Berkeley and the duo covered topics ranging from rationalizing uncertainty, cities leading the climate charge, cutting down waste, and much more. What I found most interesting was the fact that scientists have predicted that certain major climate events will happen without being able to pin down when they will happen. For example, Dan mentioned that scientists have predicted that the ocean will eventually stop acting as a carbon sink but they aren't exactly sure when. I found this particularly surprising because most of the predictions I've been made aware of have had a precise temporal element. However, after listening to Dan, I understand that the Earth's systems bend to the laws of physics so it makes sense that certain thresholds would yield certain outcomes, independent of time.
One question I would have liked to ask Dan is how soon he believes other sciences such as economics would include climate considerations into their fundamental principle? Dan mentioned that climate change has been over analyzed by scientists and needs to be studied by other social sciences. I see his point and agree with it but with the climate situation getting worse by year, how soon do we think an influential science like economics would actually involve carbon footprints into the mainstream? Time if of the essence and as an economics concentrator, I've only heard climate concerns mentioned sparingly in my courses. I hope that that changes soon.