Physics for Presidents

Last night, Richard Muller addressed science groupies at AMNH. He talked about the physics that a president would need to know and focused on climate change and energy policies. He inserted some weird facts amid the substance (did you know that chocolate chip cookies have more energy per gram than computer batteries?) and surprised me more than once, especially when he began discussing global warming.

Apparently, the world's average temperature hasn't actually gone up in the past ten years; however, this decade HAS been the warmest in human history. Luckily for us, the sun has had decreased activity this decade. He also mentioned that if cloud coverage across the world increases by 2%, the effect would offset global warming. Strange that Al Gore never really mentioned this...

Nonetheless, looking at sea levels and temperatures since the turn of the century, we can say that global warming is real. But even though America has been responsible for 25% of increased CO2 output, our future is going to rely on developing countries - India, China, Russia - to cut back on their CO2 emissions. Convincing these countries to hold back their economy for the environment is something that the US has no right to do. When we were growing economically, we said "Screw Kyoto!" It's a lot of do what I say, not what I do. Muller had a unique but politically unlikely suggestion of giving economic incentives for using cleaner technology. A lot of Americans didn't want to give money to our own businesses; how would we ever approve pouring money into commie-red countries (we'll just forget the fact that they're adopting capitalist practices)?? It's an interesting question that I'm sure we will have to address in our lifetime.