Joshua Howe, assistant professor of history and environmental studies at Reed College, will speak on “Telling Stories about CO2: History, Science and the Politics of Climate Change” Wednesday, April 20, at 4:30 p.m. in the Austin Reading Room in Nicholson Library at Linfield College.
In 1958, Charles David Keeling began measuring the concentration of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. His project kicked off a half century of research that has expanded the knowledge of climate change. Despite more than 50 years of research, our global society has yet to find real solutions to the problem of global warming. Why?
Howe will answer that question in his presentation when he explores the history of global warming from its roots as a scientific curiosity to its place at the center of international environmental politics. The nature of the problem itself, Howe explains, has privileged scientists as the primary spokespeople for the global climate. But while the “science first” forms of advocacy they developed to fight global warming produced more and better science, the primacy of science in global warming politics has failed to produce meaningful results. In fact, a focus on science has left advocates for change vulnerable to political opposition and has limited much of the discussion to debates about the science itself. In the meantime, the problem is not getting better – it’s getting worse.
Howe is the author of “Behind the Curve: Science and the Politics of Global Warming” as well as several other articles about the history of climate change science.
The lecture is free and open to the public and sponsored by PLACE (Program for Liberal Arts and Community Engagement), exploring this year’s theme “Air, Water, Earth, and Fire: The Ancient Elements on a Changing Planet.” For more information, contact Lissa Wadewitz, 503-883-2719, lwadewi@linfield.edu.
