Apollo 17 moonwalker Harrison Schmitt stirs up buzz with climate change views

WASHINGTON, D.C. – I did not invite Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt to get his views on climate change, but that's the topic that most ScienceWriters2018 conference.

<p class = "canvas-atom-canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "The title of the session was" Apollo Plus 50 , "And the focus on the past and the future of America's space program in the light of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon missions, Fifty years ago today, for example, Apollo 7's astronauts were donning NASA's moonship to the test for the first time in Earth orbit. "data-reactid =" 23 "> The title of the session was" Apollo Plus 50, "and the focus was the past and the future of America's space program in the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon missions, Fifty years ago today, for example, Apollo 7's astronauts were putting NASA's moonship to the test for the first time in Earth orbit.

Schmitt's an expert on this subject, first of all, during the final Apollo mission in December 1972. He also served as a senator from New Mexico for a single six-year term and is currently a member of the National Space Council's Users Advisory Group.

He is known as the first professional scientist to go into space, by virtue of his Ph.D. in geology. At the age of 83, he is a professor of engineering at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, focusing on fusion research (and the potential for using lunar helium-3 as a future fusion fuel).

Schmitt is controversial because of his views on a different scientific subject. In 2016, for example, he was the co-author of an op-ed essay in The Wall Street Journal titled "The Phony War Against CO2." (Check out this review from Climate Feedback.)

I was the organizer of today's session at George Washington University, which was moderated by Jeffrey Kluger, Time magazine's editor-at-large for science and technology. Schmitt's fellow panelists included Valerie Neal, a curator specializing in space history at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum; and Scott Pace, Executive Secretary of the White House's National Space Council.

In my view, there are few people better qualified to reflect on the Apollo anniversary than Schmitt. (Yes, there are three other living moonwalkers, but Schmitt was the one who answered the call.) I knew about climate contretemps, but did not think it would figure in the space discussion.

Boy, was I wrong.

<p class = "canvas-atom-canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Climate policy is a big deal for science writing This article is available in English and French, and is available on the web at http://www.worldbank.org/english/index.htm Nicholas St. Fleur Addressed the elephant in the room with an assist from writer Betsy Mason. Here's how the exchange went: "data-reactid =" 32 "> Climate policy is a big deal for the science writing community, particularly in the light of this Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projecting we could be in the midst 2040. At the very end of the session, The New York Times Nicholas St. Fleur Addressed the elephant in the room with an assist from writer Betsy Mason. Here's how the exchange went:

St. Fleur: "In 2009, we wrote a story called 'Vocal Minority Insists It Was All Smoke and Mirrors,' where we quoted you, Dr. Schmitt. The story was basically about who the moon was, and here's someone who's actually there and walked on the moon. You were saying that 'if people decide they're going to deny the facts of history and the facts of science and technology, there's not much you can do with them. … For most of them, I just feel sorry that we failed in their education. '

"I'm wondering if you're going to have a big change in the world, when there was a huge shift that just came out last week [talking about] the risk and what is going to happen … as soon as 2040. your views on climate change. "

Schmitt: "I see no irony at all. I'm a geologist. I know the earth is not as fragile as we tend to think it is. It has gone through climate change, it is going through climate change at the present time. The only question is, is there any evidence that human beings are causing that change? "

Chorus from the audience: "Yes!"

Schmitt: "Right now, in my profession, there is no evidence. There are models. But models of very, very complex natural systems are often wrong. The observations that we make as geologists, and observational climatologists, do not show any evidence that human beings are causing this. Now, there is a whole bunch of unknowns. We do not know how much CO2, for example, is being released by the Southern Oceans as the result of natural climate change.

"The rate of temperature increase on the surface of the Earth and in the troposphere is about the same time, especially since the Little Ice Age, which was not caused by human beings. Nor was the Medieval Warm Period, preceding that, caused by human beings. So that's the only skepticism I have: What is the cause of climate change?

"Normally, we have always assumed that the climate change is a function of the solar cycles – and indeed, there is still very much evidence that's the case. So, no, there is no irony in that. I, have a scientist, expect to have people question orthodoxy. And we always used to do that. Now, unfortunately, particularly in the United States, is biasing science toward what the government wants to hear.

"That's a very dangerous thing that's happening in science today, and it's not just in climate. I see it in my own lunar research. If NASA's interested in a particular conclusion, then that's the way the proposals come in for funding. So it is a very, very serious issue, and I hope the science writers in this room will be corrupted by the source of funds conclusions are. "

Betsy Mason: "I just want to say that I'm a geologist, and I think that you should reconsider speaking for geologists on that topic."

Schmitt: "Really?"

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