Andrew Weaver

Based on Keeping Our Cool, which Thomas Homer-Dixon calls "the best single book on our climate crisis and what [Canadians] should do about it," this talk breathes urgent life into the most important discussion of our lifetime. Drawing on his bedrock understanding of climate science, Weaver, engaging and straightforward, shows you what truly is at stake: he frames our current climate within the context of the last 800,000 years; he looks at what the next century holds; and he clarifies public confusion in a frank, authoritative manner. He is unafraid to speak about the policies needed to reduce greenhouse emissions, and about the efforts-- especially from government and citizens-- needed to make them a reality. A crucial, necessary talk from the next generation of climate science.

"Ineffective science communication results in ineffective science," Andrew Weaver says. And he should know. For helping bring the world's attention, fully and finally, to the very real threat of climate change, he shared in the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Weaver has dedicated his career not only to his research, but also to making sure that the science is clearly understood by the public, by the media and by policy makers-- not just a choir of jargon-spouting scientists. In this talk, he shows us why science is often so poorly communicated, why this has disastrous consequences, how to bridge the gap in understanding between science and the public, and why it is so vitally important to do so now. Drawing on his years of experience reaching out to broad audiences, he charts the tumultuous territory of effective, efficient and accurate communication and shows you how to craft the same for your own industry. (Also available as a talk on communicating the science of climate change to a general audience.)