News

Science by the Glass

On Tuesday, April 14, 2015, the Texas Tech Climate Science Center hosted the first-ever "Science by the Glass" event with Dr. Katharine Hayhoe at Host & Toast in Lubbock, TX. Dr. Hayhoe led a fantastic talk entitled "Why I don't believe in climate change." We had an amazing turnout for this first event!

In case you missed it, watch Dr. Hayhoe's Science by the Glass talk online.

Science by the Glass will resume on a monthly basis beginning fall semester. Stay tuned for more information.

Climate Change Discussed on HBO's Vice

Texas Tech Climate Science Center members featured on HBO Docu-‐Series Vice

Dr. Katharine Hayhoe and Dr. Robert Forbis were featured in a recent episode of HBO's docu-series Vice entitled "The Resource Curse and Deliver Us from Drought." The episode first investigates the struggles of residents of Papua New Guinea coping with the presence of Exxon Mobile. Texas is then featured for the debilitated oil and gas regulations despite tremendous drought.

Dr. Hayhoe explained that there is "No doubt whatsoever that humans produce carbon dioxide" and further states that "drought situations put tremendous stress on farmers and ranchers" which spoke to the closing of the Cargill meat processing plant in nearby Plainview.

Vice correspondent Thomas Morton noted that the beef industry is buckling under the drought but the oil and gas industry is thriving. In addition, Dr. Forbis discussed the changing conditions in West Texas which was once a land for cattle running, but presently supports more transport for oil and gas services. He also expressed that an underlying condition leading to these outcomes is the strong role of lobbying in policy development.

You can watch a briefing of the episode by HBO.

Featured Publication for June 2014

Nancy E McIntyre, Christopher K Wright, Sharmistha Swain, Katharine Hayhoe, Ganming Liu, Frank W Schwartz, and Geoffrey M Henebry 2014. "Climate forcing of wetland landscape connectivity in the Great Plains." Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment (2014) 12: 59–64.

Read the paper at Ecological Society of America.