Paul Beckwith on the jetstream crossing and global climate emergency

INTERVIEW: Paul Beckwith on the jetstream crossing and global climate emergency

Inhabit,

16 August, 2016

Climate system scientist Paul Beckwith recently set off a media firestorm after posting a video of the jet stream in the Northern Hemisphere crossing the equator and mixing with the jet stream in the Southern Hemisphere.

Originally calling the event unprecedented, Beckwith later modified the word with a question mark in the YouTube title and on his website. He also wrote that “we must declare a global climate emergency.”  

The Washington Post took the pre-question mark assertion and published a scathing rebuke, including comments from climate scientists pushing back hard on Beckwith’s original assertion.

Later, the Post published Beckwith’s response to the criticism. We wanted to delve deeper in the controversy, so Inhabitat got on the phone with Beckwith, who is based in Canada as a part time professor at the University of Ottawa – read on for our interview.

We talked with Beckwith to discuss why he stands by his declaration of a global climate emergency and why he believes that many climate scientists and media outlets such as the Post miss the bigger picture when it comes to understanding the climate system and the abrupt changes that are occurring.

Listen to the full interview: