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Journalist Discusses Climate Wars
Eric began his presentation by surveying audience members about their views on global warming and explaining that while reporting for Fortune and Time magazines, he saw a shift in the debate of the issue from science to politics. He added that there is now consensus in the scientific community that global warming is occurring but there is a debate about how fast it is happening.
He then presented scientific data about climate change and explained how carbon dioxide emissions stay in the earth’s atmosphere for 50 to 200 years. “Even if we stopped now, it would still be a problem,” he said.
He pointed out that a seven to 10 year time span exists to reverse global warming, but the problem will be hard to fix because “it is hard for people to deal with future threats” and it will be expensive. “We can solve it, but it will take some work,” he said.
Following Eric’s presentation to the Westminster community, he met with students in AP Environmental Science classes where he discussed capturing and storing carbon dioxide, cap and trade agreements, and nuclear power. “There are no perfect answers here,” he said. “If we have seven to 10 years to do this, how can we not do it?”
A graduate of Brown University, Eric began his journalism career as a freelance reporter in East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall. In the late 1980s and early 1990s he was a well-known writer and political columnist for New York Magazine and then joined Time magazine in 1995 as its White House correspondent. He went on to serve as chief political correspondent and national editor at Time, editor of Time Europe and managing editor of Fortune.
His work has been recognized with a 2001 National Magazine Award (for Time's special issue on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks), the 1996 Gerald R. Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency (for his coverage of the Clinton administration), and four Henry R. Luce awards from Time Inc.
He was a featured commentator in “Heat,” the recent PBS global warming documentary, and he has appeared on “Nightline,” “Charlie Rose,” “CBS Evening News,” “NBC Nightly News,” “Larry King Live,” “Anderson Cooper 360,” “All Things Considered” and many other programs.
Eric spent the fall of 2008 at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, where he was a fellow at the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy. He is currently writing a book about the politics and economics of climate change to be published next year.
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He then presented scientific data about climate change and explained how carbon dioxide emissions stay in the earth’s atmosphere for 50 to 200 years. “Even if we stopped now, it would still be a problem,” he said.
He pointed out that a seven to 10 year time span exists to reverse global warming, but the problem will be hard to fix because “it is hard for people to deal with future threats” and it will be expensive. “We can solve it, but it will take some work,” he said.
Following Eric’s presentation to the Westminster community, he met with students in AP Environmental Science classes where he discussed capturing and storing carbon dioxide, cap and trade agreements, and nuclear power. “There are no perfect answers here,” he said. “If we have seven to 10 years to do this, how can we not do it?”
A graduate of Brown University, Eric began his journalism career as a freelance reporter in East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall. In the late 1980s and early 1990s he was a well-known writer and political columnist for New York Magazine and then joined Time magazine in 1995 as its White House correspondent. He went on to serve as chief political correspondent and national editor at Time, editor of Time Europe and managing editor of Fortune.
His work has been recognized with a 2001 National Magazine Award (for Time's special issue on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks), the 1996 Gerald R. Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency (for his coverage of the Clinton administration), and four Henry R. Luce awards from Time Inc.
He was a featured commentator in “Heat,” the recent PBS global warming documentary, and he has appeared on “Nightline,” “Charlie Rose,” “CBS Evening News,” “NBC Nightly News,” “Larry King Live,” “Anderson Cooper 360,” “All Things Considered” and many other programs.
Eric spent the fall of 2008 at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, where he was a fellow at the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy. He is currently writing a book about the politics and economics of climate change to be published next year.
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