Dr. Jason Box: The Bill Maher Interview
July 14, 2014
Dark Snow Project Chief Scientist Dr. Jason Box was the guest on last week’s RealTime with Bill Maher.
It’s difficult to keep up with, much less steer, an interview with someone as mercurial as Bill Maher, but Dr. Box does a decent job.
He gives a good description of the “dark snow” albedo problem with Greenland ice, the basis of the first Dark Snow expedition, and there’s some nice video from the new drone now in operation on the ice.
Our science partners from the Universities of Colorado, Brighton, Derby, and Aberystwyth in Wale are all taking their turns on and gathering data on the ice.
I’ll be heading to Greenland with Dr. Box in late July, where we’ll man the Dark Snow camp for the final two weeks of this summer’s session, and then pack it up for the season.
Drone view of cook and science tents at Dark Snow Camp
We are still raising funds for last minute additions to our science and communication “kit”. If you can help out, there is yet time to jump in.
Perhaps the most surprising statement in the interview, for some viewers, might be the “70 feet of sea level” estimate that Maher brings up. Although no one is predicting that much sea level rise any time soon, Dr. Box correctly notes that, the current 400 parts per million level of Co2 corresponds, in the paleo record, to 20+ meters of rise. It is the rate of rise that is all-important, and that is the driver behind this work.
The videos below discuss what the world’s leading ice experts are telling us about CO2, climate, and sea level.
Climate Denial Crock of the Week 
July 14, 2014 at 5:41 am
I watched this on HBO Friday evening. You couldn’t have a more rational discourse than that. Short but sweet.
July 14, 2014 at 6:08 am
So, the negative climate feedback of aerosols due to radiation reflection in the atmosphere is overtaken by the positive feedback due to dark snow. Bad news for coal et al.
July 15, 2014 at 9:47 am
Chalk one up for the advocates of stratospheric SO2 injection: there wouldn’t be any snow-darkening effects from the fallout.
July 14, 2014 at 8:38 am
Nice to see real scientists finally getting the airtime needed to talk about actual science.
July 14, 2014 at 10:44 am
this is the dual mission of Dark Snow. Science + Communication.
July 14, 2014 at 4:07 pm
[…] Peter Sinclair, noted: It’s difficult to keep up with, much less steer, an interview with someone as mercurial as Bill Maher, but Dr. Box does a decent job. He gives a good description of the “dark snow” albedo problem with Greenland ice, the basis of the first Dark Snow expedition, and there’s some nice video from the new drone now in operation on the ice. […]
December 2, 2014 at 9:00 am
[…] Jason Box is a prime example of a scientist risking his career to inform us about global warming. A veteran Arctic researcher, Box was arrested alongside more than 1,000 others in 2011 outside the White House while protesting the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. […]
December 2, 2014 at 1:13 pm
[…] Jason Box is a prime example of a scientist risking his career to inform us about global warming. A veteran Arctic researcher, Box was arrested alongside more than 1,000 others in 2011 outside the White House while protesting the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. […]
December 2, 2014 at 10:35 pm
[…] Jason Box is a prime example of a scientist risking his career to inform us about global warming. A veteran Arctic researcher, Box was arrested alongside more than 1,000 others in 2011 outside the White House while protesting the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. […]