The discussion ranges from climate change modeling to the controversial decision to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain near Art's home in Pahrump. Pilkey considers climate models the most honest among those he studied, praising the UN panel's transparency about their limitations. However, he warns that specific projections for temperature increases and sea level rises should be taken with a large grain of salt. He also notes that the Bush administration exploits model uncertainties for political purposes while ignoring the overwhelming scientific consensus.
The first hour features open lines covering the UFO flap at O'Hare Airport and beyond, mysterious ice blocks falling from clear skies in Florida, smoking cessation research involving the brain's insula region, and Art's personal update on his wife Airyn's pregnancy with their daughter Asia.
Key Moments
'Useless Arithmetic' thesis: Pilkey lays out his core argument: accurate quantitative modeling of natural Earth processes is not possible, and society relies too heavily on models presented as precise.
2001 climate report 'sugar-coated': Pilkey says the 2001 IPCC report was sugar-coated; predicted Antarctic snow accumulation never happened - instead Antarctica and Greenland are losing ice faster than projected.
Million-year Yucca Mountain mandate: Pilkey calls the federal court's requirement to predict Yucca Mountain conditions 1,000,000 years out 'ludicrous' - comparable to demanding waste be sent to a ring of Saturn.
Sea-level threat is fresh water, not flooding: In Bangladesh and atoll nations, salt-water intrusion will destroy fresh-water supplies long before land is actually inundated, creating millions of climate refugees.
Atoll nations evacuating; suing the West: Pilkey notes Carteret atolls have been abandoned, Tuvalu is moving people to New Zealand, and native communities are exploring lawsuits against the U.S. and Western Europe over CO2 emissions.