Quaker scientist refers to faith in climate change paper
A leading scientist has broken with convention and referred to his faith and the moral issues involved in climate change in a recent publication
A leading Quaker scientist has published two peer-reviewed climate science papers, one in which he breaks with academic convention by referring to the moral issues involved in climate change.
Richard Tuckett, emeritus professor and Quaker chaplain at the University of Birmingham and a member of Cotteridge Meeting, refers to his Quakerism in the second paper.
Chris Martin, a member of Central England Area Meeting, told the Friend that this is ‘ground-breaking’ as it sets aside ‘the normal convention’ in academic papers that ‘issues of morality and religion are not discussed’. He said: ‘In this paper, Richard discusses the levels of future carbon dioxide emissions that are compatible with containing the increase in global average temperatures to “well below” two degrees C in terms of issues that are (a) easy, (b) moderately difficult, and (c) incredibly difficult to solve.’
The first paper, which will be a lead article for the third edition of the Encyclopaedia of Analytical Science to be published by Elsevier in 2019, identifies the greenhouse effect of particular molecules. It looks at the way in which, although carbon dioxide and methane are the most significant greenhouse gases, other gases are potentially more powerful and long-lived.
Richard Tuckett has given many talks on greenhouse gases, including ‘Global Warming and Climate Change: Thoughts of a Quaker scientist’, and ‘Quaker Footsteps and Young People’ at a Veggie Rescue Day at Selly Oak Meeting House.
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