Fighting for our shared future: Evalyn Gates

Cleveland has much to be proud of – including people who are fighting for a better future for both Northeast Ohio and those living far beyond the shores of Lake Erie. Case Western Reserve University Professor Cyrus Taylor is one of those heroes.

Since returning to the CWRU physics department in 2018, after serving as Dean of Arts & Sciences for over a decade, Prof. Taylor has focused his research on our rapidly changing climate. His work on the physics of climate change quickly vaulted him into the cadre of top scientists studying this increasingly urgent challenge.

His leadership and scientific expertise have been critical in developing regional plans for decreasing carbon emissions. With colleagues in the CWRU Sociology department, he engaged the local community around campus – eliciting their concerns and ideas for addressing the impacts of climate change; and he continues to serve as a much-needed voice of science and reason in public policy discussions and debates on this topic.

Taylor has also sparked a wonderful multiplier effect through his teaching. His dynamic and thought-provoking course on the physics of climate change has attracted undergraduates from all disciplines and perspectives – and motivated several students to redirect their postgraduate plans toward careers in science or policy aspects of climate change.

But it is his most recent effort that should be especially noted and applauded. Prof Taylor is one of over 85 authors of a detailed and comprehensive response to the disgraceful U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) report on climate change released in late July of this year.

The DOE, which previously supported real science, commissioned five climate science deniers (the “Climate Working Group” or CWG) to draft a report that ignored decades of peer-reviewed science in order to claim that climate change is not that bad.

There are some human endeavors that start with the desired answer and then work backwards to achieve this answer. Science is not one of them.

The response of the science community was swift. Professor Andrew Dessler of Texas A&M assembled leading experts in climate science, including Taylor, who examined each of the claims and conclusions of the misleading DOE report in detail – dividing the work according to expertise.

Their overall conclusion?

“The DOE report’s key assertions — including claims of no trends in extreme weather and the supposed broad benefits of carbon dioxide — are either misleading or fundamentally incorrect.” Specifically, the “DOE CWG report exhibits pervasive problems with misrepresentation and selective citation of the scientific literature, cherry-picking of data, and faulty or absent statistics … [it] does not meet standards of quality, utility, objectivity and integrity appropriate for use in supporting policy making.”

This is not an honest disagreement about the science. Scientists love to argue, debate, and disagree with one another, but must ultimately provide a compelling and scientifically sound case for their argument and be eager to submit their work for rigorous review by other experts. Unfortunately, an official peer review and subsequent major revision of the DOE report seems unlikely – the DOE disbanded the CWG on Sept. 3. This only makes the Dessler et al. response even more important.

Prof. Taylor, Prof. Dessler, and their co-authors took a stand for the integrity of science. In doing so, they also stood up for our future – for the importance of using unbiased and evidence-based science as the foundation for the difficult decisions we need to make as individuals, communities and the nation in order to build a stronger and healthier future for all of us.

Bravo and thank you to a Cleveland hero.

Physicist and author Evalyn Gates, Ph.D., is the former executive director of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. She writes from Old Snowmass, Colorado.

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