Kapil Sibal Quotes

The weather records of the U.S.A. are the best kept and most accessible in the world, thanks to consistent government/military taxpayer support. There are longer European data sets, but the U.S.A. data is enough to forecast major extreme events.

Computer modelling for weather forecasting, and indeed for climate forecasting, has reached its limits.

The federal government is starting to plan for climate change by making extended forecasts that can help people plan for extreme weather - because what can go wrong when you combine the efficiency of government with the accuracy of weathermen?

It is almost possible to predict one or two days in advance, within a rather broad range of probability, what the weather is going to be; it is even thought that it will not be impossible to publish daily forecasts, which would be very useful to soci.

Many of the issues we face in dealing with rapid climate change are well suited to an engineering mind.

The Fifties and Sixties were years of unreal optimism about weather forecasting. Newspapers and magazines were filled with hope for weather science, not just for prediction but for modification and control. Two technologies were maturing together: the digital computer and the space satellite.

You could engineer a human to survive the greenhouse effect because you think that's what's going to happen, and then all of a sudden the glaciers are creeping down on you.

I began as a weatherman and I learned very quickly I wasn't very good at it.

You think the weather is weird now? Just wait. A new MIT study, just published in a peer-reviewed journal, projects that the Earth could see warming of more than 9 degrees F by 2100 - more than twice earlier projections.

We might be more inclined to think about the longer term if we were more aware of what is happening around us. Perhaps daily weather forecasts could include a few basic facts about the Earth's vital signs or details of where climate change is increasing the likelihood of damaging weather?

Prime Minister Cameron says he wants to be the greenest government ever, but the definition of green is immature... I don't deny for a moment that CO2 is a greenhouse gas, but there are so many other factors that affect climate. It is more complicated than the computer models that we are using. What the truth is, nobody knows.

Our climate is always changing.

Meteorologists don't use a script, and most create their own graphics and certainly put together their own forecasts. Most of us went to school to become scientists - at least I did - and studied thermodynamics, physics, and tons of calculus to take this young science to the next level. Our accuracy is amazing and will only continue to improve.

Even as our unwitting alterations to Earth's carbon and hydrological cycles slowly make storms more damaging, our ability to monitor our planet from space and make reliable short-term forecasts have equipped us enormously to withstand them.

Science changes, and it's odd to me that scientists say, 'Never be skeptical,' because it was in the mid-'70s when they were saying we're sunk because we're going to have global climate cooling.

The climate is changing; I don't think you can deny that. But climate has always changed.

We need new technology to fight climate change and that will come from the private sector.

Through space-based climate studies, my colleagues and I have learned that a stable and comfortable climate is not something to take for granted.

The idea that we have the capacity to change or stop the climate, I'm just skeptical.

Debate about the causes and consequences of climate change and the policy positions taken in response to it should be encouraged, not silenced.

Addressing climate change globally promotes health, education and gender equality. Addressing it domestically secures U.K. jobs and sustainable clean economic growth; it protects communities from flooding and the scandal of fuel poverty. It begins to see clean air flow in our cities and schools.

Climate change brings pressures that will influence resource competition between nations and place additional burdens on economies, societies and governance institutions around the globe. These effects are threat multipliers.

In the past, action to combat climate change was viewed largely as running counter to economic growth, with 'going green' implying a sacrifice of prosperity for the sake of the environment. Today, we know better.

How many of us lobby for green energy or protected lands, but don't engage with the local bounty to lay by for tomorrow's unseasonal reality? That we tend to not even think about this as a foundation for solutions in our food systems shows how quickly we want other people to solve these issues.

[Barack] Obama's out there saying it's the number one national security threat [climate change], and he's got his Joint Chiefs of Staff out there planning American battles, military engagements on that basis.