Micheal Oppenheimer

I had the chance to have drinks with Micheal Oppenheimer- who was a part of the Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.
It was a fantastic night- twenty of us had the chance to speak to him about any issue we thought was relevant.
He gave a talk at the Union after that-and was surprisingly funny and down to earth.
A lot of scientists find it hard to talk science at a lay person's level- and Oppenheimer acknowledged this failing.
He stressed the need for scientists to communicate ideas & research effectively to the public, especially in today's world, with science news making the headlines everyday, and the media sensationalizing important issues such as climate change, genetic engineering and cloning.
He maintained that he was an optimist, and felt that we could still beat climate change- but all countries had to take their duties seriously and work together to combat it.
Oppenheimer acknowledged that the US was to blame for polluting the earth for 200 years, and it was upto the US to take the first steps to cut down carbon emissions & enforce effective policies-
But he also stressed the need for developing countries to take the issue seriously, and balance progress with being environmentally aware.