May 17, 2021

Ep. 64 – “Sunshine Is The Best Disinfectant” – A Conversation with Dr. Steven Koonin

On this week's COBT, we were very honored to be joined by Dr. Steven Koonin, author of a new book entitled "Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn't, and Why It Matters." The title refers to the central thesis of the book... which is that in the rush to proclaim climate science definitive, we are glossing over and failing to speak honestly about so much that remains to be "settled." The book is a highly technical but also highly understandable tour of what we know, of the major studies that have been done by the UN, the US, and other bodies, of what the attempts at modeling the climate tell us and what the key assumptions really are. Along the way Dr. Koonin addresses many of the popular press-driven views on human-driven climate change and also offers his own thoughts about the right way forward. More than anything, he challenges us all to return to science and get away from "The Science"... his way of saying intellectual honesty and the pursuit of the truth must be made the primary goal. The stakes are high and we must stop the polarizing debate that's getting in the way of thoughtfulness as we approach all the choices before us.

Dr. Koonin has an incredible background that has led him to write "Unsettled." A former Chief Scientist at BP from the "Beyond Petroleum" era, he served in the Obama Administration as the Undersecretary for Science in the Department of Energy. He is a graduate of both Caltech and MIT and today is a professor at NYU. The book has been a huge seller and it's clear that it has struck a chord with so many of us. TPH has purchased a very large order and will be making them available to guests at our upcoming "Hotter 'N Hell" energy conference in Houston on June 10th.

We all read the book ahead of the discussion and wholeheartedly recommend it. It is very thought-provoking and does a great job laying out the complexity of the issues. We are most honored to have made a new friend in Dr. Koonin.

We kicked off today with a quick discussion of the news and views of the last week. Mike Bradley touched on recent discussion around the JCPOA agreement and its effect on the market, Matt Portillo provided some background on TPH Research initiating coverage on Ford and GM, and finally Colin Fenton gave a brief market update and prepped us for the discussion with Dr. Koonin.

Read "Unsettled" when you can. We learned a lot and had a ton of fun discussing it with Dr. Koonin!

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