Dr. Richard Somerville speaks on how a sustainable future depends on scientific research, a global energy policy, and the political will that humanity applies to deal with the major issues of our times, including the goal of a stable world population.

Computer models are currently relied upon to provide estimates of possible future changes in the Earth's climate. Results from these models were at the center of the global warming debate at the recent Earth Summit in Brazil. There was a great deal of controversy about whether modeling can yield insights into the planet's future. In this talk, Dr. Warren Washington, researcher at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, comments on the climate research community's views and the skeptical response.