Posts Under ‘climate change’ Category

When GMO Opponents Stay in Denial

I knew I could count on Michael Pollan for this tweet: “No scientific consensus on GMO safety”: statement by European Network of Scientists for S and E responsibility http://t.co/2p3hqerMtV — Michael Pollan (@michaelpollan) October 21, 2013 Of course, there is a scientific consensus, just as there is for the safety of childhood vaccines and the…Continue Reading…

About that War on Energy

If you thought that the U.S. government shutdown was the top story at the Wall Street Journal today (print edition), you would be wrong. Instead, this headline took the honor: U.S. Rises to No. 1 Energy Producer Whoa. This wasn’t supposed to happen until 2017, according to recent projections by the International Energy Agency. But some…Continue Reading…

The Trusted Communicators Who Shape the GMO Discourse

At The Conversation: There is a classic position in the science communication literature which goes, roughly, if you meet resistance to science, throw facts at those who resist. If that doesn’t work, throw more facts at them, and throw them harder. This approach, though roundly debunked, is unfortunately still a common default. The author did not…Continue Reading…

Our Fraught Relationship with Technology

For those of us fortunate enough to be born into the right circumstances, life is good, with antibiotics, modern dentistry, vaccines, climate-controlled homes, big-screen TV’s, smart phones. The sum of this, however, is worrying to some: What is the toll to the planet, to the ecosystems that support us and the rich diversity of animals and…Continue Reading…

Do You Belong in the Hall of Shame?

Mark Lynas detonated a stink bomb on Twitter today: Imagine an ‘anti-science hall of shame’ w. climate deniers & anti-GM activists side by side. e.g. Seralini vs Pat Michaels? Nominations? — Mark Lynas (@mark_lynas) September 5, 2013 While I have on occasion used the anti-science tag for eye-catching purposes (see here and here)–and have been…Continue Reading…

The Ecological Insurgency

A new video by Climate Desk explains “how climate change is fueling wildfires” in the U.S. West. The truth is a good bit more complicated, which James West attests to in the accompanying text: In this video, Matthew Hurteau—assistant professor of forest resources at Penn State University—explains how warming temperatures, prolonged drought, and a century’s worth…Continue Reading…

When Newspapers Collaborate with NGOs

As far as explainers go, I thought this Guardian piece discussing possible links between climate change and extreme weather was pretty good. What’s interesting to me is that it was written by Bob Ward, the policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.  It’s part of a larger…Continue Reading…

Climate Puffery

Many people lament the sulfurous climate change discourse, myself included. At this point, the well is so poisoned that I find myself increasingly avoiding the topic. Most of those who read this post already have a strong opinion on climate science. Anything I write is automatically viewed through a skewed lens. True, none of us…Continue Reading…

The Middle Ground

Staking out the middle ground in these polarized times is not an easy thing to do. I know this from experience. For example, I’m pretty comfortable with what science tells us about climate change. To me, there’s a cumulative body of evidence that rises to the level of concern. But I also realize there is…Continue Reading…

A Controversial Claim: Climate Change = War & Violence

In the late 2000s, the notion that climate change could trigger wars and geopolitical instability gained currency in military and intelligence circles. Security scholars gave credence to the possibility, think tanks were debating it and the media had another angle into the climate story. (I covered this news at the time–see here, here, and here.) One book…Continue Reading…