An editorial in Nature says that Matthew Nisbet’s Climate shift report “dismantles three of the most common reasons given by those who have tried, and failed, to garner widespread support for policies to restrict greenhouse gases.” I guess they didn’t get the memo from the climate capo or the reprint over at the watchdog site. The Nature…Continue Reading…
I’m poaching this comment from yesterday’s Dot Earth post on Randy Olson. What’s striking to me is that it comes from a graduate student enrolled in a sustainability program at a top university: I love the ‘woe is me’ and ‘shame on you’ summation. It perfectly characterizes the scope of most environmental communication. The hysterical…Continue Reading…
I never got around to writing about this recent essay from recovering scientist-turned filmmaker Randy Olson, so I’m glad that Andy Revkin has taken it up at Dot Earth. Do watch the 10-minute Skype video interview that Revkin also posts, where Olson says: The problem in the environmental and science worlds as far as I can…Continue Reading…
H/T: This meandering thread at Lucia’s, where the faucet scene in My Cousin Vinny was fondly recalled. Vinny Gambini: [Vinny hears a drip in the motel bathroom] Weren’t you the last one to use the bathroom? Lisa: So? Vinny Gambini: Well, did you use the faucet? Lisa: Yeah. Vinny Gambini: Then why didn’tcha turn it…Continue Reading…
Nothing seems to shake the climate rafters like a fierce debate over the labels that combatants use to smack each other around. Although this thread from yesterday is still going strong, I thought I would break out a comment that rises above the scrum: My belief is that those who are affected most negatively by the…Continue Reading…
Some of the dead-enders in the climate change & communication debate don’t seem capable of recognizing their own bunk, even after it’s pointed out to them ad nauseum. So here we go again: we are looking at a bunk tsunami, and the press seems absolutely obsessed with finding little bugs on the other side (a…Continue Reading…
Randy Olson, the scientist-turned-filmaker, dares to depart from conventional wisdom among climate advocates, many who would hang the news media in collective effigy over climategate: The media were irrelevant and largely blameless in Climategate. The whole incident was a case study in the absence of effective leadership in both the science and environmental communities. For…Continue Reading…
Everything you need to know about this AAAS session, called “Why Climate Communication Continues to be Colossal Botch,” can be summed up by this famous 40 second clip: Yes, I made that title up, too, but really, that’s what it was about. Panelist Gavin Schmidt, echoing the sentiments expressed by Kerry Emmanuel in a session…Continue Reading…
That wily Frank Luntz. What’s he up to? Last week, the Republican pollster advised enviros on how to sell the congressional climate bill. (Don’t mention polar bears or cap and trade, the bill’s centerpiece. Instead, talk about energy security and jobs.) That’s quite a turnaround from the guy who, in 2002, counseled the Bush Administration…Continue Reading…