How to Talk About Biotechnology
Is this something that GMO-fearing foodies and greens can agree with?
Posts Under ‘science communication’ Category
Stoking Chemophobia
In recent years, people have become increasingly concerned about unwanted substances lurking in their furniture and food. These are industrial chemicals we are exposed to every day and that have been found to accumulate in our bodies, “endangering our health in ways we have yet to understand,” CNN asserted in 2007. In 2010, a New York…Continue Reading…
The Polluted Keystone Pipeline Discourse
When a social cause gains momentum and becomes symbolically important, partisans inevitably hijack it for their own ends. They do this by trying to define and control the meaning of the cause and how it should be perceived. We’re seeing this play out now with the Keystone XL pipeline, which has become a touchstone for environmentalists…Continue Reading…
Foodies Find Common Cause with Anti-Abortion Activists
What happens when the ideological agenda of crunchy granola food activists intersects with the religious agenda of anti-abortion activists? You get this (recycled, bizarro) nonsense from a Seattle-based organic food advocacy website: Biotech companies have been using aborted human fetal cells for testing the effectiveness of different flavoring agent in their products. Last year the news came out…Continue Reading…
Why Science Fails to Persuade
One of the big reasons why evidence-based arguments so often fail to persuade is that people turn to their own trusted sources for information. For example, I know that Vandana Shiva is peddling a load of horseshit about Indian farmers committing suicide en masse supposedly because of Monsanto and GMOs. (There’s a part of me…Continue Reading…
The War on Science Merry Go Round
It’s really not fashionable to call out liberals for their own problematic relationship with science on certain issues. (Trust me on that one.) It’s much safer to just blast away at conservatives, who do provide bountiful material on evolution and sex, among other well-known topics, as Michael Shermer reminds us at Scientific American. But kudos…Continue Reading…
Beware of Labels
If I call you anti-science, which discourse might that be related to? The one on climate change, evolution, biotechnology, or vaccines? Because the term is flung around so freely, who can tell. That was the point I tried making with this recent post. More importantly, is slagging you as anti-science a constructive way to have a conversation? In fact, it’s likely…Continue Reading…
Science Geeks Ready to Rumble
Anyone who believes that science, above all, should inform our debates on medical, health and environmental issues, will find much to agree with in The Geek Manifesto, a recently published book by Mark Henderson, one of Britain’s leading science communicators. As science writer David Dobbs writes in his foreward to the U.S. edition, The Geek Manifesto articulates…Continue Reading…
The Common Denominator
The underlying basis for why some people become so fiercely opposed to genetically modified crops or to action on climate change is often not grounded in science. That’s why I’ve come to believe that the anti-science tag is misused and a distraction from what’s really at play. An example of what I mean is captured…Continue Reading…
Why Blog Comments Matter
Long-time readers know that I enjoy the vibrant forum they have helped create at Collide-a-Scape. Yes, I sometimes get cranky in the comment threads and yes, I sometimes dish out the snark as well as anyone. But I’m conscious of this behavior and I strive to lead by better example. Overall, I’m gratified by the…Continue Reading…