I’m not sure there is such a thing, but it’s probably good to know what your objective is. In this contentious thread, perspectives ran the gamut. One commenter observed: As difficult it is in this era of “Tea Baggers vs Marxists”, “Denialists vs. Warmistas”, “Conservatards vs. Mann-Made Glo-bull Warmists” or whatever other dumbass portmanteaus each…Continue Reading…
That we are yet again debating evolutionary theory and Earth’s origins “” and that candidates now have to declare where they stand on established science “” should be a signal that we are slip-sliding toward governance by emotion rather than reason. But it’s important to understand what’s undergirding the debate. It has little to do…Continue Reading…
So maybe Hurricane Irene’s middle name should be “harbinger,” instead? From the NYT’s Justin Gillis: The scale of Hurricane Irene, which could cause more extensive damage along the Eastern Seaboard than any storm in decades, is reviving an old question: are hurricanes getting worse because of human-induced climate change? The short answer from scientists is that they are still…Continue Reading…
Hurricane Irene may be front and center today, but wildfires commanded U.S. headlines earlier this summer. Via yesterday’s Guardian, here’s a spot-on observation from the lookout tower: There is a saying among some of my colleagues in the wildfire community: that during the 20th century, despite our phenomenal success in suppressing fires on public land,…Continue Reading…
The climate science community must have let out a collective groan after reading this opening line from Bill McKibben’s Daily Beast column: Irene’s got a middle name, and it’s Global Warming. If that sounds familiar, then you’ll remember this from Ross Gelbspan six years ago: The hurricane that struck Louisiana and Mississippi on Monday was…Continue Reading…
Fans of smashmouth science communication have not been disappointed by the response to Texas Governor Rick Perry’s recent statements on evolution. Richard Dawkins, the brilliant evolutionary biologist who is also famously combative, has slugged away in the Washington Post: There is nothing unusual about Governor Rick Perry. Uneducated fools can be found in every country and…Continue Reading…
[UPDATE: In the comments, Kate Sheppard has responded to this post, saying that I (and William Connolley) have “grossly misconstrued” what she wrote in her Guardian article. Here is my explanation and apology to Kate.] In an article about the nuclear implications of this week’s East Coast earthquake, Kate Sheppard writes: We had a pretty good warning…Continue Reading…
To paraphrase a famous remark used against a certain Democrat in the 2004 Presidential campaign, Mitt Romney was for global warming before he was against it. Romney’s waffling on climate change is sure to reinforce his already well-earned reputation for flip floppery. UPDATE: New York magazine says the waffle is more subtle: It’s not a…Continue Reading…
Evolution, Climate Change, Could Divide the Republican party That’s the headline to Ron Brownstein’s piece at The Atlantic. Like I was saying…
If you hear people talking in environmental debates about “climate-gate” and “Mann’s misconduct,” recognize that what you’re hearing is just like “Obama was born in Kenya.” These people are either passively uninformed or knowingly beyond the reach of fact. And if they can’t be convinced by the National Science Foundation, NOAA, Penn State, and various European…Continue Reading…