When issues becomes hotly politicized, such as GMO’s (“Frankenfood“), health care (“death panels“), and yes, climate science (“hoax“), the extremes dominate the public dialogue. When this happens, it is virtually impossible to have a grown-up conversation about these issues in the public sphere. The press, following the scent of controversy and conflict, ends up in…Continue Reading…
That’s the headline of my latest post at the Yale Forum on Climate Change & the Media. I discuss the slide and why it soon may be reversed.
So it looks like the climate debate is degenerating to new lows. Make no mistake: This is a win for the Marc Moranos. Of course, some on the other side seem to relish getting into the mud with him. Perhaps they don’t realize that that is what he wants to happen. Oh well, the “street…Continue Reading…
Some stuff that caught my eye this week: Bryan Walsh at Time attempts to sort through the frack-off at Cornell. Biotechnology to the rescue? Shhh, don’t tell the anti-GMO crowd about this one. Steve Silberman tweets: Between them, Gingrich and Limbaugh have had 7 marriages. And they want to abolish my one. Did you know Israel…Continue Reading…
Yesterday, Nature’s online editor set off a mini squall with this Guardian column, titled “Nine ways scientists demonstrate they don’t understand journalism.” The response from the science blogosphere was pretty negative. For some reason, this surprised me–well the darts thrown at the piece by many writers did, anyway. I kinda got into it a bit…Continue Reading…
I know everyone has been waiting on pins and needles about the future of this blog. The suspense has been killing me, too. Well, I have good news and bad news. Let’s start with the latter. Your combined generosity has enabled me to buy some new socks, take my kids to a matinee movie and…Continue Reading…
When I was in high school I had a bunch of money-earning jobs. I raked yards in the Fall (leaf bags galore!), shoveled driveways in the winter, and delivered newspapers year-round. (I really hated those thick Sunday papers back then.) This meant I had cash on hand to feed my record-buying habit and enough to…Continue Reading…
If the writer of a magazine story admits to significant errors in his piece, shouldn’t the publication then acknowledge this with an editor’s note, providing corrections? I ask because there are new developments to the story about that botched article in The Atlantic, which, as I wrote here, used this study as a springboard to raise concerns…Continue Reading…
One of the unfortunate consequences of the hyperbolic, circumscribed climate change discourse (It’s all hoax, No it’s not!) is that we don’t pay enough attention to the climate change that did happen in prehistory, specifically the mega-droughts that combined with other factors to cripple ancient empires. These are complicated stories that are still being puzzled…Continue Reading…
Yesterday, I called attention to a deeply flawed article published online by The Atlantic, that used this study as a springboard to raise concerns about GMO foods. Biotechnology, like climate science, is prone to distortion by those who feel passionate about it. The debate on GMO’s and climate change is most heated and misrepresented on…Continue Reading…