Several weeks ago, after Tim DeChristopher received a two-year jail sentence for climate monkey wrenching, the outrage in various quarters was palpable. Some, like Jeff Goodell at Rolling Stone, saw a potentially historic moment in the making: For climate activists, this is a Rosa Parks moment. Or should be. In other words, the jailing of DeChristopher should…Continue Reading…
From the same thread, more evidence that the standoff has hardened into two immutable world views. One side says: Global warming denial is very much like a religious cult, and reaching the hardcore members is difficult. The other side counters: Global warming belief is very much like a religious cult and reaching the hardcore members is difficult….Continue Reading…
With political action on climate change stalled, and social science indicating that humans are not hard-wired to tackle distant and amorphous problems, climate writers might want to consider shifting the debate to the moral and ethical realm. Yes, some have tried this tack. For example, in 2010, James Hansen wrote in the Huffington Post: The predominant moral issue of…Continue Reading…
David Roberts of Grist is determined to puzzle out the obstacles to action on climate change. Last week, he argued that a fierce column of hairy-chested conservative white men (CWM) blocked the path to victory. If climate activists wanted to win the war against climate “deniers” (the rationale being that “deniers” are the main impediment…Continue Reading…
At the NYT Green blog, Justin Gillis writes (my emphasis): Climate scientists have long called for steps to limit the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and they are growing more and more worried about the slow pace of action. Yet their sense of urgency has not permeated society at large, and it certainly does…Continue Reading…
Here’s some straight talk on climate politics: A facile explanation would focus on the ‘merchants of doubt’ who have managed to confuse the public about the reality of human-made climate change. The merchants play a role, to be sure, a sordid one, but they are not the main obstacle to solution of human-made climate change. The bigger problem…Continue Reading…
An intellectually bankrupt, marginalized social movement with an expired shelf life is at a crossroads. (Metaphor mix alert!) On Saturday, a Guardian article asked: Has the green movement lost its way? True, we have heard this tune before. This time, however, there is mounting evidence that more charter members of the club are at last recognizing that…Continue Reading…
Anthony Watts, the proprietor of the well known climate skeptic blog, WUWT, seems to have a double standard on what constitutes an insult to ethnic groups. Watts is making a big deal out of some recent comments by Timothy Wirth, a former U.S. senator and now the president of the UN Foundation, who reportedly said this…Continue Reading…
A very interesting essay by Andrew Hoffman begins this way: The American debate over climate change turns on two main themes. One is the science of the problem; the other is government measures to fix it. Many believe these themes cover the entire debate. They’re wrong. Far more than science is at play on climate change. At…Continue Reading…
In my critique of the PBS segment on Al Gore’s Rolling Stone essay, I took what, in hindsight, looks to be a cheap shot at AEI’s Ken Green, when I wrote that he was aping Marc Morano’s tactics. Though Green has been an occasional commenter on this site before, I’m not actually familiar with where…Continue Reading…