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…
In a perfect world, every conversation we have about childhood vaccines, GMOs, alternative medicine, and global warming would be based on a set of facts agreed on by a majority of scientists working in those spheres. But we don’t live in a perfect world, so many conversations on the aforementioned subjects are often driven by…Continue Reading…
Remember when: Just a decade ago, ‘adaptation’ was something of a dirty word in the climate arena — an insinuation that nations could continue with business as usual and deal with the mess later. That’s Olive Heffernan, reminiscing several months ago in Nature. She goes on to say: But greenhouse-gas emissions are increasing at an…Continue Reading…
Does it matter if a social movement hitches its wagon to the wrong horse? For the food movement and its embrace of the GMO labeling cause, I argued yes in Slate, because it is predicated on junk science and blind, simplistic mistrust of multinational corporations…The pro-labeling camp wants people to believe that eating “frankenfood” is dangerous…Continue Reading…
A good way to capture someone’s attention is to start off by saying, “I have a few things to get off my chest…” This is how science writer John Horgan begins his latest post at Scientific American. It works. I was leaning close to my laptop by the end of the first sentence, eager to…Continue Reading…
A panel at this year’s American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting was summarized afterwards in a AAAS press release: Cable news junkies, take heart: if you love wall-to-wall coverage of hurricanes, wildfires and superstorms, your future viewing schedules will be jam-packed. Researchers at the AAAS Annual Meeting said that wild weather events…Continue Reading…
If you know anyone who swears by acupuncture, homeopathy, or any other unproven treatments that fall under the alternative medicine rubric, then you know there is no dissuading them with a science-based argument. What matters most to alternative health devotees is their own personal experiences and the people they trust–like Dr. Oz, Oprah, Prince Charles,…Continue Reading…
As anyone who follows environmental discourse knows, sustainability is more than a popular buzzword. It’s a concept that frames all discussion on climate change, development, and ecological concerns. For example, today’s line-up of sessions at the annual American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting includes a panel called, “Getting to Global Ecological Sustainability: Climate…Continue Reading…
Well, nothing like an unexpected meteor shower to spice up the day. By now, many have seen the incredible pictures and video from Russia. (Phil Plait at Slate has many good links.) As CNN reminds us, this comes on the same day that a hefty asteroid is due to charge past the Earth at a pretty close range, in…Continue Reading…
Every movement has a discourse that is shaped by people who are passionate, committed, and forceful. Some feel so certain in their rightness that they try to control the discourse and purge those deemed insufficiently true to the movement’s cause. A political example of this would be today’s U.S. Republican Party, which, as David Frum…Continue Reading…