When it comes to climate change, Grist (like many green advocacy outlets), is quick to pounce on media stories it deems substandard. A recent example is this slapdown from Grist’s executive editor, titled: How Huffington Post aided a demolition job on climate science Well, it turns out that Grist has a wrecking ball of its own,…Continue Reading…
That’s the title of my latest post at the Yale Forum on Climate Change & the Media. Specifically, I discuss the controversy over genetically modified (GM) crops, and why there is no scientific basis for being opposed to them–especially if you care about the issue of food security in a warming world.
There is a battle underway for the soul of environmentalism. It is a battle between traditionalists and modernists. Who prevails is likely to be determined by whose vision for the future is chosen by a new generation of environmentalists. The green traditionalist has never had a sunny outlook. Forty years ago, he warned about a…Continue Reading…
Did you know that a group of scientists whose work has stirred public controversy are under siege? That their findings are vehemently contested? That they are harassed by zealots and that some have endured death threats? No, not climate scientists or animal researchers. I’m talking about plant scientists working on genetically modified crops. The latest attack against them occurred this…Continue Reading…
Every so often something I write shakes up the climate skeptic hive. They also start buzzing like mad, I have noticed, when you explain to them that their honeypot (the climate science cabal) is not really what excites them. Oh well, so much for transparency. In my latest post at the Yale Forum on Climate…Continue Reading…
There’s been numerous waves of apostasy breaking over environmentalism in the last decade or so. Stewart Brand, a countercultural icon, is perhaps the most famous example. Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus crashed down on the green movement in the mid-2000s, forcing it to swallow a hard, introspective reckoning (which, unsurprisingly, it didn’t appreciate). More recently, George…Continue Reading…
We hear a lot these days about the need for scientists ““ particularly climate scientists ““ to engage more with the public and better communicate their findings. That’s Leo Hickman in the opener of a recent Guardian piece. He reports on efforts by UK climate scientists to communicate more directly with some of their most…Continue Reading…
Here is one view of the path humanity is on, which is implied by a recent conference. Another view is markedly sunnier. Is there room for another perspective, one that does not downplay ecological concerns or put them in irreconcilable conflict with humanity? If so, this would be it.
In the never-ending quest for climate change analogies that might strike a chord with a disinterested public, smoking and slavery have been repeatedly invoked in recent years. I don’t buy the slavery/fossil fuels parallel. I find the comparison with smoking equally problematic, but I also get the argument. In 2010, Andrew Hoffman published a relevant study that…Continue Reading…
If you’re not preparing for the end of the world, don’t worry, some of your neighbors are. And teenagers today, well, they’re all over it. So are millions of Christians, who don’t want to be Left Behind, when armageddon comes. Those who see eco-decay and social mayhem resulting from unchecked capitalism are similarly fatalistic: The race…Continue Reading…