Tweet of the Day
It’s from yesterday, but what the hell: How the perception of media bias by biased people has grown even more biased Brilliant!
Author Archive
Leaving Climate Change Out of the Argument
Michael Bloomberg, New York City’s billionaire mayor for the last decade, can be a force for good when he’s not strong-arming local pols to alter NYC election laws (so he can run for a third term) or installing cronies to important positions they are eminently unqualified for. For example, I can now have a drink in…Continue Reading…
The Biotech Bugaboo
A scientist lays it out in the Guardian: The term “genetic modification” provokes widespread fears about the corporate control of agriculture, and of the unknown. However, results from 25 years of EU-funded research show that there is “no scientific evidence associating GM plants with higher risks for the environment or for food and feed safety than conventional plants and organisms”. This…Continue Reading…
Why Paleoclimate Rules
An abridged, reader-friendly version of this paper (and published here) is now available. Here’s the article and opening section: The past is the key to the future. Contrary to popular belief, climate models are not the principal basis for assessing human-made climate effects. Our most precise knowledge comes from Earth’s paleoclimate, its ancient climate, and how it responded…Continue Reading…
A Climate Blocking Pattern
Last week, this provocative interview with Sir David King, who the Guardian calls “one of the most respected figures in climate change policy,” seemed to register not more than a blip. That’s too bad, because here’s some of what he said: I can’t see the Kyoto protocol making any headway – there are enough blocks…Continue Reading…
The Zombified State of Climate Communication
Some of you may recall a recent public awareness campaign by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that began this way: There are all kinds of emergencies out there that we can prepare for. Take a zombie apocalypse for example. That’s right, I said z-o-m-b-i-e a-p-o-c-a-l-y-p-s-e. You may laugh now, but when it…Continue Reading…
Climate Capo Watch
In the absurdist precincts of the climate blogosphere, certain gatekeepers take offense when their icons and orthodoxy are challenged. I’ve previously referred to these partisan gatekeepers as climate capos. So earlier today when Andy Revkin challenged conservative columnist George Will to be intellectually consistent, the response from climate capos was immediate and predictably cartoonish.
Green Helmets
Climate security gets an airing today in a U.N. Security Council meeting. It’s not the first time the Security Council has taken up climate change. And wise heads, such as environmental security scholar Geoff Dabelko, offers some excellent pre-meeting context that puts the nascent climate security issue into perspective. The Guardian also has a nice story on the meeting’s…Continue Reading…
About Those Rising Food Prices
What’s this, a story about rising food prices, and no mention about global warming? Go figure. As Suzanne Goldenberg reports in the Guardian: Demand for biofuels in the US is driving this year’s high food prices, a report has said. It predicts that food prices are unlikely to fall back down for another two years. The report, produced…Continue Reading…