How Do You Define Animal Cruelty?
Why is your pet hamster thought of differently than a pig in the factory farm? This thought provoking NYT column by Mark Bittman examines the contradictory values we have when it comes to killing animals.
Author Archive
Blinded By Their Own Bunk
Some of the dead-enders in the climate change & communication debate don’t seem capable of recognizing their own bunk, even after it’s pointed out to them ad nauseum. So here we go again: we are looking at a bunk tsunami, and the press seems absolutely obsessed with finding little bugs on the other side (a…Continue Reading…
Conservatives & Climate Change
Among the putatively Republican interest groups that would seem to have the least pull with the GOP, I would include the Log Cabin Republicans and the Republicans for Environmental Protection. As Andy Revkin notes in his interview with the leader of the latter, This group, while holding to traditional conservative values, has positions on energy and…Continue Reading…
Japan's Quake & the Future of Nuclear Power
The news out of Japan keeps getting worse, and the images are heartrending. The situation with the nuclear reactors continue to unfold in an alarming manner. For those trying to grasp the technical side of that story, I found this write-up in Nature quite helpful. Most of the news media coverage right now is understandably…Continue Reading…
My Daily Scourge
This NYT story of green nimbyism in some of the most liberal locales doesn’t surprise me. Self interest often transcends noble principles. But the issue of bike lanes, which is one of the examples in the piece, is a complicated one for me. Let me first say that I’m a fan of bike lanes and…Continue Reading…
A Climate Myth
The normally level-headed Kevin Drum, who says “we now officially live in the era of guerrilla activism,” spots a trend. It started in the fall of 2009 with the infamous ACORN sting. Conservative activist James O’Keefe secretly recorded ACORN employees providing advice to a faux pimp who wanted to bring underage prostitutes into the country…Continue Reading…
Uncouth Scary Headline of the Day
Goes to Grist for this bit of scareploitation: Today’s tsunami: This is what climate change looks like UPDATE: Tom Yulsman calls the Grist article “yellow journalism.” Kenneth Green at AEI calls it “shameless.” Many commenters at Grist–not trolls, but seemingly regular Grist readers–also find the piece offensive. UPDATE 2: In response (in the comment thread…Continue Reading…
Bogus Headline of the Day
Wishful thinking by Bishop Hill, or poor grasp of how things work in the U.S.?
That's More Like It
John Broder, in his next day story, tries to [you choose] 1) atone, 2) appease, 3) fill in the blank. “We’ll never know what this president could have achieved,” said Joseph J. Romm, a former Department of Energy official who is one of the country’s most influential writers on climate change, “because he didn’t try.”