Maybe it’s all the cold medication I’ve been on the last few days, but this reference to “fake plastic trees” as one potential geo-engineering solution to global warming, triggered a memory of Martin Krieger’s classic 1973 essay in Science magazine, entitled, “What’s Wrong with Plastic Trees?” I remember my head nearly exploding as I read…Continue Reading…
It’s called the Center on Climate Change and National Security. This strikes me as huge news, not so much because it further institutionalizes and legitimizes climate change as a national security issue, but because the center’s mission will necessarily overlap with a broader suite of environmental issues, as indicated by the CIA’s own press release:…Continue Reading…
In the activist category, Time Magazine names Joe Romm as one of this year’s “green” heroes. Romm would prefer to think of himself as a journalist, but he’s not complaining. In fact, he’s “surprised” by the “generous profile” that Bryan Walsh wrote, since Romm slammed him several months ago. It’s as if Romm were surprised…Continue Reading…
From 3 Quarksdaily, an intriguing post flows from this question: Will historians and archaeologists a few thousand years from now believe that scientists in the mid-twentieth century split the atom? That they even created a nuclear bomb? There’s a good chance the answer will be “no.” The author, Sam Kean, argues that our collective behavior…Continue Reading…
The flip side of climate change coverage is energy. CJR offers a prescription for how to revitalize the beat. Broadly speaking, the authors argue: if energy news is to engage and inform the decisions of politicians, industry executives, and the public, the media must think more strategically about what they cover, how they cover it,…Continue Reading…
So if Evander Holyfield had to choose, at the age of 47, between reclaiming his heavyeight champ crown, or ridding the world of greenhouse gases, what do you think he’d pick?
If you read this article by Carl Zimmer in Yale 360, you might notice that there’s a few looming battles over ecological thresholds. Climate scientists and climate advocates will be wrangling over acceptable planetary carbon dioxide limits, and conservation biologists and ecosystem ecologists will be arguing over acceptable species extinction levels. That’s the problem when…Continue Reading…
If there’s a major flood in the headlines, you can bet Joe Romm is on the scene, milking the drama and tragedy for all it’s worth. Does it matter that he’s not even consistent? Here’s how he first classifies the Georgia flooding: I have called this type of rapid deluge, “global warming type” record rainfull.”…Continue Reading…
Joe Romm, the self-appointed climate journalism watchdog, goes bananas over this story by Andy Revkin. After a meanering 2,400 word critique, Romm hands down his judgment in bold: Revkin should retract this entire piece. At least he didn’t demand that Revkin apologize to humanity. That’s (climate) progress of a sort. But seriously, if anyone wants…Continue Reading…
John Fleck clinically demolishes Michael Tobis’s straw man critique of climate change-related journalism. Tobis is often a thoughtful blogger but he also suffers from the same journalism-is-failing-us syndrome that afflicts Joe Romm and many other climate advocates.