Like many conservatives, I was traditionally skeptical of the science supporting anthropogenic global warming. Today, I am skeptical no longer. Like conservative blogger D.R. Tucker, on this issue, I was ultimately “defeated by facts.” Religion also played a role: As a practicing Roman Catholic, another critical element for me was the leading role being played…Continue Reading…
We have an annual event in the U.S. that I think is kind of hokey but also well-meaning. After reading this dispatch from the recent Ecological Society of America conference, I thought maybe the idea could be broadened a bit, into something that allowed a local pastor to tag along with an ecologist or climate scientist…Continue Reading…
Yup, just another day’s worth of evidence that the media ignores climate science.
Andrew Sullivan, the conservative heretic, sizes up the candidacies of the two GOP front-runners: One launched his campaign in a revival meeting calling for God to solve our economic problems (having previously led mass prayers for the end of the Texas drought); the other emerges entirely out of Dominionist theology and built her entire career…Continue Reading…
Several weeks ago, after Tim DeChristopher received a two-year jail sentence for climate monkey wrenching, the outrage in various quarters was palpable. Some, like Jeff Goodell at Rolling Stone, saw a potentially historic moment in the making: For climate activists, this is a Rosa Parks moment. Or should be. In other words, the jailing of DeChristopher should…Continue Reading…
From the same thread, more evidence that the standoff has hardened into two immutable world views. One side says: Global warming denial is very much like a religious cult, and reaching the hardcore members is difficult. The other side counters: Global warming belief is very much like a religious cult and reaching the hardcore members is difficult….Continue Reading…
There is a profile of the world’s smartest and richest Malthusian in this Sunday’s NYT magazine that carries a headline he surely finds galling: Can Jeremy Grantham Profit from Ecological Mayhem? If you know anything about Grantham, then you know he wants to save the environment and civilization from ecological mayhem. As I wrote in this post…Continue Reading…
With political action on climate change stalled, and social science indicating that humans are not hard-wired to tackle distant and amorphous problems, climate writers might want to consider shifting the debate to the moral and ethical realm. Yes, some have tried this tack. For example, in 2010, James Hansen wrote in the Huffington Post: The predominant moral issue of…Continue Reading…
Kenya’s government has made a controversial move to allow the import of genetically modified (GM) maize from South Africa to fight hunger and starvation, even though GM crops cannot yet be legally grown in the country. Or, put another way, this news prompts Charlie Petit at The Tracker to remark: When people are starving, genetically modified…Continue Reading…
David Roberts of Grist is determined to puzzle out the obstacles to action on climate change. Last week, he argued that a fierce column of hairy-chested conservative white men (CWM) blocked the path to victory. If climate activists wanted to win the war against climate “deniers” (the rationale being that “deniers” are the main impediment…Continue Reading…