The battle (over global warming) between competing conservative evangelical camps is one to watch in 2011. It’s been brewing for years. In 2005, Richard Cizik, who was then the political lobbyist for the conservative-leaning National Association of Evangelicals, and talking up the notion of environmental stewardship to its 30 million members, found himself in the…Continue Reading…
One of my favorite geographers, David Lowenthal, has written two great books that touch on the power of nostalgia: The Past is a foreign Country, and Possessed by the Past. In environmentalism, the notion of an idealized past has long manifested itself in various ways. For example an early strain of contemporary environmentalism–known as the…Continue Reading…
Paul Kelly tries talking sense to the all-or-nothing crowd over at Bart’s place. The usual suspects snarl and prance. The bloggy dialogue is set up by this op-ed in yesterday’s NYT, which Kelly refers to as a good example of effective science communication. It would be interesting to hear from climate scientists if they agree….Continue Reading…
The new movie “Cool It” is out today and just wait till people get wind of this thumbs up review in the NYT, especially this passage: Debunking claims made by “An Inconvenient Truth” and presenting alternative strategies, “Cool It” finally blossoms into an engrossing, brain-tickling picture as many of Al Gore’s meticulously graphed assertions are…Continue Reading…
I wonder if Marc Morano sees the irony in his repetitive and highly exaggerated banner headlines, such as the one screaming across the site today: Meltdown of the Climate ‘Consensus’–‘Global Warming Establishment Takes a Body Blow’ The best thing is that this header is literally ripped from the New York Post. Yup, it’s a done…Continue Reading…
To understand why the new global warming survey by Stanford’s Jon Krosnick is such a mixed bag for climate advocates, just read Kevin Drum’s despairing reaction to it. But I’m getting ahead of myself. As Krosnick lays out convincingly in this meaty NYT op-ed: huge majorities of Americans still believe the earth has been gradually…Continue Reading…
I’m a little late to this Wired profile on Energy Secretary Steven Chu, since I just started reading the May issue last night. For hardcore Chu watchers, probably not much is new, but the piece by Daniel Roth is still worth a read, if only to be reminded that the battle against global warming is…Continue Reading…
The issue of climate security, which a number of experts discussed on this thread, is gaining prominence in U.S. policy and political circles. But as I wrote in this story last November, “a sense of urgency has been building in military and intelligence circles around the world” too. Climate security has also leaped to the…Continue Reading…
**UPDATE: Stuart Pimm, the highly respected conservation biologist at Duke University, emailed me his thoughts on the climate change/global land use dichotomy that is implied by my post. It’s an important perspective. Stuart has given me permission to publish his email in its entirety. You can find it below at this comment.** Perhaps the biggest…Continue Reading…
Over the weekend I attended a large wedding anniversary party in Florida. Lots of smart, successful people in attendance. At one of the tables I was sitting at, a few snow birds were complaining about the unusually cold winter. It sounded as if some pact had been breached. One retiree complained about having to keep…Continue Reading…