Here’s a classy way to slam people you disagree with: compare them to terrorists, dictators, and mass murderers. Such was the focus of a recent billboard campaign by the Chicago-based Heartland Institute, a PR group that denies the existence of human-caused climate change. The only billboard that was actually displayed featured Ted Kaczynski (the Unabomber) [...]
Archive for the ‘Media and the Public’ Category
Stalin believed in gravity. Do you?
Posted in Media and the Public, tagged charles manson, chicago, climate changed, denial, fidel castro, global warming, gm, heartland institute, osama bin laden, skeptic, state farm, ted kaczynski, unabomber on May 9, 2012 | 4 Comments »
Denial in the Classroom
Posted in Media and the Public, tagged canada, carleton, cass, climate change, education, geology, global warming, heartland institute, international climate science coalition, maclean's, ottawa, science, skeptic, tom harris, university, youth on February 28, 2012 | 16 Comments »
At one of Canada’s top comprehensive universities, a well-known climate change denier was recently discovered “educating” a class of undergraduate students about global warming. The Instructor Tom Harris spent much of his career acting as a PR consultant for fossil fuel companies. Today he directs the International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC), an advocacy group closely [...]
Recent Developments at the Heartland Institute
Posted in Media and the Public, tagged climate change, exxon, global warming, heartland institute, koch, lobby groups, oil, politics, public relations, science, tobacco on February 24, 2012 | 52 Comments »
This Valentine’s Day, one of the most vocal lobby groups attacking the science of climate change had its internal documents leaked to the public – exposing its sources of funding, secret projects, strategies, and goals for the world to see. Manufacturing Doubt You’re probably aware of the influences of corporate-funded lobby groups on social issues. [...]
Breaching the Mainstream
Posted in Media and the Public, tagged climate change, dftba, education, environment, global warming, hank green, john green, nerdfighters, scishow, vlogbrothers on February 5, 2012 | 5 Comments »
It’s hard to overestimate the influence of John and Hank Green on the Internet, particularly among people my age. John (who writes books for teenagers) and Hank (who maintains the website EcoGeek and sings songs about particle physics) run a YouTube channel that celebrates nerdiness. This Internet community is now a huge part of pop culture [...]
A Little Bit of Hope
Posted in Media and the Public, tagged canada, carbon dioxide, climate change, education, global warming, science, sea level rise, skeptical science, solar activity, volcanoes, youth on December 15, 2011 | 6 Comments »
I went to a public lecture on climate change last night (because I just didn’t get enough of that last week at AGU, apparently), where four professors from different departments at my university spoke about their work. They were great speeches – it sort of reminded me of TED Talks – but I was actually [...]
The Pitfalls of General Reporting: A Case Study
Posted in Media and the Public, tagged arctic, atmosphere, canada, canadian press, CFCs, climate change, communication, education, environment, global warming, journalist, manitoba, media, nature, ozone, reporter, science, stratosphere, troposphere, weather, winnipeg free press on October 2, 2011 | 15 Comments »
Today’s edition of Nature included an alarming paper, indicating record ozone loss in the Arctic due to an unusually long period of cold temperatures in the lower stratosphere. On the same day, coverage of the story by the Canadian Press included a fundamental error that is already contributing to public confusion about the reality of [...]
What Does the Public Know?
Posted in Media and the Public, tagged climate change, democrat, economy, education, environment, global warming, independent, media, politics, republican, science, tea party, united states, urban planning on September 15, 2011 | 7 Comments »
Part 4 in a series of 5 for NextGen Journal Like it or not, a scientific consensus exists that humans are causing the Earth to warm. However, the small number of scientists that disagree with this conclusion get a disproportionate amount of media time, particularly in the United States: most newspaper articles give the two [...]
Who are the Skeptics?
Posted in Media and the Public, tagged antarctica, climate change, credibility, debate, denial, education, environment, global warming, greenhouse effect, greenland, IPCC, lindzen, media, michaels, politics, s. fred singer, science, skeptic, skeptical science on August 4, 2011 | 13 Comments »
Part 3 in a series of 5 for NextGen Journal Adapted from part of an earlier post As we discussed last time, there is a remarkable level of scientific consensus on the reality and severity of human-caused global warming. However, most members of the public are unaware of this consensus – a topic which we [...]
The Dangers of Being a Scientist
Posted in Media and the Public, tagged australia, canberra times, climate change, environment, freedom of speech, global warming, guardian, hate crimes, sophie mirabella, uk, US on June 20, 2011 | 8 Comments »
In which occupations would you expect to be threatened with murder? Soldiers, at the front lines of combat zones, are an obvious example. Police officers would often qualify, too. Even high-ranking government officials put their safety at risk – just look at the number of American presidents that have been assassinated. Gang leaders and drug [...]
What Can One Person Do?
Posted in How Science Works, Media and the Public, Mitigation and Policy, Science Lessons, tagged agreement, canada, carbon dioxide, climate change, climategate, communication, CRU, denial, education, environment, global warming, greenhouse effect, greenhouse gases, hansen, ice age, IPCC, journalism, media, politics, republican, risk management, science, skeptic, sustainability, united states, youth on May 5, 2011 | 23 Comments »
Next week, I will be giving a speech on climate change to the green committee of a local United Church. They are particularly interested in science and solutions, so I wrote the following script, drawing heavily from my previous presentations. I would really appreciate feedback and suggestions for this presentation. Citations will be on the [...]
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