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 [...]
Posts Tagged ‘politics’
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 »
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 [...]
Why Trust Science?
Posted in How Science Works, tagged agreement, chemistry, climate change, consensus, credibility, debate, global warming, journalism, physics, politics, risk management, science on July 7, 2011 | 47 Comments »
Part 1 of a series of 5 for NextGen Journal. What’s wrong with these statements? I believe in global warming. I don’t believe in global warming. We should hear all sides of the climate change debate and decide for ourselves. Don’t see it? How about these? I believe in photosynthesis. I don’t believe in Newton’s [...]
Quality, Transparency, and Rigour
Posted in News and Reports, tagged climate change, communication, environment, global warming, IPCC, media, politics, science on June 5, 2011 | 5 Comments »
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports are likely the most cited documents on the subject of global warming. The organization, established by the United Nations, doesn’t do any original research – it simply summarizes the massive amount of scientific literature on the topic. Their reports, written and reviewed by volunteer scientists, and published [...]
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 [...]
Change
Posted in Mitigation and Policy, tagged bloc, canada, climate change, conservative, election, Elizabeth May, Gilles Duceppe, global warming, green, Jack Layton, liberal, Michael Ignatieff, NDP, politics, quebec, Stephen Harper, youth on May 4, 2011 | 12 Comments »
If you know what these colours mean, you probably share my surprise: For those of you who aren’t familiar with Canadian politics, past and present, here’s a quick brush-up. (If parliamentary democracy or constitutional monarchy is new to you, Rick Mercer gives a great explanation.) Liberal Party (Red Seats) Politics: More liberal than the American [...]
Where Activism Fails
Posted in Media and the Public, Mitigation and Policy, tagged climate change, communication, democracy, education, environment, global warming, greenhouse gases, journalism, media, north america, politics, powershift, risk management, science, united states, vote, youth on April 20, 2011 | 8 Comments »
Cross-posted from NextGen Journal This weekend, 10 000 young people converged in Washington, D.C. and protested the American government’s inaction on climate change. Students stood in front of government buildings wearing green hard hats, holding signs saying “Make Polluters Pay, Not the EPA”. Students stormed the House of Representatives and sang a song about climate [...]
The Rest of the World
Posted in Mitigation and Policy, tagged australia, canada, carbon dioxide, climate change, copenhagen, environment, EU, global warming, greenhouse gases, japan, norway, politics, risk management, Stephen Harper, uk, united states on April 6, 2011 | 16 Comments »
Here in North America, we are surrounded with rhetoric denouncing the feasibility of climate change mitigation. It’s not possible to reduce our emissions, people say. It’s not worth it. The situation in the U.S. Congress regarding this issue is becoming so bizarre that hopes for an international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have grown [...]
Ozone Depletion and Climate Change
Posted in Science Lessons, tagged carbon dioxide, CFCs, climate change, copenhagen, education, environment, global warming, greenhouse effect, greenhouse gases, HFCs, kyoto, montreal protocol, ozone depletion, politics, risk management, science, sustainability on March 30, 2011 | 18 Comments »
“Global warming…doesn’t that have something to do with the ozone?” Well, no. Environmental issues are not all the same. It’s common for people to confuse climate change and ozone depletion, but they are separate issues – although they are indirectly connected in some interesting ways. Ozone, which is made of three oxygen atoms stuck together [...]
Legislating Scientific Truth
Posted in Mitigation and Policy, tagged climate change, denial, global warming, greenhouse gases, Indiana, inhofe, Montana, pi, politics, Read, republican, science, united states, Upton on March 24, 2011 | 22 Comments »
Cross-posted from NextGen Journal Scientific statements rely on uncertainty and error bars. If our understanding changes, the scientific consensus changes accordingly, in a more or less implicit manner. There’s no official process that needs to be followed to update our knowledge. Laws passed by governments work in the opposite way. Official technicalities are paramount, and [...]
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