From democracy to banking, Europe has launched institutions that have shaped the world; with its recent financial crisis, Europe might be about to do it again. The European financial crisis is only giving further legitimacy and urgency to greater European political integration. It is argued that with many economies dependent
Continue readingTag: Political
DeSmogBlog: New Study: Climate Deniers Are Emoting–Especially the Conspiracy Theorists
Im-as-mad-as-Hell.jpg Anyone paying attention these last few years will have noticed that global warming denial simply isn’t a rational phenomenon. And it’s not just that if there were any reason involved, then denial it would have decreased in prevalence—rather than increased—as climate science grew more firm and certain over the
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: A Court’s Scientific Smackdown: The D.C. Circuit Trashes Science Deniers on Global Warming and the EPA
800px-Meade_and_Prettyman_Courthouse.jpg Tomorrow, we may see a court—the highest in the land—flout precedent for partisan ends in its ruling on President Obama’s signature health care law. However, in the meantime, we can rejoice that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit understands how to weigh complicated science-policy issues
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: The Normalcy of Hypocrisy: From Clean Energy to Health Care, Conservatives Flip Flop in Support of the Team
go team.jpg One striking feature of the liberal psyche is how it is simultaneously outraged by hypocrisy on the conservative side of the aisle—and yet also morbidly fascinated by it. Just this morning, reading, I came across the following examples: 1. Ezra Klein’s much discussed New Yorker article, on how Republicans came to
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: The New ExxonMobil: Has the Tiger Changed Its Stripes?
Private-Empire-ExxonMobil-and-American-Power-by-Steve-Coll.cover_.jpg For a decade, now, I’ve been a reporter on climate science. And one of my earliest stories was a Mother Jones cover, exposing ExxonMobil’s funding of think tanks that support climate denialism. The piece was actually nominated for a National Magazine Award. It got around. With this article and others,
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Mann Handled: A Decade Ago, Conservatives Attacked a Scientist—And Created a Leader
hockeybookmann (1).jpg This is a review of The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches From the Front Lines, by Michael Mann. I first became familiar with the name Michael Mann in the year 2003. I was working on what would become my book The Republican War on Science, and had
Continue readingPolitical Twitter makes me cry
This is all pretty obvious stuff, but it needs repeating, especially as we head into the Liberal leadership period. I’m not calling anyone out here, but it would be nice if all politicians – Liberal, Conservative, New Democrat, & Green alike – tried to use Twitter in a more authentic
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: The Big Waffle? New Report Exposes Corporations That Try to Split the Difference on Global Warming
caterpillar-logo-2401.jpg We hear a lot about the Koch brothers. And before them, we heard a lot about ExxonMobil. In other words, we all know the names of the corporations, and the corporate leaders, who have sought to undermine public understanding about global warming—for instance, by supporting think tanks that misrepresent
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: A Top Scientist Ignores the Science of Why People Deny Science
800px-Richard_Leakey.jpg In the world of evolutionary science, you don’t get much more prominent than Richard Leakey (pictured here). An anthropologist and conservationist, he’s the son of the archaeologist couple Louis and Mary Leakey, famed for their human origins research in Africa. Richard Leakey is credited with multiple major discoveries, including his
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: The Meaning of Tropical Storm Alberto–and a 2012 Hurricane Rap Session
800px-Atlantic_hurricane_tracks.jpg Uh oh. Hurricane season has started early. On Saturday (the 19th), when Tropical Storm Alberto spun up off the Carolina coast, forecaster Brennan of the National Hurricane Center had this to say: ALBERTO IS EARLIEST–FORMING TROPICAL STORM IN THE ATLANTIC BASIN SINCE ANA IN 2003. THIS IS ALSO THE FIRST
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Will Climate Denial, Like, Ever End?
The_Heartland_Institute_logo.png This week, as the Heartland Institute commences its annual conference, the organization is clearly back on its heels. Funders, experts, and even some staff are bailing, reports The Guardian. Apparently pushed into defensive mode by Peter Gleick and his attempt to expose its funding, the Institute struck back with its
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: The Weekly Standard on “Hillbilly” Climate Denial
WStandard.c1.v17-34.May21.Cover_.jpg In its latest cover story, the conservative Weekly Standard has decided to try to refute, outside of the scientific literature, the large body of research on the psychological underpinnings of political ideology (summarized in my book The Republican Brain). The critique, written by Andrew Ferguson, fails badly, in part
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Conservatives, Seeking To Show They Are Open-Minded, Ignore Contrary Evidence (And No, This Is Not an Onion Article)
brainsWEB.jpg I was on the road last week, so I couldn’t properly respond to this Daily Caller item, which is really sort of marvelous. Basically, it’s an attempt to use a handful of survey data points to turn the whole Republican Brain line of analysis on its head, and argue
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Let’s Just Say It: When It Comes to Science, The Right is the Problem
polar_House_Means.jpg This weekend in The Washington Post, two deans of the Washington establishment, the Brookings Institution’s Thomas Mann and the American Enterprise Institute’s Norman Ornstein, finally stated what has been increasingly obvious: The problem with U.S. politics is coming from the right, not from “both sides.” In their piece, provocatively
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Judith Curry Was For Me Before She Was Against Me
400px-Curry_2006_200dpi.jpg I first got to know Judith Curry—the Georgia Tech researcher who blogs at “Climate, Etc.,” and has been drawn into controversy for, in her words, “challenging many aspects of the IPCC consensus”—when I was working on my second book, Storm World. I spent a fair amount of time with Curry,
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: How Do You Build a Scientific Republican?
411px-Jon_Huntsman_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg It’s widely known that Republicans, far more than Democrats, reject modern climate science. And more and more, it has become apparent that this is at least partly because Republicans have a deep distrust of scientists in general, or at least environmental scientists. But there are many other causes for this
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: The Science of Truthiness: Why Conservatives Deny Global Warming
Final Cover.png These are notes for remarks that Chris Mooney gave recently at the Tucson Festival of Books, where he was asked to talk about his new book on a panel entitled “Will the Planet Survive the Age of Humans?” Video of the panel is currently available from C-SPAN here. Please note:
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Is James Inhofe Shilling For God, or Oil? The Correct Answer is “Both”
hoaxbook.jpg Last week, we were treated to one of those facepalm moments that make those of us who care about the future of planet intensely frustrated. Or worse. Senator James Inhofe, climate conspiracy theorist, was on a Christian radio program talking about his new book The Greatest Hoax: How the Global
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Fox News’s Attacks on Climate Science Now Include The Denial of Basic Physics
varneybastardi.jpg There was a time, believe it or not, when Fox New’s Shepard Smith openly mocked global warming deniers—seriously comparing them to a man who got stuck in a portable toilet. (Hat tip to D.R. Tucker for showing me this clip.) But since then, Fox has become a veritable misinformation machine
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: New Data: 81 Percent of Climate Deniers Think Scientists Are In It “For Their Own Interests"
logo_brookings.gif The Brookings Institution has a new report out on the public's views about global warming, and most commentators are going for the predictable headline. It's this: Following the post-ClimateGate decline in belief that global warming is happening, we're now seeing a bit of a rebound. More people believe the
Continue reading