Symbolic statements can speak volumes. This week in Ottawa Canadian scientists staged a funeral march to mourn the “death of evidence” caused by the Harper government’s slashing of research programs. The Grim Reaper – scythe in hand – led a march of scientists in lab coats with designated pallbearers carrying
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DeSmogBlog: Anthony Watts Is Right Because He’s Older Than Me
anthony-watts.jpg Last week, the leading climate skeptic blogger Anthony Watts criticized my writing based upon my age and looks—and other, er, observations: For the record, it is now official; Chris Mooney is a paid political hack disguising himself as a science writer. I’m going back to calling him a “kid blogger”, because
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Canadians Mourn The Untimely “Death of Evidence”
“The Harper government is the most environmentally hostile one we have ever had in Canada.” – Maude Barlow, Chair of the Council of Canadians About 1,500 scientists, lawyers, students and activists from across Canada gathered on Parliament Hill yesterday and held a mock funeral to mourn the death of Canadian
Continue readingTerahertz: Announcing Bad Science Watch
The promoters of science-based policy in Canada have a new defender. Bad Science Watch, a new Canadian science advocacy group, has issued a challenge to the Canadian government: stick to the science in the development and implementation of important policy decisions. This group will work diligently to ensure Canadians are
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: More Evidence That Republicans Are More Factually Challenged Than Democrats
pinocchio.jpg In writing The Republican Brain, I had a problem to solve. You see, it was one thing to cite all the psychological research suggesting that liberals and conservatives just think differently, because they have different personalities and cognitive styles. Sure, one could infer on this basis that certain conservatives,
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: What Happened To Thunderfoot?
I am continually amazed by people and their ability to be rational in one aspect of their life and the ability to completely ignore rationality in other aspects of their life. The example that I often see is people who are in evidence based professions, especially the ones that require
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Hot Enough For Ya? Extreme Weather Events Consistent With Climate Change Science
temperature map.gif Large portions of the U.S. are on fire. Record droughts currently encompass massive swaths of America. The areas not experiencing droughts have been inundated with flooding. Winter weather in many areas was almost non-existent. A few years ago, an Academy Award-winning film called “An Inconvenient Truth” warned wary Americans
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: The Politics of Ice and Fire
High_Park_Wildfire_Arapaho_and_Roosevelt_National_Forests_June_10,_2012.jpg In late June of 1988, just under 24 years ago, NASA’s James Hansen testified before the U.S. Congress about global warming. He noted that the Earth had been remarkably warm in the months leading up to that moment, and said he was 99 percent certain that the overall warming
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: The God particle, and what it has to do with God
Oh how I wish the recently demonstrated Higgs Boson, which bestows mass on particles, had never acquired the moniker the ‘God Particle’. I suppose there is one benefit: it increases the attention and coverage about a very cool and significant question, just solved, in particle physics. But it does so
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: 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 readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Michael Harris slams the Cons for their attacks on science: How far has the government been prepared to go to smother the facts surrounding the ELA? For starters, DFO declined all requests from the media to speak with scientists. Being an equal
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Christian Science – Geocentric All the Way Baby!
The infallible word of god is proven once again to be anything but although we should give the RCC credit they stuck to their guns that the earth was the centre of the universe till 1992. That is religious progress for you. Potholer54 does a wonderful job of ridiculing 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: Climate Denial in Brazil: A Translation
ricardo augusto felico.jpg This is a translation of the May 2, 2012 “Programa do Jo” on Globo, a half hour interview with the climate skeptic geographer Ricardo Augusto Felicio on global warming. On YouTube alone, the interview has nearly 700,000 views; in Brazil, Globo is a dominant television network. Original clip here;
Continue readingScientists warn, politicians ignore
The Global Network of Science Academies, representing 105 science academies around the world, issued a press release last week highlighting what they referred to as “two of the most profound challenges to humanity—population and consumption,” and went on to call for “urgent and coordinated international action to address them.” They
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Climate Denial Hits Brazil
ricardo augusto felico.jpg Last year, I wrote about how journalists in developing nations were doing a better job of covering climate change, largely because denial hadn’t really taken root in many of these countries. In particular, I singled out Brazil for praise: According to a study by James Painter of
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Richard Dawkins and Cardinal Pell – Q&A – Watch Religion Fail Mightily
The good cardinal is out gunned, out classed and out argued on this episode of Q&A. He ends up calling Jesus and ignorant sheep-herder. A great debate, well worth your time. Filed under: Atheism, Religion, Science Tagged: Pell, Q&A, Religion, Richard Dawkins, Science and Religion
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: ConCalls: 3% Reduction in Voting
I think it’s rather clever how these researchers, Tom Cornwall & Anke Kessler, realized that the individual polling stations within a riding could be used to determine the effect of robocalls and fraudulent live-calls targeted at non-Conservative voters! The various neighbourhoods tend to vote in a particular manner, possibly related
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Rio-Inspired Optimism (If Not Optimism About Rio)
Rio de janeiro.jpg If the goal was to get the world focused on sustainable development, then this definitely counts as terrible timing. With global leaders pressured by the unending European debt saga—which most recently has engulfed Spain, the euro zone’s fourth largest economy—it’s not surprising that environmental concerns aren’t exactly at
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