Science Communication: Training for the Future
Mississippi State.jpg Yesterday I arrived in Las Vegas, Nevada, for another installment of an enterprise to which I’ve been increasingly devoted over the last year: Training scientists in c...
Desmogger
New Record or Not, the Arctic Sea Ice Alarm Bells Keep Ringing
N_daily_extent_hires.png Last week, the National Snow and Ice Data Center came out with the estimate that we did not quite set a record for the minimum extent of Arctic sea…
As The World Warms, Environmental Protections Put On The Back Burner
global-warming1.jpg After a year that has so far produced record-breaking snowstorms, droughts, floods, and violent hurricanes and tornadoes, environmental protections are once again being scaled...
Want to Sway Climate Change Skeptics? Ask About Their Personal Strengths (And Show Pictures!)
509983main_adjusted_annual_temperature_anomalies_final.gif Readers of my posts over the last half year will be familiar with the phenomenon of motivated reasoning, in which people’s subcons...
Polluters Join Forces To Pressure Obama On Oil And Gas Drilling
Drill_Baby_Drill.jpg In the wake of President Obama’s speech on job creation last week, major players in the energy industry have banded together to put pressure on the president to speed…
Memo to Rick Perry: Galileo Was a Liberal
472px-Justus_Sustermans_-_Portrait_of_Galileo_Galilei,_1636.jpg Ever since the Republican presidential debate last week, science watchers have been shaking their heads over Rick Perry’s rid...
On Global Warming, the Tea Party is Worse than the GOP
dont-tread-on-me.jpg There’s a fascinating new public opinion analysis out today from Anthony Leiserowitz and the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. It looks at political divides...
Open Letter to Oprah Winfrey on ‘Ethical Oil’ Ads
oprah.jpg Dear Oprah, I just don't know where to begin. I can't find my words because I respect you so much. You're a woman pioneer who has done much to…
Why Questionable "Science" Gets Published, Pounced On in the Media, Retracted, Causes Resignations…Rinse and Repeat
scientific journals.JPG An editor resigns after a journal publishes a paper that seems to trash the scientific consensus on climate change—but is heavily criticized by top scientists. Where...
Communication Fail: Why the IPCC Must Do a Heck of a Lot Better in 2013
IPCC-Logo.jpg Regular readers know I’m pretty critical of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change--particularly when it comes to how this expert body communicate...
Death Of A Talking Point? Regulations Actually Create Jobs
regulations.jpg For years, the Republican Party in America has been on a crusade against what they call “job killing regulations.” A quick Google search for the phrase “job kil...
Number One Lesson *Not* To Take Away from Hurricane Irene
800px-Atlantic_hurricane_tracks.jpg I was watching CNN this morning. I don’t know why—except that it was on in the gym at the hotel where I’m staying. Pretty soon, I was arguing...
Breaking: State Department Calls Keystone XL Environmental Impact "Limited," Ignoring Evidence
stop-tar-sands.jpg The State Department just released their Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. The 27-page document does not flag any significant en...
Hurricane Irene, Climate Change, and the Need to Consider Worst Case Scenarios
Irene Track Aug 25.gif In May of 2005, a few months before Hurricane Katrina, I wrote an article that nobody noticed. It was entitled “Thinking Big About Hurricanes: It’s Time…
General Electric’s Jim Cramer Heads to Midwest As Fracking Cheerleader
cramer.jpg Today, CNBC's Mad Money with Jim Cramer's "Invest in America" series will take the show to a seemingly unlikely locale, a place many would consider the middle of nowhere…
Justice Department Launches Investigation Into BP’s Oil Gusher Cover Up
bp_oil-leak.jpg The U.S. Department of Justice has launched an official investigation to determine whether or not BP lied to the public and to the government about the amount of oil…
The Republican War on Science Returns
republican war.jpg As author of the 2005 book The Republican War on Science, I’ve watched recent developments in the presidential race with fascination. It is not exactly news that man...
Thich Nhat Hanh and David Suzuki on How Individual Frame of Mind Has Everything To Do With Saving the Planet
tnh ds.jpg Getting people to believe that they really can make a difference in the struggle to the save the planet from human folly can be just as important as…
Become What You Despise? Why "Beating" Conservative White Male Climate Deniers May Mean Joining Them
1112_no-nukes.jpg David Roberts of Grist has written a wonderful and psychologically deep portrait of why conservative white males deny climate change—and much else—and how this ...