Now on ScienceBlogs: The Galaxy's Biggest Valentine
An irregular exploration of the struggle between the power of rational discourse and the scientific method on one hand, and the forces of superstition and dogma on the other. Mostly regarding climate change, though.
James Hrynyshyn is a freelance science journalist and communications consultant based in western North Carolina, where he tries to put degrees in marine biology and journalism to good use.
The Demon-Haunted World:
Science as a Candle
in the Dark,
by Carl Sagan
(A
review)
The Doubter's Companion:
by John Ralston Saul (Excerpts)
Skeptic Magazine: www.skeptic.com
Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal: www.csicop.org
A poem by Yehuda Amichai:
The
Place
Where We Are Right
The Meaning of the
Island of Doubt
By doubting we come to inquiry; and through inquiry we perceive truth.
--- Peter Abelard
Undisguised clarity is easily mistaken for arrogance.
-- Richard Dawkins
As for evolution, it happened. Deal with it.
-- Michael Shermer.
"There is no need to sally forth, for it remains true that those things
which make us human are, curiously enough, always close at hand.
Resolve, then, that on this very ground, with small flags waving, and
tiny blasts of tinny trumpets, we have met the enemy, and not only may
he be ours, he may be us."
--Walt Kelly
May 29, 2009
Category: climate
Climate change is a global phenomenon that threatens the very habitability of the planet. Waiting until we've passed one or more thresholds beyond which mitigation is no longer an option is not a sane decision.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 7:40 AM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 27, 2009
Category: climate
Peter Behr at Scientific American has a wonderfully clear explanation of just how the cap and trade mechanism prescribed by the Waxman-Markey bill will work, should it make it through Congress. It's not rocket science, but my suspicion is that...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 11:14 AM • 14 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 26, 2009
Category: climate
There's an interesting but frustrating little essay up at Grist, which has become the go-to publication to follow the fate of the Waxman-Markey bill as it wends its way through Congress. Frequent columnist Gar Lipow argues that Mainstream environmentalists who...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 2:36 PM • 15 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 25, 2009
Category: climate
SEED magazine has just published my report on the 2009 Summit of The Climate Project, Al Gore's effort to spread the word on the climate crisis with the help of 2,500 volunteers trained to present his "Inconvenient Truth" slide show....
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 7:42 AM • 14 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 21, 2009
Category: climate
Al Gore wants Waxman-Markey to pass. Business (Shell, Duke, Alcoa, etc) likes Waxman-Markey. Joe Romm likes Waxman Markey. Everybody wants this last, best hope to do something about climate change to survive. Everybody, but a few stubborn extremists, like Greenpeace....
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:52 AM • 15 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 16, 2009
With around 1,000 pages to digest, only the most committed of climate policy wonks can give you an an honest assessment of the just-released draft of H.R. 2454, the Waxman-Markey bill that may or may not get the U.S. on...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 7:52 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 15, 2009
Category: climate
While I attend (and cover for SEED) the North American Summit of the The Climate Project -- a reunion of members of Al Gore's army of climate change slide show presenters -- this weekend, I won't be posting much. Not...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 7:25 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 13, 2009
Category: climate
Canadians had a chance to introduce a national carbon tax last year during a federal election, but failed to elect the party that was pushing it. Yesterday's provincial election in British Columbia produced the opposite result: the governing party, which...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:26 AM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 12, 2009
Category: misc
most of the time, most people do not need quit hits. They need context, not sound bites. They need reasoned argument, not pithy polemics. They need authority and attribution, not celebrations of celebrity.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 7:27 AM • 18 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 8, 2009
Category: climate
The Real Climate gang rarely disappoint. But the latest post from Gavin Schmidt is not just useful, but downright brilliant: Imagine a group of 100 fisherman faced with declining stocks and worried about the sustainability of their resource and their...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 8:46 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Orac 02.13.2012
Orac 01.26.2012
PZ Myers 02.02.2012
Jason Rosenhouse 02.12.2012
ERV 11.26.2011
