Now on ScienceBlogs: Oxytocin: Starting with the basics
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 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
Category: climate
Every now and then a commenter at this or any number of other climate-oriented blogs spews out the phrase "the height of arrogance" and uses it in a way that defies logic. For example, one "Bruce" recently wrote "It is...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:41 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: technology
The arguments against carbon capture and sequestration are legion and the list of reasons not to invest more resources in the technology just keeps getting longer. Here's a new analysis from Canadian journalist Graham Thomson. Some of his figures-- on...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:39 AM • 16 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: climate
Like anyone else who cares about climate change and the future of their electricity bill, I hope Chu is right.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 7:32 AM • 16 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: climate
It's a surprisingly complicated question. There are few reliable sources of data on just how much energy and resources are involved in extracting petroleum from the bitumen-laden sands of northern Alberta. But the inertia that comes with the tens of...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 7:22 AM • 15 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: climate
One of Canada's best journalists, Andrew Nikiforuk, is the author of a just-released report on Canada's tar sands from Greenpeace. "Dirty Oil: How the tar sands are fueling the global climate crisis" is not a peer-reviewed paper, it was commissioned...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 10:10 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: climate
The typical western post-industrial human being has two roles to play in society: citizen and consumer. Both offer the opportunity to exert power and influence, and whether we like it or not, neglecting one over the other invariably gives competing...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:44 AM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: climate
We need to find a way to over-write our programming, to unlearn our instinctual confidence in the way things have been
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 1:43 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: climate
Trying to keep existing reactors going as long as possible is the least-bad option.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 7:48 AM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
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 • 13 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
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
