This afternoon, I had the pleasure of hearing
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Goodman" rel="tag">Amy
Goodman interview
href="http://scienceblogs.com/intersection/about.php">Chris
Mooney about the subject of his new book,
href="http://scienceblogs.com/intersection/2007/07/storm_world_tour_beginsweather.php"
rel="tag">Storm World.
It was a segment from
href="http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/11/1343232&mode=thread&tid=25">Democracy
Now! I won't trouble you with a synopsis,
you can watch/hear/read it yourself:
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Read href="http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/11/1343232&mode=thread&tid=25#transcript">Transcript
href="http://amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0151012873/chriscmooneyc-20">
class="inset" alt="Storm World by Chris Mooney"
title="Storm World by Chris Mooney (click)"
src="http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/uploads/ssp-mooney.jpg"
border="0" height="242" width="180">
This interview is both a sign that the topic of global warming/climate
change is being seriously, and a good example of the resurgence of
Pacifica Radio.
Why is it that global warming is being taken more seriously?
Part of it is the efforts of intellectuals such as
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gore" rel="tag">Al
Gore; part the work of reactionaries such as those who
organized Live
Earth; part the work of prominent scientists such as
href="http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/briefs/hansen_05/"
rel="tag">James Hansen; and part of it is the work
of serious journalists such as Goodman.
From the interview:
CHRIS MOONEY: ...So, for example, one of the reasons
I think the global warming issue has tipped is because the corporate
business side has started to turn in favor of doing something about
global warming. A lot of companies are realizing that there are
economic opportunities here if they realign their investment strategies
and their business strategies to be more sensitive to the fact of the
public cares about the environment and that if they're well-positioned
for the world that will ultimately ensue in which we regulate
greenhouse gases, they’re going to be economic winners. And
so, global warming is not necessarily damaging to the economy to
address. It’s actually an opportunity for many businesses...
Why is Pacifica
Radio experiencing a resurgence? Goodman states:
...Goodman herself lays the credit--or blame--for the
program's success squarely at the well-rested feet of the mainstream
newsmakers who, she said, leave "a huge niche" for Democracy
Now! "They just mine this small circle of blowhards who know
so little about so much. And yet it's just the basic tenets of good
journalism that instead of this small circle of pundits, you talk to
people who live at the target end of the policy," she says as she sips
double espresso in a favorite Chinatown coffee shop...
Survival of the fittest does not alway equate to survival
of the most rational choice. But in this case, the
most rational choices are finally starting to flourish.
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...of intellectuals such as Al Gore...
What ARE you smoking?
I considered a similar comment (before I read Jack's, above), but then I realized: By any standard that I can think of, Al Gore *is* an intellectual. He may be wooden, overly earnest, and you may even disagree with his politics. But he is indeed an intellectual. I'd be curious to know why Jack thinks otherwise.
I included that remark knowing it was mildly provocative, but it is not my assessment, it is in the transcript.
In order to argue the point, we'd first have to agree on what the definition of an intellectual is. According to Wikipedia,
That definition leave open the possibility that the intellectual might not be very smart.
Having said that, Gore reportedly got a 625 on the Verbal part of the SAT, and a 730 on the Math part. Those are pretty good scores.
It doesn't surprise me too much that his math was much higher than his verbal.