Science Debate 08 12 14 16?

I am sure that by now you know about ScienceDebate Dot Org. It was set up for the 2008 US presidential election by a bunch of people including my friend Shawn Otto. The idea is to simultaneously push for an actual debate focussed on science and science policy as part of the presidential election process, and to make people realize that such a thing, which is not happening, is important.

We've had a couple of elections now that were almost overshadowed by major storms, the most recent, Sandy, being as much of a direct effect of Global Warming (a scientific issue) as any large storm ever was, since it was both strengthened by Atlantic warm waters (caused by Global Warming) and directed to New Jersey and New York by blocking features in the atmosphere that seem to have emerged from the lack of Arctic Ice (caused by Global Warming). Ya. Global warming killed over 100 Northeasterners and did a gazillion dollars in damage in one day. It is relevant. Let me say that again. It. Is. Relevant. And solving this sort of problem is a matter of science and science policy, and it is not being discussed enough.

Science Debate OK has put out a report to stakeholders, in the form of a simple web page with many useful links. It is here. Go have a look.

The time to join up with effort a propos the next presidential election is now, not later. Also, I would hope we can do things between now and then, perhaps pertaining to midterm Congressional elections.

What do you think?

And, in case you have not seen it here is a page of Science Denialism related resources.

More like this

In 2008, I was visiting the Nobel Conference held annually at Gustavus Adolphus college in Minnestoa. The conference was on Human Evolution. The college provided space in a large room for people to have their lunch, and while I was having lunch on the first day, I noticed a table off to the side…
A group of us, all interested in climate science, put together a list of the most notable, often, most worrying, climate-related stories of the year, along with a few links that will allow you to explore the stories in more detail. We did not try to make this a “top ten” list, because it is rather…
I love it when controversy develops in climate science. It demonstrates that climate science is a science, not dogma. Also, it is interesting. And, ultimately, it is important because we need to reduce uncertainty and addressing controversy eventually does so. There is a new controversy in climate…
Climate experts have pointed out that Nemo, the very bad nor’easter that just hit the Northeastern US and Maritimes, is partly an effect of global warming. Some meteorologists have responded with an incorrect response, a recitation of a now tired and useless mumbling retort that I’m afraid may even…

As I mentioned in a comment on another post, the Republicans, at this point, are in a tizzy. They can't accept the fact that they lost the election by the will of the American people. They believe the election must have been rigged (They thought Romney would win by a wide margin.). Let them believe that. As long as they have their conspiracy theories they will ignore the real problems facing the them. While they wrestle with ghosts the Republican party will slide closer to irrelivancy.

By Richard Chapman (not verified) on 10 Nov 2012 #permalink