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Kolbert does opinion

Journalist Elizabeth Kolbert (Grist interview here; Field Notes from a Catastrophe review here) is, I'm happy to see, indulging in full-on polemic. From her piece in the L.A. Times:

Meanwhile, it's crucial to understand -- although the Bush administration would apparently prefer not to -- that uncertainty cuts both ways. As the administration likes to point out, the U.S. spends about $2 billion a year on climate-change research. It's possible that as scientists learn more about how the climate works, they will discover that the threshold of dangerous change lies further away than is estimated, and Washington's do-nothing policy will come to seem justified. But the reverse is just as likely. In fact, nearly everything that has been discovered about the climate system recently has tended to suggest that the threshold is closer than suspected.

Biofuels are bad news for biodiversity

Biofuel policy will give 'negligible' carbon cuts

Someone in Europe is finally starting to realize the potential of biofuels to destroy carbon sinks and the biodiversity inside them:

For transport, improving energy efficiency of vehicles should be the first priority. If biofuels are to be part of the energy solution, the EU must ensure that those produced by clearing rainforests and protected habitats [carbon sinks along with associated biodiversity] will never be sold in Europe.

Their rather predictable solution is to put in place a system of "sustainability safeguards." In other words, extend their already moribund bureaucracy in an attempt to insure that all biofuel entering all ports in all of Europe is grown sustainably [without destroying carbon sinks and biodiversity].

It won't work. The reasons it won't work are unending.

Energize America at YearlyKos

I'm still kicking myself for not going to YearlyKos, but I won't burden y'all with my self-recrimination. Instead, check out Jerome's report on the Energize America (yes, apparently you do have to italicize the first word) panel presentation. Here's part one, about the plan itself, and part two, about the process whereby Kossacks put the plan together.

Ah, Summer in Rwanda

African nations try to bring in eco-tourists African nations are hoping to boost their economies by attracting the ecologically curious, following the example of nations like Costa Rica, which thrives on ecotourism. The island nation of Madagascar has boosted protection of forests and wetlands and boasts biodiversity rivaled only by the rainforests of Brazil. Other […]

Safe in Sound

Puget Sound orcas gain more protection; Florida manatees downlisted to threatened Ninety endangered orcas in the Northwest may soon swim easier, as the National Marine Fisheries Service proposed Friday to designate nearly the entire Puget Sound — about 2,500 square miles of water — critical orca habitat. The usual suspects took the usual sides: developers […]

Americans and Climate Change: Leveraging the social sciences III

"Americans and Climate Change: Closing the Gap Between Science and Action" (PDF) is a report synthesizing the insights of 110 leading thinkers on how to educate and motivate the American public on the subject of global warming. Background on the report here. I'll be posting a series of excerpts (citations have been removed; see original report). If you'd like to be involved in implementing the report's recommendations, or learn more, visit the Yale Project on Climate Change website.

Today, two more social-science analyses: dynamic responses (the conflicts between multiple media messages) and issue cycles (the waxing and waning of public attention to an issue). Good stuff.

And with this, we conclude Part I!

A piece of truthiness is born

The story of how a quote from my interview with Gore became a right-wing zombie meme, on Blogcritics.org.

Americans and Climate Change: Leveraging the social sciences II

"Americans and Climate Change: Closing the Gap Between Science and Action" (PDF) is a report synthesizing the insights of 110 leading thinkers on how to educate and motivate the American public on the subject of global warming. Background on the report here. I'll be posting a series of excerpts (citations have been removed; see original report). If you'd like to be involved in implementing the report's recommendations, or learn more, visit the Yale Project on Climate Change website.

Today we take a look at two social-science questions: first, the efficacy of threat-based vs. solution-based appeals (something we've discussed at length here), and second, the "loss-aversion effect." The latter in particular was fascinating to me -- it changed the way I look at a number of environmental messages.

Notes from the Appalachian frontier

Working as an office bureaucrat can certainly have its days, but as the leader of an amazingly talented, motivated, and productive team of 28 OSM/VISTA volunteers working in poverty stricken and environmentally devastated Appalachian coal country, I am continually awed by the attitudes and achievements of those I am fortunate to work with.

The following letter is an example of one volunteer's satirical perspective of her work in the anthracite region of north eastern Pennsylvania. It was recently submitted to my office as the cover letter for her quarterly progress report and is reproduced here, with permission, for your entertainment and enlightenment. Enjoy!

Dear Jenny:

Our water is orange, or forebodingly clear; our valley is succumbing to sprawl-induced hypertension; new storm water systems are allowed to infiltrate mine pools. Before long, the Anthracite region will be a scene from my favorite childhood Halloween story where the neighborhood children sneak over the witch's home on snow days, because her snow is always black.

There is hope! In my exploration of the Wyoming Valley, I discovered watershed heroes battling each foot of concrete channelized streams. Grizzly Adams' fourth cousins are in the tributaries willing the return of trout and American shad. Clusters of justice-seeking youth are cleaning and banning illegal dump sites in their neighborhoods. Murmurs are growing louder; defense of the environment for its sake and for the sake of human health is strengthing.

Enclosed you will find several war-zone documents - victories of one battalion on one battle front.

May we send only water we would drink downstream!

In solidarity,

Valerie L. Taylor
OSM/VISTA Watershed Development Coordinator
Eastern PA Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation

Americans and Climate Change: Leveraging the social sciences I

"Americans and Climate Change: Closing the Gap Between Science and Action" (PDF) is a report synthesizing the insights of 110 leading thinkers on how to educate and motivate the American public on the subject of global warming. Background on the report here. I'll be posting a series of excerpts (citations have been removed; see original report). If you'd like to be involved in implementing the report's recommendations, or learn more, visit the Yale Project on Climate Change website.

The final chapter of Part I makes a simple but vital point: If communicating climate change effectively is the goal, it makes sense to call on the expertise of social scientists, whose work is devoted to studying the social dynamics in which communication takes place. Today, the intro.