Latest Articles
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A finger to Slate, but a grudging thumbs-up to George Will
This week in climate fingers and thumbs, we’d like to flip the bird to Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) for holding up the confirmation of key Obama science nominees in order to get his way on Cuba policy. Menendez has no complaints about the qualifications of John Holdren and Jane Lubchenco, and just last summer he […]
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New Illinois governor recycles Blago’s stationery
I’ve been waiting for a green angle on the Rod Blagojevich scandal, and here it is. New Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is a recycling fan! (Via the League of Conservation Voters blog, via Progress Illinois.)
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NRDC climate guy to advise the global warming select committee
Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) on Friday announced that he’s added Natural Resources Defense Council’s Michael Goo to the roster at the House Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming. Goo, NRDC’s climate legislative director, is serving as special counsel to the committee focusing on climate legislation. Prior to joining NRDC, Goo worked for two […]
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Slightly off topic but utterly essential
The Daily Show is a national treasure.
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Six firms agree to stop using chemical in baby bottles
WASHINGTON — The six major baby bottle makers in the United States have agreed to stop using the toxic chemical Bisphenol-A, suspected of harming human development, local officials said. “All six major baby bottle companies — Avent, Disney First Years, Gerber, Dr. Brown, Playtex and Evenflow — have agreed to voluntarily ban BPA from bottles […]
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British minister Mandelson attacked … with custard
LONDON — A protester threw green custard in the face of British business minister Peter Mandelson on Friday, in a stunt to highlight opposition to a new runway at London’s Heathrow airport. The former EU trade commissioner was arriving for a London summit on carbon strategy when protester Leila Deen approached him and hurled a […]
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L.A. solar not dead, regardless of final vote on ballot measure
Despite rumors to the contrary, solar is not dead in Los Angeles. Not only is the outcome of Measure B still undecided, but Measure B is only a third of the larger L.A. solar plan [PDF]. And, frankly, the vote is irrelevant. On Wednesday, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said:
I can tell you, regardless of what happens, we're moving ahead on our solar initiative.
It's clear from listening to the discussion of Measure B that both supporters and opponents support solar power. This was not a referendum on solar, this was a referendum on process. People were pissed about how the measure got on the ballot. Some unions were rightfully pissed that the measure cut them out in favor of other unions. And so on.
It seems that there was no real reason to put this on the ballot in the first place, especially with so much process-related political baggage. From his comments on Wednesday, it appears that the mayor will now do what mayors normally do: establish ambitious goals, work out all the details with stakeholders through established oversight processes, and make it happen.
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Slate tricked into publishing a parody of its own reflexive contrarianism
In 1996, physics professor Alan Sokal submitted a paper to the postmodern culture studies journal Social Text. When it was published, Sokal revealed that the paper was an elaborate ruse, a parody, filled with the most absurd postmodernist tropes he could dream up. It became known as the Sokal Hoax.
Slate has just been the subject of what future historians will likely call the Pellettieri Hoax. Jill Hunter Pellettieri wrote an article lampooning Slate's penchant for vapid, picayune, deeply privileged, self-conscious contrarianism ... and tricked Slate into publishing it!
Well played, Pellettieri. Slate, you've been punk'd!
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A look at the non-experts speaking at Heartland Institute's denialist sideshow
When the science behind Gore's CO2 "hockey stick" slaps you down, there's nothing like indulging in old-fashioned denialism.What is to be done when the world's leading experts in a field come together in the largest, most extensively peer-reviewed inquiry in the history of science and arrive at a conclusion that is diametrically opposed to your own long-held worldview? Most of us would reevaluate our ideas so they actually mesh with reality. That's called learning.
But if you are the staunchly "free market," anti-regulation think tank called the Heartland Institute and the conclusion is that humanity must cooperate to get the world out of a worsening climate crisis ... well, then what you do is simply manufacture a conclusion that is more to your liking.
Make no mistake, this is what the Heartland Institute's "International Conference on Climate Change" is all about. Set to begin Sunday in New York, the gathering's guest list includes the standard roster of "scientist-denialists" -- a large group of "experts" who have never published a single peer-reviewed study in their lives, along with a handful of fringe researchers who do (though rarely) publish in the field of climate science. The conference tagline is: "Global Warming: was it ever really a crisis?" and the conclusion is predetermined. "Was it ever a crisis?" ... as if it isn't right now.
By conception, the Heartland gathering seeks to establish itself as an authoritative gathering of genuine experts in climate science. The claim the Heartland Institute makes is pretty simple: "more than 70 of the world's elite scientists specializing in climate issues" will be there.
So, Heartland says to the unsuspecting, the experts are all coming to this event, and they all say there is nothing to worry about. That actually makes the whole charade pretty easy to unmask.
We don't have to examine every particular scientific or pseudo-scientific argument that will be advanced during the conference (that's been done repeatedly), because the whole thrust of this conference is about who is attending, not what they are saying.
