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Mooney and Nisbet on reporters, hurricanes, and climate change

Chris Mooney and Matthew C. Nisbet have a long, careful piece in Skeptical Inquirer about journalistic coverage of the global warming/hurricane link. It's the best overview of that subject I've seen, and if you're interested in the intricacies I highly recommend you give it a read.

For the lazy among you, here's the nut:

Eating well is cheap! And fun!

Has anyone seen Wal-Mart's new commercial? I caught it -- full of happy children smearing themselves with organic food -- the other night. Apparently it started airing a few weeks ago, and is the first part of a multi-million-dollar campaign. According to Ad Week, it's the company's first ad campaign to focus on food. Related print ads will launch this month in several publications.

I have to admit, the tagline "organic food at Wal-Mart prices" sounds appetizing to me (and my wallet), even though I know all the reasons it shouldn't. Wonder how it'll work on everyone else?

It may be time to slow this trend! To the ramparts!

NYT commentator Bob Herbert, sitting on one of the most valuable pieces of real estate in the media world, writes a column on global warming and manages to say ... nothing.

To get the flavor, check this out:

Futerra’s principles of climate change communication

In today's Daily Grist we reference a piece on BBC about "climate porn." More specifically, it's about a new report on climate-change coverage in the UK press.

The report was put together by "sustainability communications" outfit Futerra. It's called "Climate Fear v. Climate Hope" (PDF).

The basic problem, as summarized by Futerra's Solitaire Townsend (which, by the way, isn't a bad porn name): "The style of climate-change discourse is that we maximize the problem and minimize the solution." Global warming itself is discussed in apocalyptic tones, accompanied by terrifying pictures. The solutions -- change your light bulbs! -- appear weak and defeatist in contrast.

Turns out Futerra's David Willans reads Gristmill, and let us know in this comment that Futerra has released a guide (PDF) for how one should discuss global warming. He says:

It's a distillation of a good few feet of research papers on how to communicate climate change and environmental issues. It was the foundation of the UK government's climate change communications strategy.

So, I looked it over, and yeah, it's interesting. And short. Because I know everyone hates PDFs, I've reproduced it below for your edification. Thanks to Futerra.

Wal-Mart and culture

This NYT piece about Wal-Mart's failure to fit in culturally in various of its international conquest states is just fascinating. Apparently wanting everything available in one place, at the lowest possible price, in huge impersonal stores is not a fundamental feature of human nature, but a cultural artifact. In Germany, for instance, the company is just giving up entirely.

Trolling through the article, I pulled out these nifty tidbits:

Five-part ocean series exceeds expectations

It's hard enough to get reporters to write a story on the threats facing our oceans -- but five? The L.A. Times did just that this week with its "Altered Oceans" series (also discussed by Kif here). And I'm not just talking about a couple hundred words buried on page seven; they brought out the big guns for this one. This series is a full multimedia package: videos, graphs, and enough photos to fill the national gallery of art.

Extreme temps all over the place

Hmm ... record-breaking heat in the U.S. and Europe and an unusually severe winter in South Africa? What the heck?

(On a related note, this gets my vote for Best Unexpected Subhead Ever: "Concern for homeless, concert-goers, animals.")

Rev. Pat Robertson converts on global warming

WWJD? From Reuters:

Conservative Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson said on Thursday the wave of scorching temperatures across the United States has converted him into a believer in global warming.

"We really need to address the burning of fossil fuels," Robertson said on his "700 Club" broadcast. "It is getting hotter, and the icecaps are melting and there is a buildup of carbon dioxide in the air."

This week the heat index, the perceived temperature based on both air temperatures and humidity, reached 115 Fahrenheit in some regions of the U.S. East Coast. The 76-year-old Robertson told viewers that was "the most convincing evidence I've seen on global warming in a long time."

Next step: doing something about it.

Good idea

Making biodiesel from used restaurant grease and other waste products is a good idea. This article shows us how a large city is managing to turn waste into useful energy. They have convinced about 130 restaurants to donate their grease to the cause:

Restaurant owner Mike Dormont says that he could earn a few dollars per month selling the grease to recyclers for uses other than biodiesel fuel, but that he would rather do something that benefits the area.

Create your own PSA

Our friends over at Shifting Baselines have launched a new website and video contest where you can create and submit your own PSA:

The contest comes at a time when more than ninety percent of large fish in the oceans are being consumed, coral reefs around the world are dying due to coral bleaching, and large lifeless regions called "dead zones" are expanding each year. The problem of ocean decline has reached global crisis stage. Shifting Baselines' objective is to create solutions by having more effective "communication" to inform people about the problems and the goal of the contest is to give young creative filmmakers the opportunity to relay the message through creative outlets in filmmaking.

The videos will be reviewed by a host of celebrity judges. Read the full press release for more information: