Environmental Science and Skeptical Challenges
This page is mostly about the Global Warming "debate" itself. See also Global Warming page for more data. Visual info is on the Maps and Datavisualization.
While there is nothing wrong, generally speaking, with maintaining a skeptical attitude toward information (asking questions is, after all, a necessary part of science), public and professional skepticism about issues as wide-ranging as climate change can sometimes be an obstacle to taking constructive action.
In the last few years, most people have accepted that climate change is one of the most, if not the most, important environmental issue of our time. (see poll). However, this has been the opinion of many scientists for a decade or more. In part, public skepticism may be the result of the perception that environmentalists - "tree-huggers" - care more about nature than people or the economy, and that their "doomsday warnings" in the past have been overblown (see below for examples such as The Population Bomb).
Contents
Overviews/News sources
Sites
Eco-Watch news
Climate Web is an amazing explorable site using dynamic graphical interface. ****
Skeptical Science does a good job of tracking the "debate." ***
How to Talk to a skeptic common myths debunked (extensive, categorized).
Overviews
The Most Powerful Evidence Climate Scientists Have of Global Warming: The oceans hold the story of a planet warming as fossil fuels are burned. Here is what scientists have discovered, in four charts. 2/18
Fake news not new; David Sassoon, founder and publisher of InsideClimate News, gives a fine overview of denial (video). see Public Relations below. 2/17.
How Climate Deniers Use Conspiracy Theories, False Narratives and Distractions to Avoid the Truth By better understanding the various techniques used by climate deniers, it's easier to counter misinformation more effectively. 2/17.
Creating doubt five min. overview of fake "debate" history.
British journalist George Monbiot's “Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning" became a best seller in Europe and Canada but Monbiot could barely convince a publisher in the US to print it. (Audio interview) alt link. 11/15.***
Al Gore Rolling Stone update 6/14.
Michael Mann (attacked for his Hockey Stick work) lays out the bottom line for us. 6/14.
The Third Carbon Age: Don’t for a Second Imagine We’re Heading for an Era of Renewable Energy, a fine historical overview of fossil fuels by Michael T. Klare. 8/13.
Excellent PBS Frontline Documentary Climate of Doubt ****
130 years of climate change in 30 seconds video.
The Hockey Stick graph explained includes video 6/13 ***
Why Climate Change Is Not an Environmental Issue (we could quibble about characterization of environmental movement, but overall point valid and thought-provoking).
Climate change and resource scarcity (including food and water) will lead to war (again). 4/13
International Energy Outlook 2013 to 2040 9/13.
Scientist Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication, on the greatest single threat facing humanity. *** (video) 1/13.
Finding common ground short video. 1/13
Overview TEDtalk by Michael Mann. 12/11 **
Global Warming's Terrifying New Math: Three simple numbers that add up to global catastrophe - and that make clear who the real enemy is by Bill McKibben 7/12. ***; 9/13 video talk based on his new book Oil and Honey. see eco-heroes.
Excellent infographic sums it all up: reality vs press coverage vs public opinion.
Excellent video overview of our current status: Human growth has strained the Earth's resources, but as Johan Rockstrom reminds us, our advances also give us the science to recognize this and change behavior. His research has found nine "planetary boundaries" that can guide us in protecting our planet's many overlapping ecosystems. TEDtalk. ***
Excellent Grist summary of pro's and con's. *** 99 one-line rebuttals.
BBC debate between Bellamy and Monbiot 2010.
The debate summarized/visualized. related, a phone app
The MIT Climate Collaboratorium allows you to come up with plans, or vote on existing ones.
Comprehensive overview infographic. Most Important Pie Chart You'll See Today: 13,950 Peer-Reviewed Scientific Articles on Earth's Climate.
Weather girl goes rogue video.
Infographics/Images/Maps
The Most Powerful Evidence Climate Scientists Have of Global Warming: The oceans hold the story of a planet warming as fossil fuels are burned. Here is what scientists have discovered, in four charts. 2/18.
10 Photos That Inspired Millions to Take Action 9/16.
'Brilliant' Climate Change Cartoon Goes Viral After Elon Musk, John Green Share It on Twitter 9/16.
Climate Web is an amazing explorable site using dynamic graphical interface. ****
Shocking Polar Bear Photos Show Stark Reality of Climate Change 9/15.
LOOK AT THIS TRIPPY MAP OF ALL YOUR CLIMATE-RELATED GOOGLE SEARCHES 6/15 see also Datavisualization.
Photographers Chronicle How Climate Change Is Altering Communities 1/15
Why So Much Climate Denial in Congress? Follow the Money 11/14.
Pretty definitive graph on record temps. 7/13.
Comprehensive overview infographic.
World map greenhouse gas emissions (per capita?) 1/14.
Excellent infographic sums it all up: reality vs press coverage vs public opinion.
U.S. Wildfire Interactive Shows Rising Temperatures, Less Snowfall Are Leading To More Fires infographic 7/13.
Google Earth GIFs, 'Timelapse' Project, Show Startling Impact Of Humans On The Planet, including ice loss 5/13. Great infographic sums it all up in terms of science 3/13
Climate "debate" Infograpic: Which Makes More Sense?
CO2.
News Stories/Reports
NEW BOOK ON THE CLIMATE CRISIS MAKES THE PERSUASIVE CASE THAT WE’RE NOT DOOMED Drawdown, a new compendium of climate-stabilization tools and solutions edited by the versatile Paul Hawken, has an impressive subtitle: “The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming.” http://www.drawdown.org/ 4/17.
Regenerative Agriculture: Our Best Hope of Cooling the Planet 10/17
Planet Enters 'Uncharted Territory' 3/17.
We have a climate deal in Paris COP21! Activists take the streets despite ban after attacks to push for accountability and improvements. Activist art see Art.
The Doubt Machine: Documentary Explores Koch Brothers' War on Climate Science 11/16
China progress on climate see China.
Can climate change cause wars? 1/16
Citbank (America’s third-largest bank), recently published a report looking at the economic costs and benefits of a low-carbon future. ..because of savings due to reduced fuel costs and increased energy efficiency, the Action scenario is actually a bit cheaper than the Inaction scenario. 9/15
Deadly Heat Waves Sweep the Globe 8/15
Shrinking range of pikas in California mountains linked to climate change. UCSC research 2/15.
Scientists Warn We're Ever-Closer To The Apocalypse 1/15. vs 2010 Re-set.
Update 1/15 2014 Will Likely Be The Hottest Year on Record, Ocean Temps Spike. High sea temperatures contributed to exceptionally heavy rainfall and floods in many countries and extreme drought in others.
Lima Peru climate talks lead to Paris next year.12/14.
Ecotopia lives! City of South Miami Officials Call For 'South Florida' Secession because of global warming inaction.
Developing Countries Invest in Renewables Twice the Pace of Industrialized Nations
EU Pledge to 40% cut CO2.10/14.
21 Numbers That Explain Why The Time To Address Climate Change Is Right Now, Or Maybe Yesterday 10/14.
How Climate Change Exacerbates the Spread of Disease, Including Ebola 9/14.
"Smoking gun": For years scientists have had to (or felt obligated to) put a caveat in front of every statement that it's almost impossible to say climate change is responsible for any given storm. Now we can. 10/14.
Earth's Oceans Heating Up Much Faster Than Scientists Expected 10/14 see also Ocean.
Largest number of walruses seen ashore in Alaska is sign of ‘tremendous change’ in climate PBS Newshour video 10/14. see marine mammals.
World Leaders Say Addressing Climate Change Offers Unprecedented Opportunities for Economic Growth 9/14 see Economics and Sustainability.
10 Reasons to Be Hopeful that We Will Overcome Climate Change 8/14.
Methane Blow-Holes Sign of Runaway Climate Change? 8/14.
2013 NOAA climate report, trend of new records continues. 7/14
Natural Disaster Costs Have Quadrupled In Past 3 Decades 6/14.
Industry Awakens to Threat of Climate Change 1/14 Davos Global Summit panel: Speakers: Al Gore, Paul Polman, Bill Gates, Ban Ki-Moon, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Jim Yong Kim, Mishal Husain, Erna Solberg. (video 1/14).
Climate Change Worse Than We Thought, Likely To Be 'Catastrophic Rather Than Simply Dangerous' while our models get better all the time, clouds have been a kind of wild card (skeptics suggest they might help cool), but new research suggests reasons for concern. 12/13.
Hole In Ozone Layer Expected To Make Full Recovery By 2070: NASA because of international treaty that could be a model for global warming fight 12/13.
Naomi Klein: How science is telling us all to revolt 11/13.
You May Be Surprised How Much Our Climate Inaction Is Costing You 11/13.
15 Things You Should Know About the Major New Report on Climate Science 9/13.
5 Things You Should Know About Colorado's '1,000 Year Flood' (with Jaw-Dropping Photos) 9/13.
Climate Change Report From UN Introduces Purple Color To Depict Worsening Climate Risks 9/13.
"Just a Theory": 7 Misused Science Words
Fox News' Climate Change Coverage Could Increase Viewers' Skepticism, New Study Finds
Records For Arctic Ice Melt, Greenhouse Gas Emissions In 2012 As World Continues To Warm: Report 8/13.
GOP EPA administrators William D. Ruckelshaus, Lee M. Thomas, William K. Reilly, and Christine Todd Whitman, call for climate action. 8/13
Global warming could cause 50 percent increase in violent conflict 8/13.
U.S. and China continue to play nice on climate 7/13.
Change Study From World Meteorological Organization Reveals Unprecedented Extremes Since 2001 7/13
This Week's Killer Heat Wave Threatens To Cause Earth’s Hottest Temps Ever 7/13.
| Here’s how the world can get on track with climate goals | |
| 6/11 | ...During U.N. climate negotiations held in Copenhagen in 2009, most of the world agreed to aim for a post-Industrial Revolution temperature rise of no more than 2 degrees Celsius. But if the world keeps traveling along its current path, the International Energy Agency warns in a new report that long-term average temperature increases of between 3.6 and 5.3 degrees C are more likely.
Climate negotiations are underway to agree on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which could help stem the tide of rising emissions. But no new agreement is expected to come into force until 2020 — and who knows if it would even be strong enough to make a difference... But in its new report, the IEA outlines four strategies that countries could pursue during the next seven years to help spare us the “royally fucked” scenario of skyrocketing temperatures — all at zero net economic cost. “Despite the insufficiency of global action to date, limiting the global temperature rise to 2 °C remains still technically feasible, though it is extremely challenging,” states the report, titled “Redrawing the Energy-Climate Map.”More |
Wildfire season is 2 months longer, more destructive now than in the 1970s due to global warming.
Carbon Tax Demystified by Grist.
Google Earth GIFs, 'Timelapse' Project, Show Startling Impact Of Humans On The Planet, including ice loss 5/13.
First "Global weirding" now "weather whiplash" 4/13. Tornadoes.
Climate Story Of The Year: Extreme Weather From Superstorms To Drought Emerges As Political, Scientific Gamechanger.
The 32 most alarming charts from the government’s climate change report 1/13.
Global Warming ignored in election. 10/12
None of the world’s top industries would be profitable if they paid for the natural capital they use(aka "externalities").The majority of unpriced natural capital costs are from greenhouse gas emissions (38%), followed by water use (25%), land use (24%), air pollution (7%), land and water pollution (5%), and waste (1%). 4/13
New climate bill in Congress 2/13.
Positive Feedback Accelerates- Rice Agriculture Can Worsen Global Warming. (So much for CO2 is good for you denial argument).
Global Warming Skeptics (aka Deniers)
Creating doubt five min. overview of fake "debate" history. (video).
Why Climate Deniers Have No Scientific Credibility - In One Pie Chart updates Oreskes (below).
Lord Monckton is one of the more prominent and ubiquitous deniers, and he's a snappy dresser. Here's a list of many more.
Jon Stewart On ClimateGate see below (too bad JS got punked on ACORN)
Lying with charts in UK Daily Mail (see also a Wall St Journal story published at the same time. 2/12
Climate Deniers elected to Senate11/10
Representative website: http://www.friendsofscience.org/
Conservative think tanks have had a huge impact on global warming debate. The Heritage Foundation hosts the authors of Eco-Freaks video.
Sen. Inhofe's (Former longtime Chair of Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works) list of 400 examined. Much of the Senator's information is actually produced by his staffer Marc Moreno.
The Usual Suspects: Willie Soon co-authored a bogus polar bear study along with other long time climate deniers: Sallie Baliunas, David Legates and Tim Ball. Willie Soon and Sallie Baliunas have a documented history of receiving money from oil interests.Link. More venerable/formidable, Seitz and Singer.
Bill McKibben's analysis of skeptics' success.
The Deniers (book review by Kevin Kelley)
GreenMan Blog debunks Climate Denial, and features video, including Crock of the Week (Soundbites and rebuttals).
Just for fun, with any of the above, you can play Climate Skeptic Bingo. alt: Denial Bingo is some fun relief from repetition of myths, and a way to quickly identify them. 100 one-liners
Video
Nice summary of standard skeptic claims.
Jesse Ventura's Conspiracy Theory episode on climate change features UN Agenda 21 hysteria (subscribed to by most if not all of the GOP candidates for president in 2012).
Great Climate Change Swindle attacks IPCC (video). (not to be confused with Great Global Warning Swindle which presents itself as a rebuttal to Gore's Inconvenient Truth). Debate about Swindle.intro
Penn & teller's Bullshit episode on global warming.
Reckless: The Political Assault on the American Environment by Bob Deans, NRDC, fwd by Robert Redford. Since regaining control of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010, the GOP majority has waged the single greatest legislative assault in history against the foundational environmental protections we all depend on to protect our environment and health. During 2011 alone, the House majority voted nearly 200 times to block,delay or weaken the common sense safeguards that defend our water, wildlife, air and lands, and the onslaught has continued into 2012. video.
Global Warming Proponents
Al Gore Rolling Stone update 6/14.
Michael Mann (attacked for his Hockey Stick work) lays out the bottom line for us. 6/14. Overview TEDtalk video by Michael Mann. 12/11
This American Life host Ira Glass tells the story of writer turned activist Bill McKibben (see eco-heroes, especially the Rolling Stone Do the Math article). McKibben is trying to create a divestment campaign modeled after the successful campaign against apartheid in South Africa. The campaign is designed recast the discussion of climate change with fossil fuel companies as the villains. alt link audio).
Dr. Katharine K. Wilkinson is a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group, where she specializes in behavior change, and the author of Between God & Green: How Evangelicals Are Cultivating a Middle Ground on Climate Change (OUP 2012).audio interview.
1990 IPCC Report Successfully Predicted Warming, New Study Shows 12/12.
The Energy and Resources Institute's 13th annual Delhi Sustainable Development Summit goal is to tackle resource efficiency challenges. Around the world, leaders pointed to the ways a changing climate was already affecting their nations...TERI Director-General R.K. Pachauri referenced studies that have illustrated the correlation between emissions and material consumption. 1/13
Climate Reality activism, videos.
Betting on Change Is the planet really warming up? Just ask the corporations that stand to make—or lose—billions because of "climate exposure." Slate.
Climate Story Of The Year: Extreme Weather From Superstorms To Drought Emerges As Political, Scientific Gamechanger.
Short list of organizations (some surprising) that acknowledge AGW (Anthropogenic Global Warming).
Democracy Now coverage, includes extreme weather.
An Illustrated Guide to the Science of Global Warming Impacts: How We Know Inaction Is the Gravest Threat Humanity Faces/ 10/12.
TEDtalk by Paul Gilding, author of The Great Disruption: Why the Climate Crisis Will Bring On the End of Shopping and the Birth of a New World. 3/12
The Story of Change is the latest chapter of the Story of Stuff. Take this two-minute quiz created by The Story of Stuff Project and find out how your particular talents might be used to combat climate change.
Mark Hertsgaard has a new book, Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth Excerptreplay of live video chat 1/11
NASA visualization of temperature change since 1880. 1/12.
The so-called Himalayagate scandal is just another example of trying to discredit climate change based on small errors and outright distortion. Now it turns out the mountains are losing ice quickly. 3/12
Interesting article on attitudes towards slavery paralleling climate denial.
Skeptic often claim that scientists are paid off to support AGW (it's never clear who would pay them to lie), and that skeptic science is suppressed. The latter refuted here. 2/12
New ice island breaks off (audio) 8/10.
255 members of National Academy of Sciences rebuke climate skeptics, especially the attacks on legit scientists. 6/10 Full NAS site
New Scientist comprehensive site
Climate Connections NPR and National Geographic team up to provide great info on climate change.
The Climate Desk, a unique journalistic collaboration dedicated to exploring the impacts—human, environmental, economic, and political—of a changing climate. Climate Desk participants include Mother Jones, Slate, Wired, The Atlantic, PBS’s Need to Know, Grist, and the Center for Investigative Reporting.
NASA's Goddard Center, global temperature data 1/10.
New Interactive maps and images 4/10
Real Climate.org info from actual climate scientists.
Climate Watch Blog, with special focus on California (see recent reports)
The coming Mega-Drought pdf 10/10
Video
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING Inspired by Naomi Klein’s international non-fiction bestseller. Filmed over 211 days in nine countries and five continents over four years, is an epic attempt to re-imagine the vast challenge of climate change. *** See Global Warming.
The Doubt Machine: Documentary Explores Koch Brothers' War on Climate Science 11/16 all free online
Merchants of Doubt (Trailer) audio interview) based on excellent Oreskes book, see global warming "debate" 3/15. **** highly recommended Creating doubt five min. overview of fake "debate" history. (video).
Climate Justice: Former president of Ireland Mary Robinson highlights stories of those fighting climate change at a grass roots level 10/18.
Sources
UCSC
Annual Climate Science and Policy Conference includes Mann, Chu, Revkin ***(video).
Lincoln Taiz, professor emeritus of molecular, cell and developmental biology, gave the Emeriti Lecture at UC Santa Cruz on Wednesday, November 19. "Agriculture, Population Growth, and the Challenge of Climate Change video. He explains and supports GMO's.
C-SPAN
C-SPAN are talks by policymakers, see also BookTV on science and technology.
PBS
Climate of Doubt alt link looks at the denial industry transcript 10/12 *** see also [Public Relations].
Heat PBS Frontline documentary 2008 (full video).
Hot Politics FRONTLINE and the Center for Investigative Reporting go behind the scenes to explore how bi-partisan political and economic forces prevented the U.S. government from confronting what may be one of the most serious problems facing humanity today. 2007. Heat 2008 on energy and Global Warming.
The Climate Conversation You Haven't Heard convened a panel of climate scientists, innovators and political figures Friday to discuss how to encourage citizens to help force the issues that are needed to help combat climate change.Includes Steyer and Shultz. October 27, 2014 **
Bill Nye + Arnold Schwarzenegger Confront Climate Denial Head On Ultimately, Nye goes through all five stages of “climate change grief”—denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance, but meets activists who are winning 11/15.
Scientist Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication, on the greatest single threat facing humanity. *** (video) 1/13.
The Most Terrifying Video You'll Ever See Great video on global warmingPart II How It All Ends is slightly refined version of Part II?***
TEDtalks on climate, including Overview TEDtalk by Michael Mann. 12/11 ***
Years of Living Dangerously, *** the documentary series on climate change, explicitly addresses people resistant to acknowledging global warming, such as religion. episode 1.YouTube channel.
Computer Models
Gavin Schmidt on models TEDtalk 2014 transcript.
climate modeling expert Guillermo Auad explains the various kinds of models that researchers use to understand and forecast climate scenarios and how this science has impacts well outside of the research community.
Climate models have been used by denialists to debunk climate change. Here you can understand how these models actually work. 8.08
Other Topics
Creating doubt five min. overview of fake "debate" history. (video).
Lincoln Taiz, professor emeritus of molecular, cell and developmental biology, gave the Emeriti Lecture at UC Santa Cruz on Wednesday, November 19. "Agriculture, Population Growth, and the Challenge of Climate Change video. He explains and supports GMO's.
The basic science of climate from national academy of science.
130 years of climate change in 30 seconds video. Sahara was wet not that long ago. NASA model of aerosol/particles in atmosphere.
Why Climate Change Is Not an Environmental Issue (we could quibble about characterization of environmental movement, but overall point valid and thought-provoking). ***
Climate Change is Simple very good overview. ***
Climate Change Essentials another quite good 20 minute summary, takes on standard objections, slickly geek-y (i use the term with respect and affection) but clear and accessable. ***
Bill McKibben vs. Epstein, Debate on Fossil Fuels 11/12.
UCB's Muller, who had been skeptical, had taken fossil fuel funding and was expected to be the star witness at the "Scopes Trial" congressional witch-hunt on climate scientists turned out to support the consensus.
Peak Oil and a Changing Climate from The Nation Magazine.
Advertising & the End of the World is a brilliant Big Picture analysis of how the culture of consumption drives eco-degradation. 2010 Update: Adverstising & the Perfect Storm: Global Warming, Peak Oil & Consumer Debt presented by Sut Jhally, Umass and Founder/Exec Director of the Media Education Foundation (MEF).
Weather girl goes rogue video.
CNN reporter tells Bill Nye that he doesn't understand climate change 7.12
Keystone XL pipeline (many activists, including Bill McKibben at 350.org think dirty Canadian Tar Sands our will be game over for global warming). PBSNewshour 10/12.
North Carolina and Virginia are sinking and dealing with sea level rise (with varying degrees of denial). 12/12.
Comedian David Mitchell on climate deniers.
UC Historian of science Naomi Oreskes recently gave a talk(video) based on her new book, Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming. review/summary Link also to 2007 talk. Original article in Science Magazine 2004. Review/summary of book at Grist. co-author Conway talk (one hour video). 3/15 documentary: Merchants of Doubt Trailer .
Three new PBS shows on energy and climate: EARTH: The Operators' Manual, Energy Quest USA and Powering the Planet.
The Story of Cap and Trade and some analysis.
Rob Dunbar hunts for data on our climate from 12,000 years ago, finding clues inside ancient seabeds and corals and inside ice sheets. His work is vital in setting baselines for fixing our current climate -- and in tracking the rise of deadly ocean acidification. TEDtalk
What we know About Global Warming 10 min 1/10 from Climate Progress
The Skeptical Environmentalist and The Sierra Club: Lomborg and Carl Pope Tackle Climate Change Commonwealth Club debate10/10
Copenhagen talks YouTube channel
UCTV has a wide range of videos on global warming and its effects.
Gov. SCHWARZENEGGER 09.26.08 "Keeping California Cool" Commonwealth Club talk on CA taking the lead on global warming.video Realplayer audio
TEDtalk on solutions by David Keith (video)
Photographer James Balog shares new image sequences from the [Extreme Ice Survey, a network of time-lapse cameras recording glaciers receding at an alarming rate, some of the most vivid evidence yet of climate change.TEDtalk 9/10 update audio)
Gore talk at TED conference (video) . 2008 Followup. 11/12 interview.
James Hansen 2008 Q&A. 60 Minutes interview on being gagged by Bush Admin. he's been arrested multiple times trying to stop mountaintop removal for coal and the XL p[ipeline, which he declared would be "game over" for the climate. See eco-heroes.
In Carbon Nation, "director Peter Byck covers an impressively wide range of ground within his film's compact running time as he introduces us to a stirring cross-section of pioneers, researchers and innovators committed to helping the world reduce its carbon footprint."
Books
The Madhouse Effect by Michael Mann : The award-winning climate scientist Michael E. Mann and the Pulitzer Prize–winning political cartoonist Tom Toles have witnessed the manipulation of the media by business and political interests and the unconscionable play to partisanship on issues that affect the well-being of billions. The lessons they have learned have been invaluable, inspiring this brilliant, colorful escape hatch from the madhouse of the climate wars.(video talk). 1/17.
Bill McKibben(see Eco-heroes) Oil and Honey:the Education of a Unlikely Activist excerpt on bees.
Naomi Klein’s new book, This Changes Everything, ***excerpt, reviewed by Sandra Steingraber. Colbert interview; extensive interview(2 parts) (audio interview) 9/14.
Brian Fagan, author, The Attacking Ocean: The Past, Present and Future of Rising Sea Levels. Daily Show.
What We're Fighting for Now Is Each Other: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Climate Justice by Wen Stephenson features eco-warrior Tim DeChristopher. LOE.org interview 11/28/15.
Michael Lemonick's Global Weirdness: Severe Storms, Deadly Heat Waves, Relentless Drought, Rising Seas, and the Weather of the Future (audio interview and excerpt). 2012
Prof. Michael Mann’s new book, “The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars,” S&E Stacks QC903 .M36 2012 is part of a series of attempts to answer the question of why global warming has become a political flash point. Mann has devised an analogy “the Serengeti strategy,” he and others have become targets because their findings challenge the entrenched fossil-fuel industries. review, audio interview, student interview (text), video interview.
The Great Disruption: Why the Climate Crisis Will Bring On the End of Shopping and the Birth of a New World by Paul Gilding.
The Climate War by Eric Pooley, deputy editor of Bloomberg Businessweek, profiles heavyweights in this saga -- including two members of the Nicholas Institute Board of Advisers, EDF President Fred Krupp, and Duke Energy Chairman and CEO Jim Rogers, among other leaders in the now years-long campaign to bring climate policy to Washington. NYT review and Grist review audio interview 30 min. Climate One interview and video excerpts.
How to Cool the Planet on geo-engineering. Video overview from Hack the Planet. See also another scheme. Geoengineering: Testing the Waters By NAOMI KLEIN. 10/12.
Award-winning journalist Christian Parenti argues in his new book Tropic of Chaos excerpt that global warming is leading to social and environmental catastrophe.(video interview)
The Scientific Guide to Global Warming Skepticism by John Cook.
Climate Change Denial: Heads in the Sand, by Haydn Washington and John Cook examines the phenomenon of climate change denial. It looks at the many techniques of literal denial, where "skeptics" deny the evidence for man-made global warming. It exposes denial within governments, who make a lot of noise about climate change but fail to back it up with action. And it examines the denial within most of us, when we let denial prosper. This book explains the climate science and the social science behind denial.
The Carbon Age by Eric Roston, Duke Univ.
Hot, Flat, and Crowded. Thomas L. Freidman, author of The Lexus and the Olive Tree, and The World Is Flat, explains how America can lead the green revolution in the 21st century (audio and video too).
2006 Overview and review of several books (NY Review of Books) by Jim Hansen, Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Adjunct Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University’s Earth Institute. Here is a followup discussion with the author. 60 Minutes interview (video).
Before the Lights Go Out lays out the reality, in polls: Americans are overwhelmingly in favor of clean energy, even though they remain bitterly divided over the impending doomtastrophe of climate change. Koerth-Baker says we can’t capitalize on the first if we keep muddying it up with the second.
The Revenge of Gaia: Why the Earth is Fighting Back - and How we Can Still Save Humanity (2006) is a book by James Lovelock.
Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning by George Monbiot
review
The Heat is On by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Ross Gelbspan see on skeptic scams Newer book is Boiling Point; here's an excerpt. Here's a video of the author at the World Affairs Council, moderated by Hertsgaard (Sponsored by Exchange, founded by a slug, and others).
Bill McKibben The End of Nature
Hell and High Water: Climate Change, Hope and the Human Condition, by Alastair McIntosh
Soul of a Citizen by Paul Loeb tells many stories of activism. The first excerpt here is on the powerful journey of evangelical global climate change activist Rich Cizik. The second is on Gandhi, King and the traps of the perfect standard. The third is how a self-described party girl became a global warming activist. See also his anthology The Impossible Will Take a While. Audio and video interviews (Realplayer) Here's a sort of Overview.
The WWF UK published earlier this year a report entitled [http://www.wwf.org.uk/wwf_articles.cfm?unewsid=2224 Weathercocks and Signposts]: The environment movement at a crossroads (WWF UK, 2008). Starting from the premise that, "it is now beyond serious doubt that a proportional response to climate change will entail fundamental shifts in both policy and lifestyles in the very short term, it recognises "that environmental challenges will not be met while maintaining a narrow focus on the happy coincidence of economic self-interest and environmental prudence. By constructing an argument for a "radically different approach, they make the case that in order to ameliorate our consumptive tendencies, because even if they're "green," it won't be enough, they are challenging our consumer lifestyles at the root, our values, and seek to shift mainstream society away from consumerism. The second report, Death of Environmentalism,(Shellenberger & Nordhaus, 2004) and the subsequent book, Breakthrough: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility (Nordhaus & Shellenberger, 2007), criticises the environmental movement for its preoccupation with "eco-tragic narratives, eco-apocalypse, limits to growth, and an inability to paint a compelling vision of the future based on a set of values consistent with human aspirations." (O'Rourke diss on ecotopian transition towns)
Audio
James Franco’s Poem on Climate Change: ‘I Was Born Into a World’ audio.
This American Life host Ira Glass tells the story of writer turned activist Bill McKibben. McKibben is trying to create a divestment campaign modeled after the successful campaign against apartheid in South Africa. The campaign is designed recast the discussion of climate change with fossil fuel companies as the villains. alt link audio). A whole show on climate that takes a fresh approach 5/13.
Are We Losing The Race Against Climate Change? audio panel discussion with Mann 1/13.
Debateincludes Tim Flannery, author of “The Weathermakers”; Professor Joseph Alcamo, United Nations Environment Program chief scientist; James Inhofe, US Senator from Oklahoma and more 7/11
Gavin Schmidt, a climatologist at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, sorts fact from fiction regarding climate change. PBS 8/10.
"Climategate" and video response has damaged the credentials of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and decades of science on global warming. But as scientists push back against efforts to dismiss the threat of global warming, some media watchers say journalists aren't balancing their coverage of climate change with the scientifically-sound other side of the story - that the impacts of a warming world could be worse than the IPCC predicts. LOE.org talks with media experts and scientists about the fallout of the hacked email scandal, and how to repair damage. (12:00)3/10 text and audio. Greenpeace tracks major players back to Koch Industries, an oil co, the second largest privately held co in US. Guardian UK article on Greenpeace research. Article and video on lack of press coverage on vindication. UPDATE: one victim contemplated suicide.
NPR/PBS audio series on CA water supply and Global Warming.
The Weather Makers author Tim Flannery interviewed on Democracy Now (audio) A more recent book is Now or Never audio interview
Bjorn Lomborg, Author, Cool It; Skeptical Environmentalist (who has since been outed as being a paid hack and somewhat changed his position?) debates Carl Pope, Chairman, The Sierra Club. 11/10.
Earthbeat Radio is the only hour-long broadcast dedicated entirely to the global warming crisis.podcasts(ended 2011?). See also Climate Radio which had a program on Tar Sands
On the Debate and Public Relations
Fake news not new; David Sassoon, founder and publisher of InsideClimate News, gives a fine overview of denial. see Public Relations below. 2/17.
Infograpic: Which Makes More Sense?
Yale study of extreme weather on public opinion
Rebecca Solnit, Climate and Clarity 10/12.Rebecca Solnit's “Acts of Hope,” was expanded into her book Hope in the Dark. It was written to welcome that “darkness” which seemed already to be enveloping us. It was written with a sense of how the expectable unravels, of how the future surprises us, often enough with offerings not of horror but of hope. New installment: What Comes After Hope 5/13.Bigger Than That (The Difficulty of) Looking at Climate Change 11/13.
In Kill the Messenger McH Stacks P95.8 .A76 2011 Maria Armoudian asks, What role do the media have in creating the conditions for atrocities such as occurred in Rwanda? Conversely, can the media be used to preserve democracy and safeguard the human rights of all citizens in a diverse society? How will the media, now global in scope, affect the fate of the planet itself, including climate? review, video talk author interview 8/11.
Prof. Michael Mann’s new book, “The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars,” S&E Stacks QC903 .M36 2012 is part of a series of attempts to answer the question of why global warming has become a political flash point. Mann has devised an analogy “the Serengeti strategy,” he and others have become targets because their findings challenge the entrenched fossil-fuel industries. review, audio interview, student interview (text), video interview. The Hockey Stick graph explained includes video 6/13 ***
Advertising & the Perfect Storm: Global Warming, Peak Oil & Consumer Debt presented by Sut Jhally. (video)
The Global Warming Reader, edited by Bill McKibben, pulls together seminal texts of the climate change debate with the goal of creating a complete picture. Selections range from a 19th-century treatise to images from Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, and include a few unexpected gems like Senate floor statements from climate change denier James Inhofe (R-Okla.).
UC Historian of science Naomi Oreskes recently gave a talk(video) based on her new book, Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming. Link also to 2007 talk. See above in video section for more links. Merchants of Doubt Trailer 3/15.
PR Watch Climate Change Portal tracks current developments as well as skeptics and their funding, as does:
Mark Hertsgaard's political analysis
Al Gore critique of media and current policy and PBS Newshour discussion. 5/11
The Skeptical Environmentalist and The Sierra Club: Lomborg and Carl Pope Tackle Climate Change Commonwealth Club debate10/10 Video.
Why We Disagree about Climate Change (2009) Mike Hulme is founding director of the UK's Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and professor of climate change at the University of East Anglia. audio of talk based on book
Union of Concerned Scientists in-depth study on how skeptics have spun the debate, using tobacco company tactics (and even personnel/PR firms). 2007
Stanford Statistical study of climate scientists shows how skeptics have little expertise. 6/10
"The Truth About Denial" Newsweek 2007 nice overview of background, including treaties.
Michael Specter's new book, Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet and Threatens Our Lives,(NYT review) dives into a worrisome strain of modern life TEDtalk video. NPR interview and short excerpt
James Hoggan writes for deSmog blog, and co-authored Climate Coverup: The Crusade to Deny Global Warming. Here he is interviewed in a video segment about Koch Industries, (More at Opensecrets.org) a larger funder of climate skeptic PR than even Exxon.
DeSmog Blog overview cites a 2003 study that shows US press’s adherence to balance actually leads to biased coverage of both anthropogenic contributions to global warming and resultant action. Also "University of California, San Diego science historian Dr. Naomi Oreskes had published an analysis in Science in which she had combed through 928 peer-reviewed climate studies published between 1993 and 2003 and found not a single one that disagreed with the general scientific consensus."
TV Weathermen have had a great deal of undue influence on the debate. TOTN SciFri panel discusses 7/10
Excellent collection and refutation of skeptics' arguments ****
Study shows that worries about economy affect environmental thinking. 7/10
UCSC graduate Maxwell Boykoff has worked in North America, Central America, South Asia and Europe. He was a Peace Corps volunteer when Hurricane Mitch hit Honduras, where he continued to work for a week before being evacuated by helicopter. This sparked his research in climate change policy at UCSC,the Center for Science and Technology Policy Research, Colorado-Boulder Environmental Change Institute (ECI) as well as the Oxford University Centre for the Environment. He co-authored an important study on how press misrepresented climate change.
Sourcewatch shows where funding comes from. Climate Change Portal ****. See also Integrity in Science.
PRwatch article on corporations altering Wikipedia including Chevron deleting the entire article on bio-diesel, and Exxon rewriting the history of the Valdez oil spill.
Argument map on global warming based on Copenhagen conference **** another dynamic map.
The Koch Brothers have taken over from Exxon as the major funder of climate denial (video overview).
Info-mural/argument maps by Robert Horn at Stanford.
Censoring Science: Dr. James Hansen and the Truth of Global Warming by Mark Bowen.
Storms of My Grandchildren: The Truth About the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity by James Hansen of NASA. 2012 BookTV video clip
Science as a Contact Sport: Inside the Battle to Save Earth's Climate by Stephen H. Schneider. Click here for Stephen Schneider's video interview about Science as a Contact Sport, how to find reliable information about climate change and what we can do to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are warming our planet. Sadly, Dr. S passed away in July 20120, a remembrance.
Energy Sec. Stephen Chu weighs in. 3/10
Attempts to intimidate Climate Scientists Link. Update: Death threats against Australian scientists 6/11). UPDATE: moved to secure locations. 10/11. Attempt thwarted by newspapers 5/10, defense of Michael Mann, famous for the "hockey-stick" graph. Here he is completely vindicated. Several different investigations have cleared everyone in so-called Climategate scandals. Related videos.
Newsweek article (editorial?) on better behavior in the debate. 2/10
Hot Politics 2006 PBS Frontline documentary on the PR and politics (includes timeline and links)
Sourcewatch.org is an excellent site for finding out whether a person or organization is credible or not.
A new video on cap and trade from Annie Leonard, creator of the fine anti-consumerism video/book The Story of Stuff. David Roberts of Grist says, "It’s being billed as a definitive debunking of cap-and-trade, but it’s more like a perfect representation of all the confusion and misplaced focus that plagues the green left right now."More analysis
Rough draft of a dynamic map of how the global warming debate has been influenced by powerful economic and political players.
Oil and Gas Interests Set Spending Record for Lobbying in 2009. NYT
Follow the oil money in politics. Also a dynamic map ***
Opensecrets.org tracks political contributions. Interactive network map ***
A fun video history of oil company propaganda
Unfluence is another way to track who in general is financing politicians. Also a dynamic map
Freeman Dyson vs Alun
Paul Loeb argues that the corporations have merely recycled their tactics that worked so successfully for the tobacco companies for so long: create the impression that the science is in doubt. He has a link to a 66 page report
NPR interview with New York Times reporter Andrew Revkin about coverage of climate change.
Fox News Attacks Global Warming from Brave New Films (partisan)
Columbia Journalism Review article on influence of conservative pundits.
Climate Change Lobbying and Media Use (video of talk). Link 1/09. Dan Weiss talked about using paid media as an advocacy campaign tool.
Interesting short editorial on why different metaphors lead to different POV/strategies.
Scholarly analysis on the role of "think tanks" on debate. 2003
General works on Corporate Public Relations and Examples
See also Public Relations page.
Weaponized Lies: How to Think Critically in the Post-Truth Era by Daniel J. Levitin updated version of A field guide to lies : critical thinking in the information age McH Stacks BC177 .L486 2016 .
Trust Us, We're Experts: How Industry Manipulates Science and Gambles with Your Future by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber excerpts.
In Kill the Messenger McH Stacks P95.8 .A76 2011 Maria Armoudian asks, What role do the media have in creating the conditions for atrocities such as occurred in Rwanda? Conversely, can the media be used to preserve democracy and safeguard the human rights of all citizens in a diverse society? How will the media, now global in scope, affect the fate of the planet itself, including climate? review, video talk author interview 8/11.
Toxic Sludge is Good for You by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton Common Courage Press, 1995 book excerpts video online video preview Full preview version
Creating the Corporate Soul: The Rise of Public Relations and Corporate Imagery in American Big Business by Roland Marchand Long excerpt from Ch 1
PR!: A Social History of Spin By Stuart Ewen. Basic Books, 1998 UCSC McHenry HM263 .E849 1996
Greenpeace study: "Exxon's Weapons of Mass Deception" Excerpt
Grist editorial/overview on history of fear, uncertainty and denial tactics.
Tactics: Greenwashing and Astroturf
NPR story on how products pretend to be green. (Audio).
Stop Greenwash.org from Greenpeace. Greenwashing discussed in Earthbeat Radio segment (audio).
Greenwash Watch on Guardian UK newspaper.
Brief article on greenwash with links
Big Box stores greenwash editorial
Chevron makes fake 60 Minutes segment.
To counter greenwash such as Chevron's We Agree ads and consumption, see technique of Culture Jamming.
"Astroturf" is the creation of a fake grassroots organization. Here's an example of one by coal industry using stock photos. In a new documentary Australian filmmaker Taki Oldham went undercover to investigate astroturfing (trailer)(warning: could be interpreted, presumably, as partisan).
Third Party technique defined by one public relations (PR) executive as, "putting your words in someone else's mouth." This can involve think tanks or front groups/astroturfing.
See PRwatch article on corporations altering Wikipedia including Chevron deleting the entire article on bio-diesel, and Exxon rewriting the history of the Valdez oil spill.
| Course Themes |
| Ecological and Social Utopias |
| Literature, Art, and the Environment |
| Environmental Science and Skeptical Challenges |
| Activism and Entrepreneurship |
