Category Archives: climate

A Scientist Who Can Write, Thank God

A lot of scientists — not all, but a good number, I must say — see to regard the English language as a mortal enemy which must be evaded with jargon, neutered with utterly emotionless prose, and crushed under heavy statistical arguments. Often I find that the graphics are the only legible part of aContinue reading “A Scientist Who Can Write, Thank God”

The Sloshy, Scary Future of New York City

Robert Lee Hotz has been writing about science for thirty years for various American newspapers, has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize twice and won it once, and these days works for the Wall Street Journal. He writes big, thoughtful pieces about cutting-edge science. This is good, but it means he doesn't publish often, soContinue reading “The Sloshy, Scary Future of New York City”

A New Word for Disaster: Pyrocumulus

This century we as a culture have learned words for a lot of what might be called "new disasters" — climactic scenarios rarely if ever experienced on the planet in the past, such as Category Five, Sea Level Rise, and Arctic Amplification. Well, here's another to add to the list: Pyrocumulus. Here's what the pyrocumulusContinue reading “A New Word for Disaster: Pyrocumulus”

The American Way to Find God

God has become a dirty word among many scientists and leftists, I'm sorry to say, because so many Christians use their interpretation of an old book to control their fears and blame others — immigrants, scientists, gay people — for the woes of the world. Meanwhile the real possibility of a societal disaster this centuryContinue reading “The American Way to Find God”

Climate Change: Facing the Unpleasant Facts

George Orwell, who specialized in facing unpleasant facts, would be in his element in the climate change discussion today, because the extremely unpleasant fact is that the situation is far worse than nearly anyone wants to say. Sharon Begley, formerly of the Wall Street Journal, now Newsweek's science correspondent, lays it out:  Among the phrasesContinue reading “Climate Change: Facing the Unpleasant Facts”

Coal Burning Declines in US, Emissions Follow

From two different sources — the Wall Street Journal, and the Energy Information Agency — we see how the recession has impacted the coal industry, with an attendant decline in greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. From the WSJ, a story about the big energy firm Dynergy, which apparently was expecting big growth under aContinue reading “Coal Burning Declines in US, Emissions Follow”

LA Times to SoCal: Climate Change is Here. Deal with It.

Over the past couple of years I have been critical of the paper for its all-or-nothing coverage of global warming (where they will run enormous stories about climate change in, say, the Arctic, but neglect to mention consequences here in California the US when covering other less-sexy environmental stories not specifically about climate change.)

Denier “Science”: How to Miss the Forest for the Trees

At the ever-entertaining Watts Up With That, well-known global warming skeptic Roger Pielke Sr. links to the following graph: In a challenge to a NASA/GRL study released last week that shows a sharp decline in Arctic sea ice coverage, Pielke Sr. writes: Since 2008, the anomalies have actually decreased. No, I'm not kidding! That's hisContinue reading “Denier “Science”: How to Miss the Forest for the Trees”

Obama Frames Climate Change

The Obama administration is coming back from the G-8 meetings with no agreement from other nations — both European and developing — on reducing emissions of heat-trapping gases such as CO2. This has not been clearly reported; as so often seems to happen these days, the clearest statement on a murky news situation comes notContinue reading “Obama Frames Climate Change”