Are we alarmed yet?

Climate science deniers like to call we who are correct and rational (we the good guys) “alarmists.” So be it. This is a post that closely reflects my own feelings, by my friend and colleague, Lawrence Torcello. It begins: Most of us have wondered about the human context of past crimes against humanity: why didn’t…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/30/are-we-alarmed-yet/

Climate March April 29: A few video tweets

The #ClimateMarch in front of Trump's DC Hotel. "Shame, shame" pic.twitter.com/7XACSbTJzG — Peter Gleick (@PeterGleick) April 29, 2017 Leading the #ClimateMarch in Washington: @LeoDiCaprio, waiving a "climate change is real" sign. #Resist pic.twitter.com/GqfTfJJb6y — SeriouslyUS? (@USseriously) April 29, 2017 Protectors of Justice, #BlackLivesMatter, holding it down on the frontlines. #climatemarch #ittakesroots @CJAOurPower pic.twitter.com/Z9ELt7Yl5t — bryan…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/29/climate-march-april-29-a-few-video-tweets/

Taking The Axe To The Environmental Movement: Resolute v. Greenpeace

A major Canadian logger appears to be using a pair of law suits to end the existence of Greenpeace and to stop or curtail pro-environmental activities by other organizations operating in North America, or perhaps, generally. This activity is being carried out by Resolute Forest Products. This is a rapidly developing story. Aside from the…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/29/taking-the-axe-to-the-environmental-movement-resolute-v-greenpeace/

Why are major broadcast networks turning away from coverage of the climate disaster?

From MMFA: Broadcast networks are decreasing their climate coverage at a time when the case for reporting on the issue is become more and more compelling. By ignoring this serious matter, media are failing to inform audiences about pressing impacts on human migration patterns, women, and the economy. In 2016, media had no shortage of…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/29/why-are-major-broadcast-networks-turning-away-from-coverage-of-the-climate-disaster/

Climate Science Removed From EPA Site: WaPo

The EPA has removed climate science from its site in order that the site contents better reflect Donald Trump’s perspective. From Chris Mooney and Juliet Eilperin at the Washington Post: The Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday evening that its website would be “undergoing changes” to better represent the new direction the agency is taking, triggering…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/29/climate-science-removed-from-epa-site-wapo/

Out of the gate, Bret Stephens punches the hippies, says dumb things

Right in the middle, between the Trump-inspired March for Science, and the Trump-inspired People’s Climate March, the New York times managed to come down firmly on the side of climate and science denial, in its editorial pages. This week sees the first NYT installment by the ex Wall Street Journal columnist and author Bret Stephens…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/28/out-of-the-gate-bret-stephens-punches-the-hippies-says-dumb-things/

Why I ate a Pangolin

The Lese people practice swidden horticulture in the Ituri Forest, Congo (formerly Zaire). Living in the same area are the Efe people, sometimes known as Pygmies (but that may be an inappropriate term). The Efe and Lese share a culture, in a sense, but are distinct entities within that culture, as distinct as any people…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/28/why-i-ate-a-pangolin/

Donald Trump’s First 100 Days: Analysis

LOL

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/27/donald-trumps-first-100-days-analysis/

My letter to the New York Times

The New York Times Elizabeth Spayed, Public Editor Dear Elizabeth, I am writing to express my concern for the addition of Bret Stephens to the NYT team as a columnist. I don’t expect a columnist who seemingly writes about everything to be wrong about nothing. But the Gray Lady should, at the very least, expect…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/27/my-letter-to-the-new-york-times/

Dear New York Times: Climate Change Is Real

I’ve been meaning to write a letter to the New York Times about their very wrong decision to add a climate science denier to their editorial staff. When they were recently challenged about this idea, the response was, paraphrasing, “millions of people believe this man that climate change is not for real.” Coming from the…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/27/dear-new-york-times-climate-change-is-real/

It is time to stop punching the hippies

The Republican line is this: Bring back coal, shut down development, subsidies, any encouragement at all, for solar and wind energy. There is absolutely no logic to this policy, but it is in fact the policy. The reason for it is generally thought to be that the big rich corporations and individuals that control coal…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/27/it-is-time-to-stop-punching-the-hippies/

Good news: We’re going to Mars. Bad news: During Trump’s second term

The Washington Post: What we are reporting here isn’t fake news. But it doesn’t feel exactly like real news, either. It’s in that foggy realm of Trump news in which everything is slightly ambiguous and wobbly and internally inconsistent and almost certainly improvisational and not actually grounded in what you could call “government policy.” LOL…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/26/good-news-were-going-to-mars-bad-news-during-trumps-second-term/

Learn to Program with Small Basic: An Introduction to Programming with Games, Art, Science, and Math is yet another addition to the growing list of programming books for people interesting in learning programming. Basic is an under-appreciated language. I wish I had a good basic compiler handy, and I’d love to see a basic scripting…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/26/23989/

The Republican Trump Health Insurance Plan Is Not Well Supported

In a current poll, 61% of Americans want to retain Obamacare, and improve this already implemented and existing program. A mere 37% want to “repeal and replace” it. About 69% of American want the Republicans, including the Republican President, to to do some combination of working with Congressional Democrats or a combination of Democrats and…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/25/the-republican-trump-health-insurance-plan-is-not-well-supported/

Is the Environmental Movement a big white tent?

Lennox Yearwood Jr was on his way to speak at the March for Science in DC, when something bad happened. He tells us: …at the March For Science in Washington DC on Earth Day, I was assaulted, roughed up, and detained by police in the shadow of the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/24/is-the-environmental-movement-a-big-white-tent/

Minnesota March For Science

Just a little video and some pictures from today’s March for Science, Minnesota. This one from the march route on the way to the capitol. Skip ahead to about 1:12 go get the best chant: Another video, this one from The Hedge: You don’t see this sign at many protests: Mammals were welcome at the…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/22/minnesota-march-for-science-2/

What do you think about the death penalty?

We just had an execution by lethal injection. Everything went fine. If, by “fine,” we mean a guy died as a bunch of people watched emotionlessly. The execution was carried out so late in the process that only a few minutes passed between the pronouncement of death and and the expiration of the court order…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/21/what-do-you-think-about-the-death-penalty/

Once again, the Mystery of the Tsavo Lions Solved

I’ll never forget my first lion. A colleague and I had just arrived in the Semliki Valley, in the Congo, to a part of that valley then known as the most predator-rich region of Africa, with loads of lions and heaps of hyenas. Lots of leopards too. We arrived at the main base camp for…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/20/once-again-the-mystery-of-the-tsavo-lions-solved/

A high quality conservative journal asks if Trump is “stupid or nefarious”

This is alarming and sobering. I was already alarmed and sober, but in case you were not, take heed.

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/20/a-high-quality-conservative-journal-asks-if-trump-is-stupid-or-nefarious/

The Mystery of the Carl Vinson

On September 11th, 1640, a Dutch armada preparing to attack the New World Spanish settlements was lost to a storm, thus changing the course of Dutch, Spanish, and New World history. On January 2nd, 1678, an entire fleet of French naval ships was lost off the Venezuelan coat, changing forever the history of France. And…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/20/carl_vinson_lost_carrier_group_lost_by_trump_in_pacific_ocean/

The Russians are Hacking Us Again

I remember like it was yesterday, the anti Hillary rhetoric flying around during those final weeks of the election. People were making statements that seemed to be based on actual sources, though the sources themselves were not crossing my path. The attitude of those repeating the stories was very similar across the board. Breathless, gut-punch…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/19/the-russians-are-hacking-us-again/

Minnesota March For Science

In which I interview Geoffrey Rojas, an organizer for Minnesota March for Science: Books mentioned in the interview: The War on Science: Who’s Waging It, Why It Matters, What We Can Do About It by Shawn Otto. The Meetup Information for the Atheists Bus is here. The bus is currently full! The Minnesota March for…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/18/minnesota-march-for-science/

Donald S. Beyer Letter to Lamar Smith on Climate Change Hearings of March 2017

Behold the following letter from Representative Donald S. Beyer in reference to the recent House Science, Space, and Technology hearing “Climate Science: Assumptions, Policy, Implications, and Scientific Method” held last month (Warning Big File): Beyer Fact Check – Submitted April 11 Here is a smaller, much abbreviated and much less fun version of the letter,…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/14/donald-s-beyer-letter-to-lamar-smith-on-climate-change-hearings-of-march-2017/

Global Warming Is Warming

The latest data from NASA GISS has come out, showing a surprise result for the month of March. Hat tip to Jeff Masters of Wunderground for sending this info. He’ll probably be blogging on it soon. The surprise is that March, while expected to be warm due to human caused greenhouse gas pollution, turned out…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/14/global-warming-is-warming/

Democrats: Do these things

A lot of people are offering free advice to the Democratic Party these days. This is natural in the wake of a resounding defeat, especially a defeat that was snatched so clumsily from the jaws of victory. I gave some advice a while back (see: Why Trump Won And How To Fix That For Future…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/14/democrats-do-these-things/

The New York Times Bites It With New Climate Denier Columnist

The New York Times has a history of supporting a certain degree of climate change science denial, while at the same time supporting some very good journalism in this area. Just now, the Times jumped over one big giant shark by adding Bret Stephens to its opinion page staff. Stephens comes to the Times from…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/13/the-new-york-times-bites-it-with-new-climate-denier-columnist/

Hitler, Assad, Trump, Spicer, Godwin, Sarin, Zyklon B, Chemical Weapon, Termites

Why Hitler is Different Hitler is not entirely different from Pol Pot, Stalin, and the other mass killers. He is not entirely different from other fascists. But there is a short list of people, with Hitler on that list, who have this characteristic: They were so bad that we can not and should not compare…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/12/hitler-assad-trump-spicer-godwin-sarin-zyklon-b-chemical-weapon-termites/

Righting America: An odd book that you may like but that made me squirm

Righting America at the Creation Museum (Medicine, Science, and Religion in Historical Context) is a strange book and I do not fully approve of it, even though I’m mentioned in it (not in a bad way). Here is the write-up of the book provided by the publisher: On May 28, 2007, the Creation Museum opened…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/11/righting-america-an-odd-book-that-you-may-like-but-that-made-me-squirm/

How the IPCC becomes a climate change denial tool

About once a day, someone tells me that human caused climate change is not real because this or that thing in the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) contradicts something I, or some other scientists or science writer, has said. I’ve noticed an uptick in references to the IPCC report by…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/10/how-the-ipcc-becomes-a-climate-change-denial-tool/

Why are comedians the only people who can honestly report the news?

For example, consider the following truthful and accurate report. You won’t see mainstream media doing this. Mainstream media would give a false “balanced” view, where the Republican attack on democracy is given the same positive spin as the Democratic attempt to save it. Why is this?

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/10/why-are-comedians-the-only-people-who-can-honestly-report-the-news/

It is possible, but unlikely, that the Great Barrier Reef can be saved

Here’s a video from the Guardian on the current status of the reef: This is going to take a while. If there is a major bleaching event every year for a few years, the reef could essentially die off right away, but most likely, there will still be a few years where coral can spread,…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/10/it-is-possible-but-unlikely-that-the-great-barrier-reef-can-be-saved/

Roger Pielke Junior, I forgive you for this one thing

Hi there, folks. This post should have been a tweet in response to Roger Pielke Jr (@RogerPielkeJr), professor of political science at the University of Colorado Boulder, the guy who got fired by Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight for, as I understand it, his anti-science positions on climate change. This is a response for a tweet by…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/09/roger-pielke-junior-i-forgive-you-for-this-one-thing/

Minnesota Book Award Non Fiction Category: And The Winner Is ….

The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library, supported by Education Minnesota, ran the 29th annual Minnesota Book Awards ceremony tonight, and Amanda and I were graciously invited by author Shawn Otto and State Auditor and Gubernatorial Hopeful Rebecca Otto to join them at their table. Shawn’s wildly popular, and extremely, increasingly relevant book The…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/08/minnesota-book-award-non-fiction-category-and-the-winner-is/

Mann, did Judith Curry ever get Rogered!

I was just thinking about Roger Pielke Jr. and Judith Curry, and the interesting situation they have found themselves in. The hole they dug and climbed into. The corner they’ve painted themselves into. The metaphor that mightily mired them. I’m talking about the situation they’ve created for themselves over the last few years as they’ve…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/08/mann-did-judith-curry-ever-get-rogered/

The Energy Transition and the Question of Perfection

I just read an interesting piece on the widely influential VOX, by David Roberts, called “A beginner’s guide to the debate over 100% renewable energy.” It is worth a read, but I have some problems with it, and felt compelled to rant. No offense intended to David Roberts, but I run into certain malconstructed arguments…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/07/the-energy-transition-and-the-question-of-perfection/

#Occupy #Politics Visibly with #Indivisible

Indivisible is a lot like #Occupy but instead of being in tents, we are intense in other ways. I have been at a few Indivisible meetings over the last few weeks. One of the questions I have about the movement is this: How many people in Indivisible now had voted for Trump, or in my…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/07/occupy-politics-visibly-with-indivisible/

Bombing Syria

For my friends who are thinking that military action like we just saw in Syria is OK. No it isn’t, even if it is. Gather together the three smartest people you know. Then recruit the top five experts on Middle Eastern diplomacy, and the top five experts on military solutions in the region. Call in…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/07/bombing-syria/

Almost Free Computer, Coding, Game Programming Books

Have a look at the list of books, below. Would you like a subset, or all, of these books, in electronic format, for very cheap? There is a way to do that. Note: This is time sensitive, the offer running for just about two weeks and it started yesterday. I’ve reviewed several of these books…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/06/almost-free-computer-coding-game-programming-books/

An Update on the Arctic Sea Ice

As we pass through Spring on the way to summer, the sea ice in the Arctic is starting to melt. The ice usually peaks by the end of the first week in March or so, then slowly declines for a few weeks, then by about mid-May is heading rapidly towards its likely September minimum. With…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/06/an-update-on-the-arctic-sea-ice/

Trump Signs Most Hated Bill Ever In Secret

This bill was so unpopular that only 11% of Americans thought he should sign it. It was so unpopular that 74% of Americans thought he should veto it. This bill was not one of Trump’s campaign promises, and it wasn’t part of the Republican Party platform. I can only assume it was a bought and…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/05/trump-signs-most-hated-bill-ever-in-secret/

Raptors of Mexico and Central America

There are about four hundred species of birds we call “raptors” of which most are falcons, hawks, eagles, owls, and so forth. I believe there are about 40 in what is considered the United States (from a person, not a bird, perspective) and many of them are found across much of the US, with the…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/05/raptors-of-mexico-and-central-america/

The Truth About Syria and Obama

In case you were wondering, Trump is telling you lies. Syria is run by a horrible dictator. He is the kind of dictator that makes you want to bring back assassination of foreign leaders. The idea of putting him down is hardly an extreme one, once you know what he does and has done. There…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/05/the-truth-about-syria-and-obama/

The Inconceivably Bogus Republican Science Committee Hearings

Last week, House Representative Lamar Smith held yet another masturbatory hearing to promote climate science denial. Smith is bought and paid for by Big Oil, so that is the most obvious reason he and his Republican colleagues would put on such a dog and pony show, complete with a chorus of three science deniers (Judith…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/04/05/the-inconceivably-bogus-republican-science-committee-hearings/