Archive of posts filed under the climate variability category.

Confusing metaphorical warfare with policy substance

Posted by on

Matthew Nisbet, in Slate today, gives thoughtful voice to my growing frustration with the way my friends in the science community have been approaching the climate politics and policy discussion of late: The problems begin when scientists overestimate the influence of climate skeptics and their corporate backers. When legislation and international treaties fail, and polls …

Continue reading ‘Confusing metaphorical warfare with policy substance’ »

Energy, Meet Climate

Posted by on

Emily Pierce has a story in Roll Call that illustrates the dilemma facing those who advocate greenhouse gas reductions. Action on climate change has become politically toxic, while action on energy legislation has not: Dorgan was upset that the so-far failed efforts of Kerry and Environment and Public Works Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) to craft …

Continue reading ‘Energy, Meet Climate’ »

Climate Coverage: A Cheap Media Case Study

Posted by on

Science magazine has two very interesting papers in Friday’s issue related to climate and energy. One looks at a potentially significant climate change problem, and the second looks at a potentially significant energy system solution. The first, by Natalia Shakova and colleagues, looks at the possibility that methane is venting faster than expected from the …

Continue reading ‘Climate Coverage: A Cheap Media Case Study’ »

Toward a More “Patient-Centered” Climate Science

Posted by on

Academia’s institutional culture fails to reward the critical work of tailoring climate science to the people who most need to understand its implications, according to a fascinating new paper by Kristen Averyt, in press at the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. Averyt is deputy director of the Western Water Assessment, a University of Colorado-based …

Continue reading ‘Toward a More “Patient-Centered” Climate Science’ »

The Recycling of Falsehoods

Posted by on

One of the things my colleagues and I found when reviewing the history of the ’70s global cooling myth was the consistent way alleged evidence was recycled through the literature by those perpetuating the myth. It was easy to verify the recycling in two ways. First, there were characteristic mistakes and elisions introduced early that …

Continue reading ‘The Recycling of Falsehoods’ »

Boslough in SI: Playing By Different Rules

Posted by on

Writing in the latest issue of Skeptical Inquirer, physicist Mark Boslough argues that scientists are being held to a higher standard in the media and political debate over climate change than those who oppose them: Denialists have attempted to call the science into question by writing articles that include fabricated data. They’ve improperly graphed data …

Continue reading ‘Boslough in SI: Playing By Different Rules’ »

Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere: On Weather and Climate

Posted by on

Over on the work blog, I’m hosting an impromptu exchange between Cristina Archer and Roger Pielke Sr. over the question of the extent to which the jet stream is moving north, potentially drying out the southwest, and the implications of the current year’s southern storm track for thinking about that hypothesis. (comments off here, comments …

Continue reading ‘Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere: On Weather and Climate’ »

Chances of Extra Water for Mead Remain Low

Posted by on

The Bureau of Reclamation has tuned up its estimates of the chances of release of extra water to help Lake Mead, now putting them at one in four this year, according to an update published today (Wed. 2/10). The jargon here is “equalization,” which happens when there is enough extra water upstream in Lake Powell …

Continue reading ‘Chances of Extra Water for Mead Remain Low’ »