Administrivia

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I’ve upgraded the software running Planet Fleck. I was running a quite old version of Jeff Waugh’s wonderful Planet, and it wasn’t handling some of the feeds very well. That’s why James’ blog, for instance, looked like gibberish, as did the new Nature climate blog. But I wasn’t motivated enough to fix it (I hate upgrading software unless I absolutely have to because of the risk of things going wrong). The last straw was when it stopped displaying my blog. Can’t have that!

To my delight, once I upgraded it I realized I’d missed the pictures from Dave and Cate’s vacation! (It apparently wasn’t properly updating Dave’s blog either.)

Energy Efficiency at the Science Fair

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Stuff I wrote elsewhere – on the zeitgeist of the world’s youth, including biofuels from wasted bananas and coconut sap:

The event offers a peek into the spirit of some of the world’s brightest youths. The young scientists frequently pick topics dear to their hearts and pursue them with a passion. They search for solutions to medical problems that afflict people they love, or tackle environmental problems in their communities.
    This year, creative attacks on the world’s energy problems are everywhere.

Daybook

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  • paper of the day: Mendoza et al. in Climatic Change look at Maya droughts over the last several centuries
  • weather: Hottest day so far this year in Albuquerque at 84F (29C), warm enough for a lovely chat on the back porch at a party last night. Over the last five days, we’ve seen a statistically significant warming trend. (data here)
  • family: Yesterday was moving day. Big Toe helped, having had some experience working as a mover during his student days at the Sorbonne. Apparently the French have a saying: “Soulever avec vos jambes.”

Framing Nuclear Waste

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The whole framing thing is much more clear in my mind in the nuclear realm, maybe simply because I’ve spent a lot more of my journalistic career there. Over at the work blog, a Saturday morning musing on a current case in which a new project, the Department of Energy’s Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, is the subject of a fierce framing fight. This makes an interesting case study, because the issue is fresh, and therefore the stakes are high as both sides seek to frame the issue in the public mind.

Evaluating the IPCC

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Benny Peiser sent around a circular yesterday to his CCNet list about a potentially interesting project:

CALL FOR PAPERS: THE IPCC: STRUCTURE, PROCESS AND POLITICS
During the last decade, climate experts and government officials from more than 100 countries have unanimously agreed the key findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC’s analysis, its review of scientific literature and its predictions were carefully scrutinised by governments and generally accepted. The unanimous political support the IPCC has obtained from the international community represents a comprehensive consensus on the science and economics of climate change.
Despite this globally sanctioned agreement, there have been serious reservations about the way the IPCC works and how it produces its conclusions. Two years ago, the Economic Affairs Committee of Britain’s House of Lords concluded that there are concerns about the objectivity of the IPCC process, and the influence of political considerations in its findings. I am pleased to announce the planned publication of a special issue of Energy & Environment that will specifically address questions surrounding the structure, process and politics of the IPCC. This announcement solicits articles for consideration for this special issue.Papers are invited on all subjects related to the IPCC, its working and the way it produces its reports. Interested authors should send a brief but informative abstract of one or two pages as an e-mail attachment to me at b.j.peiser@ljmu.ac.uk (as I will serve as the E&E’s guest editor for this special issue)
Authors’ instructions can be found at:
http://www.multi-science.co.uk/gen_authors.htm

Submission deadline for papers: 31 July 2007

Does It Matter If It’s Right?

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A very smart friend suggests that people seeking information on the Internet don’t necessarily want the right answer, but rather an easily accessible answer. I was reminded of his comments by this from Matthew Nisbet:

In the digital age, information is found based on availability rather than accuracy. If different interest groups start blogs that attack peer-reviewed science, and the scientific community does not engage in similar communication mode, they will miss an important opportunity to educate the public.

This, it seems to me, is a strong argument in favor of RealClimate.

Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere

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On the latest La Nina forecast, out today, along with the New Mexico streamflow forecast that came out yesterday:

The Climate Prediction Center’s monthly El Nino – La Nina update is out today with an increasingly solid forecast of a La Nina (meaning dry here) winter of 2007-08:

[A]tmospheric and oceanic conditions continue to indicate the possibility that La Niña conditions will develop over the next 2-3 months.

The forecast comes on the heels of a relatively dry final streamflow forecast for the year:

LA Burns

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Los Angeles FireOriginally uploaded by Chucks Chicken.

When I was a kid, the mountain behind my Southern California home burned. We could see the fire coming many miles and hours away, creeping west across the front face of the San Gabriels. By midday, they sent us home from school, and I vividly remember (I must have been 10) the smell and that impossible red light of sun filtered through smoke. We spent that evening up on our wood shake roof, watering it down and watching the mountain burn. At some point, they lit a backfire, and the hillside exploded from bottom to top. We lived a couple of miles from the fire, and you could feel the heat.

It was the coolest, scariest thing I had ever seen.

This picture from Chucks Chicken, palm trees and flame as Griffith Park burns, gives me shivers. (Hat tip Kit Stolz.)