The discussion continues...

I’ve included below two of the questions that we didn’t get to the other day. Please find some time over the next two weeks to post some of your thoughts and responses to these two questions. I’ll try to keep up, but if I don’t respond right away, look for me to do so over break. I look forward to your thoughts...

1) Climate change “skeptics” (their word; my word choice is “deniers”) often claim that the science of climate change is not being carried out appropriately. To begin a discussion of the true “scientific method”, please take a look at http://undsci.berkeley.edu/article/howscienceworks_01. It’s a simple website, probably intended for an audience younger than you, but its content is right on target. Thoughts, comments? How does this differ from what you learned in primary school; how does it differ from what you believed before you read it? How do computer models of the global climate “fit” into the scientific process described in the website above?

2) In a nice synergy of accident, Elizabeth Kolbert contributed the segment at the end of Chapter 2 of Schmidt & Wolfe: Picturing the Science. Read that segment (pp. 70-71) and think about the way climate change is portrayed in the media, both locally (i.e. the Spectator) and nationally (USA Today, perhaps or even the Web); maybe even Google some articles to get a feel for it. Also read (or re-read) the segment at the end of Chapter 6 of Schmidt and Wolfe: Picturing the Science by Naomi Oreskes (pp.153-155). What are your thoughts on the reporting of climate change; is it generally “fair and balanced”? What does that phrase even mean in the context of reporting an inherently scientific story, but one with enormous socioeconomic implications? What sources do you trust; which do you exclude?

Letter: Global warming evidence exists

When you have a minute or two, read Dr. Crispin Pierce's letter to the Spectator.  I've included a link to the on-line edition (which I hope will work-it's an awfully long URL).

An Interesting Event?

I was browsing through recent events on campus and I thought this was... interesting, to say the least:

On Thursday, February 25th at 6:00 p.m. the College Republicans will be showing "Not Evil, Just Wrong," a new documentary by Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney in Hibbard 101 which seeks to "provide a different perspective on one of today's hot topics, Climate Change."

Apparently there will also be free root beer floats and drawings for books.

I unfortunately have to work, but I thought it was extremely interesting and a great opportunity for our class! If any of you go, let me know how it is!

Reading Kolbert . . . .

Field Notes' fourth chapter, "The Butterfly and the Toad," ends Kolbert's first section, "Nature."  Please feel free to post questions or comments on that chapter.

I've been continuing to think about media coverage of global climate change.  If you click on the title to this post, it will take you to an article "Environmental Journalism in the Greenhouse Era: Looking for Climate News beyond Corporate Media."  Check it out.  It provides some vital information as we consider how media in our country cover this urgent topic--and as we decide where to turn for factual reporting by experts.

Critique the news story!

Hey all, if you missed the article on the 6:00 news on ABC, channel 18, follow the link (click on the title to this blog post above) to the WQOW website, the local ABC affiliate, and you can either read the story or view it online.

This would a great way to start off your (yes, all the students') comments on the blog, critiquing my first on-air television interview! Please let me know what you liked and didn't like, as it relates to what we're talking about right now! (I have a few ideas of my own too, so I won't mind...)

And while you're there, check out another short bit on a new student movement on campus (part of the Conservationists club) to build a petition campaign to eliminate coal as a fuel in the campus steam plant. This is a critical issue for the carbon footprint, and so congratulations to them and their efforts. This issue is so big and will be difficult to accomplish, despite a lot of good progress from the folks at Facilities already. So having everybody (students, staff, administration, community) on board is good, especially if we can work together toward this long-term goal that I think we can all agree would be a huge step forward for UWEC.

P.S. Here's the link to the other story...


Now, in REAL climate news, I understand that the groundhog didn't see his shadow today - what's that mean for climate policy?!?

News 18 tonight!

It looks like I'll be on the news this evening, answering questions about my response to a press release from WI Sen. Grothman (R). I just did a (surprise - hadn't even shaved!) on-camera interview with Kevin Keen from News 18, talking about carbon footprints, climate vs. weather, coal on campus and probably some other topics I can't even recall right now. Since these are the key ideas we'll be discussing in our class over the next semester, the timing was great!

(It's one thing to get up in front of a class several meters away - quite another to have a camera in your face!)

So watch for me - let me know how I did... See you on Friday!