Category Archives: Communication

Lennart Bengtsson on global climate change

Posted on May 13, 2013 | 654 Comments

[T]he really important question is to know how much warmer it will be and how fast this is likely to happen as this determines a realistic and sensible cause of action. In spite of all research and modelling experimentation we are actually less sure what will happen than what might appear from all reassuring reports that dominates the media. – Lennart Bengtsson

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Posted in Communication, Policy

UK MSM on climate sensitivity

Posted on March 31, 2013 | 355 Comments

by Judith Curry

If climate scientists were credit-rating agencies, climate sensitivity would be on negative watch. But it would not yet be downgraded. – The Economist

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Posted in climate models, Communication, Sensitivity & feedbacks

Forthcoming Congressional Hearing

Posted on March 4, 2013 | 402 Comments

The U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Environment of the Committee on Science, Space & Technology is holding a Hearing this Wed on “Policy Relevant Climate Issues in Context.”  Witnesses:

  • Bjorn Lomborg
  • Judith Curry
  • William Chameides

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Posted in Communication, Policy

Spinning the climate model – observation comparison

Posted on February 22, 2013 | 1,221 Comments

by Judith Curry

In the past 6 months or so, we have seen numerous different plots of the CMIP5 climate model simulations versus observations.

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Posted in climate models, Communication, Uncertainty

The horsemeat argument

Posted on February 13, 2013 | 818 Comments

by Judith Curry

So, what does the UK scandal involving horsemeat in lasagna have to do with climate change?

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Posted in Communication, Ethics

Cli-Fi

Posted on December 23, 2012 | 154 Comments

by Judith Curry

There is a fledgling new genre in fiction.

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Posted in Communication

The Goldilocks Principle

Posted on December 22, 2012 | 270 Comments

by Judith Curry

On what we can learn from Goldilocks and The Three Bears regarding our perceptions of climate, climate science, communication and policy.

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Posted in Communication, Sociology of science

Never look a polar bear in the eye

Posted on December 21, 2012 | 171 Comments

by Judith Curry

Advocates and scientists have tied the Earth’s fate to that of the polar bear. But what happens if this lumbering giant proves more resilient than the rest of us? – Zac Unger

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Posted in Climate change impacts, Communication

Why climate disasters might not increase concern about climate change

Posted on November 23, 2012 | 494 Comments

by Judith Curry

Climate change awareness is complex and strongly mediated by socially constructed attitudes.  It is important to recognise that many of the social and cultural obstacles to belief are not removed by major impacts and may, indeed, be reinforced. – George Marshall

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Posted in Communication

Policy, rhetoric and public bewilderment

Posted on November 14, 2012 | 488 Comments

by Judith Curry

Science is the most formidable intellectual force of our age, perhaps any age. The irony is that, without the insights of the humanities, it may still find itself without words. – Mark Thompson

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Posted in Communication, Policy

Should scientists promote results over process?

Posted on November 11, 2012 | 529 Comments

by Judith Curry

Science is the most powerful tool we have for understanding the natural world. Its power stems from the very nuance that forceful slogans typically gloss over. But with this power comes great liability: the potential to be wrong. – Tania Lombrozo

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Posted in Communication

Italian seismologists: guilty(?)

Posted on October 23, 2012 | 188 Comments

by Judith Curry

Six Italian scientists and an ex-government official have been sentenced to six years in prison over the 2009 deadly earthquake in L’Aquila. – BBC

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Posted in Communication, Ethics, Uncertainty

Sunday Mail . . . again

Posted on October 21, 2012 | 1,040 Comments

by Judith Curry

The MSM and blogosphere are still roiling over David Rose’s article last Sunday, here is the latest, including a new article by David Rose.

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Posted in Attribution, Communication, Data and observations

Communicating uncertainties in natural hazards research

Posted on October 10, 2012 | 141 Comments

by Judith Curry

Tell me what you know.  Tell me what you don’t know.  Then tell me what you think.  Always distinguish which is which. – Colin Powell

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Posted in Communication, Uncertainty

Why communicate science?

Posted on October 9, 2012 | 242 Comments

by Judith Curry

Don’t think you need to teach the public a lot of science facts. Instead, show what science is, what it means, why we need it. Find a way to have a presence. Choose what to comment on, how to be involved, and what actions and issues to engage in. Be a source of wisdom. – Carl Safina

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Posted in Communication

What are blogs good for anyways?

Posted on September 29, 2012 | 529 Comments

by Judith Curry

We are starting to see blog discourse making it into academic papers, being the subject of presentations and conference sessions, and the development of blogs specifically to analyze the dynamics of other blogs.  So, lets address the question raised in the recent presentation by Franziska Hollender:

What are blogs good for anyways?

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Posted in Communication, Open knowledge, Sociology of science

The ‘hard won’ consensus

Posted on September 3, 2012 | 911 Comments

by Judith Curry

The extent to which a consensus is “hard won” can be understood to depend on the personal qualities of the participating experts.” Brent Ranalli

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Posted in Communication, Consensus, Skeptics

Rhetoric and rafts

Posted on September 1, 2012 | 397 Comments

by Judith Curry

The warning signals from the planet are clear. Now is the moment for our commu- nity to adopt the rallying cry of sea kayakers confronted with conditions too challenging to handle alone: “Time to raft up!”. – Chris Rapley

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Posted in Communication

Just the facts, please

Posted on July 12, 2012 | 632 Comments

by Judith Curry

“Get your facts first; then you can distort them as you please” – Mark Twain

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Posted in Communication

Gamesmanship

Posted on June 1, 2012 | 245 Comments

by Judith Curry

“Extreme Event Learning Through Serious Fun”– a completely new way of engaging with the risks of climate change impacts and how we manage them.

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Posted in Communication, Policy, Uncategorized

Climate science in public schools

Posted on May 12, 2012 | 914 Comments

by Judith Curry

How the controversy over climate change affects America’s classrooms is receiving increasing attention.

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Posted in Communication

Climate change cartoons

Posted on May 3, 2012 | 178 Comments

by Judith Curry

Taking climate change seriously doesn’t mean you cannot joke about it. That’s the idea behind the exhibition Facing the Climate where Swedish cartoonists have their take at one of our time’s greatest challenges. 

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Posted in Communication

Perils of apocalyptic thinking

Posted on April 26, 2012 | 311 Comments

by Judith Curry

The last time apocalyptic anxiety spilled into the mainstream to the extent that it altered the course of history — during the Reformation — it relied on a revolutionary new communications technology: the printing press. In a similar way, could the current surge in apocalyptic anxiety be attributed in part to our own revolution in communications technology?

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Posted in Attribution, Climate change impacts, Communication

Demon Coal

Posted on March 12, 2012 | 624 Comments

by Judith Curry

Last week I conducted an extensive interview with Max Allen of the Canadian Broadcast Corporation.

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Posted in Communication, Policy

Should we tell the whole truth about climate change?

Posted on March 8, 2012 | 416 Comments

by Judith Curry

In principle, yes of course.  In practice, many journalists, scientists and government officials are not so certain as to how to balance telling the whole truth and being truthful in an “effective” way.

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Posted in Communication, Ethics