An irregular exploration of the struggle between the power of rational discourse and the scientific method on one hand, and the forces of superstition and dogma on the other.
James Hrynyshyn is a freelance science journalist based in western North Carolina, where he tries to put degrees in marine biology and journalism to good use.
The Demon-Haunted World:
Science as a Candle
in the Dark,
by Carl Sagan
(A
review)
The Doubter's Companion:
by John Ralston Saul (Excerpts)
Skeptic Magazine: www.skeptic.com
Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal: www.csicop.org
A poem by Yehuda Amichai:
The
Place
Where We Are Right
The Meaning of the
Island of Doubt
By doubting we come to inquiry; and through inquiry we perceive truth.
--- Peter Abelard
Undisguised clarity is easily mistaken for arrogance.
-- Richard Dawkins
As for evolution, it happened. Deal with it.
-- Michael Shermer.
August 20, 2008
Category: climate
The news department of the journal Nature has just published an impressive round-up of all the major clean energy technologies — installed and theoretically capacity, prices, challenges, everything you need to know. Plus an inspiring editorial. A must read for anyone interested in the subject. And it's all free access. For now.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 3:13 PM • 0 Comments
August 19, 2008
Category: climate
Word is Al Gore is getting a prime speaking slot on the final night of the Democratic Convention. Those of us concerned about climate change, or even the role of science in presidential politics and governance in general, should welcome this news, right? Maybe not, if you pay attention to the polls. At least, that's Matt "Framing Science" Nisbet's contention. I would like to disagree with him, but want to spend a few minutes examining the issues, because I think it's an important one.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 4:54 PM • 7 Comments
August 15, 2008
Category: climate
Jim Hansen wants to see all coal-fired plants shut down by 2030. Except for any plants that employ carbon-capture and sequestration. Al Gore wants to see the United States generate all its electricity from renewable sources by 2018, which means shutting down all the coal-fired plants. Except for any plants that employ carbon-capture and sequestration. Princeton University's Pacala and Socolow of the "wedge" strategy make CCS an integral part of their future clean energy portfolio. Everybody who's crunched the emissions numbers pretty much agrees that coal has got to go. Unless we can capture all the troublesome carbon dioxide. So can we?
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 3:02 PM • 7 Comments
August 13, 2008
Category: climate
I spent five years of my life in Canada's Arctic and not a day goes by that I'm not reminded just how powerful an impression those years left made on me. When I read the latest news on arctic sea-ice extent, I wish more people would recognize just how important what happens up there is to the rest of the planet. Now, I know fellow ScienceBlogger William Connelly is convinced "nothing much going on with sea ice at the moment." But that's not what I see in the latest graphs from the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 1:38 PM • 0 Comments
August 12, 2008
Category: cetacea
Looks like we won't be needing a team of aging, time-traveling Starfleet officers to save the humpbacks after all. The IUCN has downlisted (I hate that word!) (Megaptera novaeangliae) from Vulnerable to Least Concern. Only took 25 years of keeping the whalers at bay to do it. But I'll take the good news when I can get it. (At right are animatronic members of the species.)
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 12:18 PM • 1 Comments
August 10, 2008
Category: religiosity
By now we've all seen the John McCain ad that juxtaposes Paris Hilton and Britney Spears with Barack Obama. Most of us probably recognize it as disingenuous use of imagery to make a flawed argument. Sadly, the same technique is being used by one of our own here on ScienceBlogs. The culprit is Matt "Framing Science" Nisbet. Take a look.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:49 AM • 21 Comments
August 8, 2008
Category: climate
So the other day I found myself on a conference call with James Hansen, who is just back from a European trip during which he tried to convince environment ministers that we should stop burning coal. I was given the opportunity to put one question to the guy. So, referring to his many public letters that deal with the need to focus on coal, I asked if that means all the squabbling over whether the U.S. should lift the moratorium on offshore drilling is missing the point?
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 2:14 PM • 5 Comments
August 6, 2008
Category: climate
Every corner of my regular morning stroll through the internet is littered with references to coal. One could say that coal is in the air. And it doesn't smell good. First, there's this depressing news from British Columbia:
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 10:57 AM • 4 Comments
August 5, 2008
Category: climate
It's finally time to comment on Gore's Law: "As an online climate change debate grows longer, the probability that denier arguments will descend into attacks on Al Gore approaches one."
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 11:18 AM • 19 Comments
August 4, 2008
Category: climate
It is easy to be disappointed with Barack Obama's recent reversal on the acceptability of new offshore drilling. But unless this is your first presidential election, then you shouldn't be too surprised. Fans of any candidate have to be prepared for a long list of compromises as the November vote approaches and the two sides do what they think they have to do to win over those who don't share their core principles. But I am disappointed nevertheless. Especially as Obama seems to have given his energy policies a fair bit of thought.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 3:15 PM • 5 Comments
July 29, 2008
Category: climate
The man himself has been reduced to a footnote in the last advertisement from his new "we" campaign. The ad is scheduled to appear in the usual suspect media "to make sure Al Gore's clean electricity challenge stays on the top of our leaders' minds during their break." See a bigger version here.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 3:26 PM • 6 Comments
Category: climate
Andy Revkin demonstrates once again why he's among the best science journalists around in his latest exploration of the challenges facing climatologists frustrated with the way their science is portrayed in the popular media. No real answer emerges from his analysis, but if every researcher and reporter involved in the subject read this piece, maybe we'd be closer to one.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:29 AM • 2 Comments
July 25, 2008
Category: climate
As if the developing world didn't have a enough to worry about when it comes to joining the industrialized 21st century without following in the developed world's polluting footprints. A new study by British researchers finds that where you fly makes a difference to your impact on the climate. The take-home message is jet flights near the equator do more damage than at high latitudes.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 3:36 PM • 3 Comments
July 23, 2008
Category: climate
We have to nip this idea in the bud: Shell is reviving the notion of liming the oceans. Why?
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 2:30 PM • 9 Comments
July 22, 2008
Category: philosophy
I doubt whoever chose today's "quote of day" as it appears on my RSS-fed personalized Google homepage, was thinking about the recent climate-denying nonsense at the American Physical Society. But the timing was impeccable. First, the quote:
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 12:54 PM • 6 Comments
July 19, 2008
Category: climate
The Internet makes it waaaay to easy to be stupid. Over at my other blog, a collective effort assembled by the Weather Channel, I write exclusively about climate issues. Each of my posts and just about all my colleague's posts dealing with the subject assume that climate change is real and that humans are largely responsible. It's easier that way to keep things short. It also happens to be a reflection of what climatologists think. But almost every post attracts comments from those who beg to differ and last week was no different. Except that some of the comments were more inane than usual.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 3:30 PM • 17 Comments
July 17, 2008
Category: climate
I don't have time today to comment on Al Gore's latest challenge to America — "to produce every kilowatt of electricity through wind, sun and other Earth-friendly energy sources within 10 years" — except to say that such a plan is at once the best idea to make it to the national stage in years and the most ambitious. More later.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 12:33 PM • 0 Comments
July 15, 2008
Category: climate
I wanted to like Sizzle. I really did. I like Randy Olson's contributions here on ScienceBlogs to Shifting Baselines. Randy is a former marine biologist and I have a degree in marine biology. He thinks the climate crisis is one of if not the most important public policy challenge of our time. So do I. Global warming pseudoskeptics drive him crazy. Me, too. If anyone should appreciate what Randy's trying to do with his latest documentary, it's me. The problem is, I wasn't quite sure what it is he's trying to do until the last section of the film. I think I figured it out, but I must report that I wasn't impressed.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 5:00 AM • 0 Comments
July 11, 2008
Category: climate
If you had to identify the most popularly cited threats posed by a changing climate, rising sea levels would be a strong contender. While no one would argue that the fate of hundreds of millions of humans who live in low-lying coastal regions is not a good enough reason to put the brakes on global warming, I'd like to see more attention paid to what's happening beneath the ocean surface at its current level. I'm talking about the possibility of mass coral extinction. It's the subject of a new analysis in Science by an impressive list of 39 scientists from an even more impressive list of research institutions around the world.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:32 AM • 4 Comments
July 10, 2008
Category: climate
Not everyone here at ScienceBlogs is happy about a new project appearing here, under the auspices of SEED, and underwritten by none other than Shell. Yes, that's right, the big bad petro products transnational. "The Next Generation of Energy Ideas" is another blog collective, featuring some ScienceBloggers (including me) and a couple of others, most notably Joe Romm of Climate Progress. We'll be tackling a different question, put to us by a SEED editor, each week, and taking turns spewing forth. In return we will be paid for each post. My contributions appear Monday. How do I justify taking money from Shell?
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 2:42 PM • 7 Comments
Category: humor
It's time for the Union of Concerned Scientists' annual scientific integrity editorial cartoon contest. See the candidates and vote for your favorite here. My favorite:
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 1:41 PM • 1 Comments
July 9, 2008
Category: climate
What's not to love about Hawai'i? Well, Honolulu's a bit much, but the island state as a whole seems to understand what it's going to take to beat this whole global warming thing. It just put into a law a requirement that beginning in 2010, all new homes must incorporate solar water heaters.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 3:04 PM • 12 Comments
July 7, 2008
Category: climate
Some guy named Ken Sprague had a thousand pounds of British currency to throw around each year so he decided, for the second year in a row, to hold a competition for editorial cartoons dealing with "climate change and other threats to the environment." Not too surprisingly, many of the entries aren't so much funny as poignant reminders of human stupidity. The Independent offers a slide show of the two dozen best. Here's my favorite by Ukraine's Igor Kondenko. It manages to incorporate a variety of ideas, including a dig at the American can-do spirit, in one simple image:
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 2:53 PM • 2 Comments
June 27, 2008
Category: politics
So much has come down the political pipe in the past few days I've barely had time to think about science. Plus, I'm just about to head off for a 10-day vacation back on Canadian Shield birthright, so I need to get this off my chest: The Second Amendment has to go.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 11:22 AM • 26 Comments
June 24, 2008
Category: religiosity
The Pew Forum surveys on what Americans think always churn out fascinating results. The latest one, released Monday, is no exception. My favorite tidbit emerges from the clever decision to drill down past the simple question of whether the recipient believes in god to a more sophisticated understanding.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:48 AM • 6 Comments
Category: climate
It shouldn't be all that difficult to figure out. Do we have the means at our disposal, now, to replace fossil fuels with clean alternatives that won't bankrupt us all? The only two variables we need consider are the energy conversion efficiency ratios of each candidate technology and the costs, up front or amortized, of same. So why can't we agree on this simple question?
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 7:43 AM • 9 Comments
June 23, 2008
Category: religiosity
There's much gnashing of teeth among the secular set these days, as South Carolina prepares to offer automobile license plates that declare "I Believe." Just in case other drivers don't get it, the specialty plates will also feature a cross, just as Florida's proposed and rejected plates would have. Is this a breach of the First Amendment, as a lawsuit filed by Americans United for Separation of Church and State claims? Or is it much ado about nothing? I can't get worked up — beyond blogging about it, of course.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 7:46 AM • 6 Comments
June 20, 2008
Category: climate
Sixty years is a blink of the metaphorical eye on geological time scales, and it's still damn fast when you're talking about climate change. While it may be far too long for Wall Street to worry about, six decades is safely with human lifespans, and a study that concludes temperatures in Greenland can shift by 18 degrees Fahrenheit (10°C) in such a short time merits more than a passing mention.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 3:00 PM • 2 Comments
June 17, 2008
Category: climate
The man that Republicans believe is the best candidate for president their party has to offer says that lifting the federal moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling would "be very helpful in the short term resolving our energy crisis." This may not be the least intelligent statement to be made in the 2008 campaign to date — Ed Brayton prefers McCain's demonstration of his lack of understanding of basic legal principles — but it still boggles the mind.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 2:55 PM • 4 Comments
June 13, 2008
Category: climate
Among the most common arguments to emerge from attendees of the climate-change slide show we members of Al Gore's Climate Project hear is "what about nuclear energy?" After all, it doesn't produce any greenhouse gas emissions, at least not while operating, and the technology is already available. Well, there are three reasons why nuclear energy isn't part of a realistic solution to climate change.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 12:46 PM • 23 Comments
June 12, 2008
Category: climate
I have exaggerated and generalized to grab your attention. But it's not that much of a stretch to put reviving the North American continent's moribund passenger rail network at the heart of what really matters in this election year. By this, I mean how the American presidential and congressional candidates, and their analogs in Canada, approach the subject of mass transportation will tell you a lot about whether or not they understand the most important challenges facing society.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:39 AM • 10 Comments
June 9, 2008
Category: climate
Earth: The Sequel
The Race to Reinvent Energy and Stop Global Warming
by Fred Krupp and Miriam Horn
Has the climate crisis got you down? Cheer yourself up with yet another dose of (almost) unbridled optimism from the president of the Environmental Defense Fund (Fred) and one of his staffers (Miriam). Don't be fooled by the odd choice of title; this is actually an ode to the free market.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 1:22 PM • 1 Comments
June 5, 2008
Category: climate
Given just how much we don't understand about the Earth's climate, it's understandable that a newcomer to the science of global warming would doubt that we are capable of predicting much of anything. Many a climate change pseudoskeptic makes this argument, which can be compelling, but only if you don't understand how science works. A paper in this week's Nature Geoscienceis a perfect example of why so many people who otherwise consider themselves skeptics, people like me, find the anthropogenic explanation for climate change so persuasive. It's not so much what we know as the trends associated with what we don't that are so convincing.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 10:54 AM • 3 Comments
June 3, 2008
Category: climate
The report of NASA's Office of the Inspector General on the clumsy attempts to censoring climate science makes for a most enjoyable read. We can laugh now that it's over, I mean. There are lots of gems among the overall finding the a small cabal of political appointees in the public affairs office tried to delay or bury new findings on climate change. Here, then are some of my favorites:
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 11:44 AM • 1 Comments
June 2, 2008
Category: climate
Wired magazine's June cover story would have the entire environmental movement drop everything but one campaign. You don't need to see the cover to know they're talking about climate change. Does such single-mindedness make even the slightest bit of sense? Sort of. But not for the reasons the editors provide.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 7:42 AM • 11 Comments
June 1, 2008
Category: cetacea
There's a reason the Japanese, Norwegian and Icelandic whaling fleets mostly take the smallest of the great whales — whalers had taken so many of the bigger species that only the minke could tolerate any kind of hunt. There are supposed to be hundred of thousands of them out there, just waiting to be exploited by responsible, sustainable whaling operations. But wait...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 3:08 PM • 2 Comments
May 30, 2008
Category: climate
This may strike some as a bit much, but why the heck not? An opera based on "An Inconvenient Truth." The only problem is, how will the librettist keep the science of climate change current with an expected opening (at La Scala) of 2011? By then, we may be looking at a tragicomedy. Or perhaps an opera buffo, depending on how hot things get.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 7:35 AM • 3 Comments
May 29, 2008
Category: climate
Climatologists have long puzzled over what caused an abrupt drop in global average temperatures in 1945. To explain the anomaly, which, unlike most other similar rapid falls, is not associated with a volcanic eruption, most invoke an increase in airborne industrial activity following the end of the Second World War, even though the ocean temperature dip begins several years before industrial activity takes off. The idea is the clouds seeded by the extra aersols reflected more sunlight before it could be trapped in the atmosphere. But that was always a guess, and now it seems there was a simpler answer.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 8:28 AM • 8 Comments
May 27, 2008
Category: climate
We've all heard economics described as the "dismal science," yet it still qualifies for a Nobel prize. Many still grumble about the decision to tack on economics to the short list of true science Nobels, and while I don't know whether such complaints are justified, there is good reason to remain highly skeptical of the field's predictive powers in general. Take the just-released Tufts University study on the cost of climate change.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:48 AM • 25 Comments
May 26, 2008
Category: climate
I love Alaska. I really do. Not the political jurisdiction; the geographical entity that Michelle shocked felt compelled to remind her fans is the largest in the union. It's full of spectacular, mostly pristine wilderness. There's Denali, the fjords of the panhandle, its salmon, whales, eagles and bears, incomparable glaciers and some of the best aurora viewing on the planet. Too bad, then, that its human population seems hell-bent on doing everything it can to destroy what makes the place special.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 7:41 AM • 6 Comments
May 21, 2008
Category: evolution
One in eight. Is that low enough? Not according to the authors of a new paper in PLoS Biology who conducted the "first nationally representative survey of teachers concerning the teaching of evolution." They did come up with some optimistic data, though. When asked to describe the role, or lack thereof, in human's development over the ages, 28% said it was solely evolution. That's more than twice the rate for the population at large (13%).
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 6:41 AM • 3 Comments
May 19, 2008
Category: climate
...read the backgrounder produced by Real Climate's Rasmus Benestad. It's another example of the kind of reseach journalists need to do before writing about climate change research.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:21 AM • 1 Comments
May 16, 2008
Category: climate
Should scientists place bets on how well they can predict the future? I'm not talking about inter-lab wagers on the outcome of some arcane experiment. Such games are commonplace, and usually involve ersatz currencies such as beers or domestic services. But what about real money on something as consequential as a computer model of climate trends? Is that consistent with the professional detachment that's supposed to accompany honest research?
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 3:46 PM • 7 Comments
May 15, 2008
Category: climate
Now don't talk to me about the polar bear
Dont talk to me about ozone layer
Aint so much of anything these days, even the air
They're running out of rhinos, What do I care ?
Lets hear it for the dolphin, Lets hear it for the trees
Aint runnin' out of nothin in my deep freeze
--Mark Knopfler
So the Bush administration finally found a way to officially add the polar bear to the list of endangered species without bringing down the wrath of the robber barons of the petroleum industry. Well, sort of.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:27 AM • 3 Comments
May 14, 2008
Category: climate
Word is the U.S. Interior Department, after much delay, is going to list the polar bear (Ursus maritimus) "as a threatened species because of declining Arctic sea ice," according to major news service alert. Marvelous. Now all we have to do to save the species is stop climate change. More analysis as details emerge...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 2:41 PM • 2 Comments
May 13, 2008
Category: religiosity
There are basically two kinds of news consumers. Those who will find David Brooks' latest creation from his corner of the New York Times stable of columnists absolutely irresistible and those who will cross the street to Fox News before reading anything with a headline like "The Neural Buddhists."
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 2:50 PM • 16 Comments
Category: climate
John McCain's plan to decelerate climate change brings to mind the problem posed by fast food restaurant fare. It's attractive and convenient, but ultimately bad for you.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 11:44 AM • 2 Comments
May 12, 2008
Category: climate
The latest Pew survey on Americans' attitudes toward the climate crisis is so depressing, I am reminded of that old Busby Meyers song, "What's the use of getting sober, when you're gonna get drunk again?" I mean, really. Why bother? But because the only alternative to carrying on is to not carry on, here's my attempt at giving the numbers a positive spin.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 5:02 PM • 11 Comments
May 5, 2008
Category: climate
Got the Monday blues? Then find five minutes to brighten your day by playing what I call spot-the-slander on the Heartland Institute's list of "500 Scientists Whose Research Contradicts Man-Made Global Warming." The rules are simple:
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 10:06 AM • 5 Comments
Category: Everything Marine
In a rare treat on the usually quiet and contemplative Island of Doubt, I now bring you the 12th edition of the Carnival of the Blue, a celebration of all things wet and wonderful. Islands are only islands, after all, if they're surrounded by water.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 6:30 AM • 0 Comments