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The Best Science Writing Online 2012
Showcasing more than fifty of the most provocative, original, and significant online essays from 2011, The Best Science Writing Online 2012 will change the way...
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If there's one thing the Democratic and Republican Presidential candidates seem to agree on, it's this: avoid the subject of climate change.
Mitt Romney would rather joke about President Obama's grandiose promise to heal the planet back in 2008. And Barack Obama would rather talk about jobs saved or created in Ohio, Florida and other swing states.
Never mind that this summer saw a record-breaking meltdown of Arctic sea ice, presaging rising sea levels and more extremely weird weather. Or that the U.S. is locked in a historic drought during what will most likely be the warmest year on record for this nation. Or that concentrations of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere continue to tick up inexorably. We are basically guaranteeing an even warmer future and much more acidic oceans.
We thank the two presidential candidates for presenting their views on climate change in response to Scientific American's survey this year. However, neither laid out any kind of policy plan for how to deal with global warming.
Let's break the code of silence. Maybe it's time for a moderator or audience member to directly ask a climate policy question during the October debates? Maybe?
—David Biello
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]
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6 Comments
Add CommentAre you one of the pros?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGB8Uuffi4M
There is only one way to get action on climate change in America - using the language of fear of being overcome by the "enemy". Boomers enjoyed a magnificent science education due to massive increases in education funding enabled by the launch of Sputnik representing the fear of technological supremacy by the Soviets.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe only way to get similar funding through for climate change will be through the (even more reality based) fear that China &/or Europe will dominate all the leading technologies and economic supremacy for the 21st century based on energy efficiency, alternative energy, carbon capture and sequestration etc.
This seems to be so closely tied to our (Americas) debate over science in general. We will deny evolution even though there is more evidence supporting it than gravity. Americans almost seem to bask in their anti-intellectualism. I recently returned from Europe and was impressed that my very very conservative relatives were alarmed by the rapid rate of arctic melting this year and confused by America's total lack of response to climate change treaties.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thissjn: There won't be much economy left to reign supreme over once the bill for moving half the worlds population further inland has been paid.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHow to make America 30 % more engergy effiecient over night: Put the price of gas on par with Europe, or roughly double it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe US constitution allows free speech, in otherwords lies.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisUS policy since WW2 has led to 1,000,000,000 pêople starving around the world.
So western democracy does not work, and the reason for this is that those people most concerned cannot vote today. The people the most concerned are of couse the future generations.