facing up to the climate change communication boogeyman

18/09/2011

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Via Reuters More Americans believe world is warming:

Unlike many other issues that divide Republicans and Democratic voters, such as healthcare or how to deal with the deficit and debt, a majority of Americans from both major parties agree on global warming, the poll found. Some 72 percent of Republicans believe global warming is happening and 92 percent of Democrats do, it found.

Global warming could be an important issue in next year’s election, because some 15 percent of voters see it as their primary concern, said Krosnick, who is also a university fellow at the Resources for the Future think tank.

If President Barack Obama, a Democrat, can define himself as the environmental candidate, he could have a large advantage over a Republican, Krosnick said. If however, a Republican softens his or her stance on climate and Obama, who has failed to pass a climate bill in his first term, moves more to the center, it may not be a factor in the election.

Clearly there is a silent majority problem on climate change — every poll I’ve ever seen says the vast majority of Americans believe it is happening and believe it is man-made. The struggle seems to be with communications and getting the message out there that we can combat climate change and adapt to the effects we are experiencing right now.

By being defensive about climate science and dwelling on defending that science, we’re playing  into the hands of the noisy 17 percent of Americans who have rejected reality, reason and the majority of the population. The more we talk about the science of climate change, the more the denialists can play smoke and mirrors with the science.

If we move beyond “why it’s happening” and start talking about the actions needed to address it we’d be framing the conversation in a way Americans can support — because it will be one framed in action not in fear. And, by the way, we would have a much more fruitful debate — the debate over cap-and-trade versus a carbon tax, for instance is a worthy debate to have.

Photo: Climate Change action in Boise, Idaho, by Flickr user The World Wants a Real Deal. Used under a Creative Commons License.

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yesterday’s temp: a balmy 106

24/07/2011

Nothing like a bit of a heatwave to make you realize you need to dust your dashboard.

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hot friday link action: dying culture edition

20/05/2011

Arcade: The Last Night at Chinatown Fair Trailer from Kurt Vincent on Vimeo.

To paraphrase Heart of Darkness, “The printed page, he dead.” Yesterday, Amazon announced that kindle books are now the most popular book format on Amazon.com. “Today,” the obit reads, “less than four years after introducing Kindle books, Amazon.com customers are now purchasing more Kindle books than all print books – hardcover and paperback – combined.”

Also dead: The arcade in New York City. Above is the trailer for Arcade, a documentary that explores Chinatown Fair during its last week in operation. The arcade closed after being in operation for over 50 years. The director is running a Kickstarter campaign to get funding and has already exceeded his goal. But I’m sure he’d appreciate the extra investment.

It seems we are all staring into screens a lone right now.

In the world of sport — and signs of the Apocalypse — Italian soccer giants AS Roma, are apparently sniffing around all sorts of American players with EU passports. No Short Corners has all the speculation a man could want on this subject. Current rumored targets include defenders Timothy Chandler or Eric Lichaj. Also, he quotes Yoda, so that’s pretty bad-ass.

In political news, John Huntsman, the only sane Republican candidate for President that I’ve run across, is getting raked over the coals by his increasingly bat-shit crazy party for saying that scientists might know what they’re talking about. Huntsman’s crime? Telling Time that we should listen to the overwhelming majority of scientists who tell us that climate change is real and happening now.

Need something to do on a rainy Saturday? Try Pitch, the board game of graphic design — or, Pictionary for people with dark-rimmed glasses and Apple fetishes.

Speaking of Apple fetishes, liking Apple products apparently triggers the same parts of the brain in Macheads as Dieties do for the devout. No surprise there.

Finally today, Puma has taken a big step forward in thinking on corporate sustainability, announcing it will put a value on the environmental services it uses to produce its shoes. This sounds super wonky, and in many ways it is, but basically means that Puma will now account for environmental degradation when it tallies up the bottom line. From The Guardian: “Puma has published an economic valuation of the environmental impacts caused by greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and water consumption along its entire supply chain and has committed to the more difficult task of integrating both its social and economic impacts.”

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hot friday link action: bin laden smoked weed addition

6/05/2011

The Bin Laden/Obama memes flew fast and furiously this week. The subtle velociraptor version above happens to be my personal favorite. Time and The Atlantic have the rundown on some of the more popular memes this week.

In other Bin Laden news, he was apparently growing some pretty sick weed in his million dollar (or $460,000) compound right next to his cabbages and potatoes. But The Huffington Post assures us it was probably for medical purposes only.

SHOCKING! Fox News produced a misleading piece about climate change, weather and tornadoes, taking clips out of context and not including all the facts. The Wonk Room has the takedown, and The Nature Conservancy’s Sarene Marshall gives an inside view on what happened in Cool Green Science (see comments).

Starbucks or a hot meal? Coffee prices hit a 34-year high this week, meaning it’s going to cost you more to get that morning fix. Planet Green says heavy rains in South America, coupled with increased demand are driving up prices. I’m blaming the Trenta.

And finally, Clean up Your Mess! Daniel Higginbotham of Flying Machine Studios has a great eBook as website (or website as eBook) guide to visual design that is a must-read for anyone who cares about that sort of thing. Must-read for the awesome Aikido example he uses if for nothing else.

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worth a read: seas could rise up to 1.6 metres by 2100 (via Reuters)

3/05/2011

Quickening climate change in the Arctic including a thaw of Greenland’s ice could raise world sea levels by up to 1.6 meters by 2100, an international report showed on Tuesday.

Such a rise — above most past scientific estimates — would add to threats to coasts from Bangladesh to Florida, low-lying Pacific islands and cities from London to Shanghai. It would also, for instance, raise costs of building tsunami barriers in Japan.

via Seas could rise up to 1.6 metres by 2100: study | Reuters.

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hot friday link action: killer’s kiss

15/04/2011

The excellent Open Culture adds Stanley Kubrick’s Killer’s Kiss to their Free Online Movies collection. The 67-minute film noir marks the true start of Kubrick’s film career.

Readability adds yet another link shortener to the mix for short-link hungry twitter users. Clicking on a rdd.me link opens articles in the Readability format, including a mobile-optimized version. As newspapers continue to jam adds into their content — I’m looking at you Washington Post– this type of service for news sharing will become more important. Readability can also provide revenue for writers and publishers.

Apple is looking to create a world without wires and a world without wires is a better world indeed. The magic gadget maker is working on a set of iDevices, starting with the next generation of iPods, that can be synced with iTunes over WiFi. The engineering is tough however. Speaking of Apple and wireless, Scoble calls AirPlay the most important protocol since RSS, even though it’s owned and controlled by Apple.

Venerable outdoor clothier and gear-maker L.L. Bean is getting hip. It just launched a new Tumblr account and is promoting a stylish new Signature collection aimed at the J.Crew/hipster set. Add in their new, everything ships for free policy, and L.L. Bean looks to be on the rise.

The U.S. needs wind power to reduce its emissions and stem climate change, but we don’t want to turn the American West into a wind factory. Good news: A new study from The Nature Conservancy shows that it’s possible to generate wind power for hundreds of millions of homes without disturbing natural lands. So let’s build some turbines up in this piece.

Speaking of The Nature Conservancy, we’re on Instagram now, so please check us out if your an Instagram user.

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It’s Time for a Big Tent on Climate Change. It’s Time for Climate Hawks.

8/02/2011

In a post on Planet Change I talk about the real consensus behind cimate change, the unexpected grousps that support real climate action and a new way of talking about climate change that won’t alienate people or create unnecessary political divisions.  In short, I discuss the fledgling Climate Hawks movement. Read @ Planet Change

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