There is an absolute difference between speech as opinion and speech as fact. I, personally, applaud a newspaper - an industry that should be based on the pursuit of truth and fact - holding ground that it will publish differing opinions, but it will not print falsehoods disguised as opinions. After a forty-year-long attack on government, we have recently seen an attack on science, and if we lose both of those battles, we will have lost our foundation.
L.A. Times won't publish climate denier letters
"I do my best to keep errors of fact off the letters page; when one does run, a correction is published. Saying 'there’s no sign humans have caused climate change' is not stating an opinion, it’s asserting a factual inaccuracy."
This becomes essential as we enter an important transition for our species: from energy-intesive growth, to smart-energy sustainability. If we allow volume and access to outweigh tested methods for knowledge attainment, then we set ourselves up to unravel hundreds of years of intellectual development. I find it interesting that in the pursuit of economic gain, a sector of our population pushes conservatism when it comes to assessing the value of infrastructure, but liberalism when it comes to the value of science.
The climate risks of an overreliance on natural gas for electricity
"Natural gas does have a role to play in the U.S. power supply, but an overreliance on natural gas over the long-term will not achieve the emissions reductions needed to address global warming. Instead the U.S. must invest in achieving a low-carbon electricity future by generating more electricity from renewable energy sources and improving energy efficiency."
The continued lunacy of closing the federal government highlights the short-sightedness that accompanies rash thinking. We still want safe meat, military preparedness, seniors having access to capital to spend, and even oversight of industries whose past accidents have caused significant physical, economic, and environmental damage. If we experienced another Deepwater Horizons-like spill in the Gulf, or a Fukishima-like nuclear disaster, and those tasked with oversight and response had not been on duty, we would immediately clamor for their return. It should not come to that.
Shutdown is affecting energy and environmental programs
"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced that barring a compromise in Congress, the agency would be mostly closing up on Thursday, with all but about 300 of its 3,900 employees scheduled to be furloughed. Those who remain include about 150 inspectors who live near nuclear power reactors. Most of the rest are at the agency’s headquarters in Rockville, Md."
Over the next year, we will hear regular reports about the new scientific consensus in the latest IPCC report on climate change. Much of it will contain ranges of changes and levels of confidence in those changes. As with all science that predicts events, we cannot be sure what will happen until we get there, and we can always avoid the predictions through the way we change our actions.
By 2047, coldest years may be hotter than the warmest in the past, scientists say
"The research comes with caveats. It is based on climate models, huge computer programs that attempt to reproduce the physics of the climate system and forecast the future response to greenhouse gases. Though they are the best tools available, these models contain acknowledged problems, and no one is sure how accurate they will prove to be at peering many decades ahead."
However, sometimes it does not take long papers or predictive science for us to understand that we are facing rapid change and that we must mitigate, adapt, and respond.
Yosemite's largest ice mass is melting fast
"Lyell has dropped 62% of its mass and lost 120 vertical feet of ice over the last 100 years. 'We give it 20 years or so of existence — then it'll vanish, leaving behind rocky debris,' Stock said.
The Sierra Nevada Mountains have roughly 100 remaining glaciers, two of them in Yosemite. The shrinkage of glaciers across the Sierra is also occurring around the world. Great ice sheets are dwindling, prompting concerns about what happens next to surrounding ecological systems after perennial rivulets of melted ice disappear."
Happy Friday!
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