climate change
Temperature rising: Climate crises in Africa
Climate change will bring a laundry list of catastrophes to Africa. Across the continent, people are trying to adapt to the changing weather.
Yes, the pipeline matters
Joe Nocera thinks that everyone protesting the Keystone pipeline is pretty silly. He makes a series of weak arguments, and I'll direct you to others to explain why the pipeline isn't about a U.S. geopolitical advantage, why the environmental cost of tar sands oil extraction isn't small just because Nocera says so, why activism is more important than wonky incrementalism, and why a carbon tax wouldn't make tar sands extraction more viable.
I'm more interested in Nocera's overall point: that we need to reduce demand for fossil fuels, not supply.
Scientific literacy
Why does antiscience sentiment gain such traction in America? Conservatives deserve some blame, but so does the scientific community.
Playing offense: It’s time to divest from the oil industry
As generations of coaches have delighted in pointing out, defense wins games. But we’re very far behind in the global warming game.
What are productive ways to talk about climate change?
Earlier this year, the Century published a piece by an environmental scientist on just how radical the current shift in CO2 levels are—from the perspective of 50 million years. As I was working with that scientist, Lee Vierling, on the piece, we struggled to find a language that he and I and readers of the Century could share.
He wanted something that was fluid and scientifically absolutely accurate. He also wanted to be certain that he was not using scare tactics.
Short shrift in a long campaign
The presidential campaign has been an exhausting marathon. Yet it's hardly touched on some major issues facing the nation.
The great exhale: CO2 and the extinction of species
Long ago, another atmospheric shift took place. It shows how different the earth's environments have been—and how different they may become.
How we’re poisoning our children: An interview with ecologist Sandra Steingraber
"Chemical trespass and climate change are often dealt with by two separate groups of environmentalists. I am interested in bringing these two together."
Good investments
The use of clean energy sources is growing, but unless those sources
become cheaper and more efficient, they won't put a dent in the rise in
carbon emissions.
The receding sea where Jesus walked
The lectionary reading from Matthew's Gospel is the story of Jesus walking on the Sea of Galilee in the midst of a storm. In a couple of decades, anyone will be able to cross the Sea of Galilee on foot because of climate change.
Disobedience: Direct action on global warming
Global warming is dry science, an entirely rational question that should be addressed by experts working on our behalf and with our thanks. But it's not happening.
