rachel.blog

Tag: agw

  • What does it mean to be skeptical?

    Here’s the etymology of the word: skeptic (n.) also sceptic, 1580s, “member of an ancient Greek school that doubted the possibility of real knowledge,” from French sceptique, from Latin scepticus, from Greek skeptikos (plural Skeptikoi “the Skeptics”), literally “inquiring, reflective,” the name taken by the disciples of the Greek philosopher Pyrrho (c.360-c.270 B.C.E.), from skeptesthai “to reflect, look, view” (see scope (n.1)). The extended sense of…

  • Ethics and journalism

    There’s an article in the Financial Post today titled, “Arctic sea ice back to 1989 levels, now exceeds previous decade“. The author is Lawrence Solomon and he goes on to say that arctic sea ice is higher today than on April 14th, 2013. He ends his article with, “The only evident trend in the ice,…

  • A world of giant snakes

    Once upon a time, crocodiles roamed the arctic1, along with turtles, fish and other warmth-loving creatures. How do we know this? Because bones from these animals have been found there. The bones of a Champsosaur – an extinct crocodile-like animal – were found in the high Canadian Arctic by researchers from the University of Rochester…

  • Factors besides CO2 – Myles Allen and Wally Broecker

    A great video (<3 minutes) from Myles and Wally about how other factors can modify the impact of rising greenhouse gases. Myles Allen is a Professor in the Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics Department at the University of Oxford. Wally Broecker is a Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University.

  • Peer review and hot cross buns

    Ben Martin is going to explain how academics get their work published in peer-reviewed journals. He is Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of Auckland. He is also an associate editor for the Journal of the Australian Mathematical Society and has himself published a number of peer-reviewed papers. Rachel: Let’s say, you’ve written a paper. You…

  • My plan for our planet

    There are expected to be 9 billion people on this planet by the year 2050. I may be one of them. Without sounding too much like a brainless beauty-pageant entrant, I hope that one day, we might see an end to world poverty. But is this view inconsistent with the part of me that also…

  • How do you analyse horse shit?

    I can’t resist posting a link to an article I read in Desmog recently. It includes the contents of a letter written by environment editor of the SMH, Sam Cubby and sent to an Australian climate change conspiracy theorist. He begins, “In considering your request that I identify errors in the report you sent to…