Postenvironmental dilemma, II

The Indian author, Siddharta Deb, has an interesting op-ed piece in the New York Times, "Behind the Wheel, Moving Up". This piece addresses another environmentalist dilemma, which is the drive for upward mobility in developing countries.  The main role in Siddharta Deb's short story is a Mitsubishi SUV, Red Panjero. The protagonist , J, gets divorced from his wife because he does not fulfil his marital duties, which are, of course, making the family part of middle class. He only owned an old Ford:

The Post-Environmental Dilemma

Environmentalists are often treated as one coherent group speaking with one voice. This is not true, of course, as an article in today's New York Times, the Not-so-Green Mountains, demonstrates. In Vermont, a company wants to erect 21 wind turbines along a mountain ridgeline. The author, a former commissioner of the Vermont  Fish and Wildlife Department, calls this a "desecration, in the name of green energy". It's green versus green: nature conservation versus climate protection. Its worth having  a closer look at this case to better understand the environmental dilemma.

Tired of global anger

There is an interesting article by Robert Kwulrich on the NPR (National Public Radio) website about "Avoiding global warming stories":

I got a call the other day from some producers I very much admire. They wanted to talk about a series next year on global warming and I thought, why does this subject make me instantly tired? Global warming is important, yes; controversial, certainly; complicated (OK by me); but somehow, even broaching this subject makes me feel like someone's put heavy stones in my head. Why is that?

As an anthropologist, I think this is a very good starting point. To bring some new aspects into the either worn out or else highly specialized (and thus mostly exclusive) global warming debate , Kwulrich suggests to have a look at the emotional side of the debate. He ends up in realizing that it's not the arguments, but the negativity of skeptics that bothers him:

When they write in to NPR, they cite study after study; a recent paper by Dan Kahan and colleagues at Yale Law School found the more scientifically literate and numerate you are, the less likely you are to see climate change as a serious threat. So this isn't about a lack of science knowledge or that there aren't scientific questions to wonder about. It's not that the skeptics don't have an argument, it's how they argue. It's the anger. That's what puzzles me.

To find out more about what he identifies as a negative vibe, he quotes from another blog, run by Ursula Goodenough, a biology professor from St. Louis. She asked her readers: "If you are a global warming skeptic, what makes you so angry?", or, "What motivates a denier?" She tried to systematize the answers and delivers what is, in my opinion, quite an interesting categorization (see blow). In the last part of the article, the famous novelist Jonathan Frantzen is quoted, who fell in love with birds (and then became an environmentalist).

CLISAP Interviews continued -

The CLISAP interview series has been extended with an interview with the scientific director Michael Brzoska of the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg: http://www.klimacampus.de/2014.html.

So far 6 interviews have been published. Some of the questions raised are identical in the different interviews.

English and German versions available.

Wo ist das Gletschereis?

Eine neue Kontroverse entwickelt sich über das Abschmelzen des Grönlandeises. Der Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World, verlegt von HarperCollins, behauptet das Eis sein in den letzten 12 Jahren um 15% abgeschmolzen. Spiegel online berichtet hier.

Deutsch oder Englisch? - Leserbrief

Ich erhielt diesen Leserbrief:

" Sehr geehrter Herr von Storch,
durch mein Interesse an Wetter und Wahrheit bin ich auch auf Ihre interessanten Internetseiten gestoßen.(http://coast.gkss.de/staff/storch/storch.htm#storch)
Nun kann ich zwar einigermaßen Englisch, doch nicht so gut als wäre es die Muttersprache. So fällt es schon recht schwer die Texte zu lesen und ich kann mir vorstellen, daß es Menschen gibt, die es leider dann doch nicht schaffen die Informationen zu erreichen, weil das Übersetzen zu mühsam wird.

Gibt es diese Internetseiten auch in deutscher Sprache? Wenn ja würde ich mich freuen.
Gerade im Kampf um die unabhängige Arbeit der Wissenschaft ist es meiner Meinung nach wichtig jedem Menschen, vor allem im deutschsprachigen Raum Europas, alle erforderlichen Informationen leicht und ohne Schwellen zugänglich zu machen. Da Englisch nur von relativ wenigen Menschen in Europa als Muttersprache gesprochen wird und Deutsch die am meisten gesprochene Muttersprache in Europa ist, sollte man die als Wissenschaftssprache besten geeignete Sprache in Ehren halten und vorrangig bei Veröffentlichungen auch verwenden. Englisch ist eine zu ungenaue Sprache für die Wissenschaft und es ist ein Unglück, daß viele in dieses englische Korsett gezwungen werden, was allzuoft zu gewaltigen Mißverständnissen führt.

mit freundlichen Grüßen
Name "

Calgary Herald reports about starnge financial arrangements

who wonders what to think about these news published by Calgary Herald:

"Research accounts at the University of Calgary, funded mainly by the oil and gas industry, were used for high-priced consultants, lobbying, wining, dining, and travel with the goal of casting doubt on climate change science."

for complete text refer to: http://www.canada.com/technology/University+Calgary+climate+research+accounts+used+travel+wining+dining+records/5403451/story.html#ixzz1Y835ZyOX

Is it reliably researched? If true, would the report unethical and uncommon behavior?  Is this just what one would expect in a post-normal situation?

Climate Reality Project II

On nature news, you can read comments, observations and opinions about the "telethon" among others by Bob Ward, Judith Curry and klimazwiebel authors Hans and Werner. Here's our comment: 
"We want to present three observations on the basis of our selected viewing of Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project. First, we address the political and scientific legitimization of the message; second, we criticize the form of representation, and finally we discuss the dilemma of the global – local nexus."

Live!!! ClimateRealityProject! 24 Hours of Global Climate Reality!

Dear klimazwiebeln,
whenever your time today allows, check in on the internet and watch
The ClimateRealityProject
This project is founded and chaired by Al Gore. It would be great to have short summaries, your observations and your comments on whatever you watched during the next 24 hours. This is a great opportunity to hear and watch a (hegemonic?) version of global climate discourse.

The past is now

I guess that every generation has considered itself to live in a special moment in the history of mankind, and probably out generation is no exception. From the Millennium fears 1000 years ago, to the dawning of the nuclear age and climate change, and the last economic bubbles - and bursts- one has the impression that present  time  will be different from any other times in the past.

Rückspiegel: "Der Klimawissenschaftler als Prophet" (2000)

Im Oktober 2000 hatte Hans von Storch den Sprachwissenschaftler Martin Döring und mich eingeladen, auf der 5. Deutschen Klimatagung in Hamburg einen Vortrag zu halten. Wir waren dort als Kulturwissenschaftler wahre Exoten, und unser Ansatz zumindest damals recht ungewöhnlich: wir versuchten, den Klimawissenschaften einen (linguistischen und ethnologischen) Spiegel vorzuhalten und so eine dialogische Perspektive in den Klimadiskurs einzubringen. "Wir wollen nicht nur die Menschen "da draußen" abholen, wo sie sind, sondern auch die Wissenschaftler", so lautete die kleine Provokation in unserem Vortrag: "Der Klimawissenschaftler als Prophet". Ob das je gelungen ist? Der Vortrag bietet vielleicht eine gute Gelegenheit, einmal über eine längere Zeitspanne die Entwicklung der Klimadebatte und der Klimaforschung zu reflektieren. Zumal hier auf der klimazwiebel, die, wenn ich mir das so überlege, einen ihrer Anfänge in solchen Debatten hatte (nur dass man damals noch nicht wusste, was ein blog ist!).

Das Projekt "CLIMATE VOTE PROJECT"

Ich bekam diese Mail, und ich denke, einige der Leser von der Klimazwiebel hätten Lust, den Ansatz zu diskutieren:

Erst kürzlich startete die Klimaschutzinitiative CLIMATE VOTE PROJECT mit dem Launch der Internetseite www.climatevoteproject.org.

Rasmussen: US belief on GHG and solar effects

Quoted from a recent Rasmussen  Report on a survey among "likely US voters":

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 60% of Likely U.S. Voters think it’s at least somewhat likely that the level of activity on the sun ... has an impact on the long-term heating and cooling of the earth’s atmosphere. Just 22% feel that it’s unlikely solar activity influences the atmosphere’s long-term temperature.
These findings include 29% who say it’s Very Likely that solar activity has a long-term impact impacts and only six percent (6%) who believe it’s Not At All Likely. Seventeen percent (17%) are not sure.
Still, 44% of voters thinks human activity has a bigger impact on the long-term heating and cooling of the Earth’s atmosphere than solar activity does. Thirty-seven percent (37%) disagree and believe solar activity has a greater impact. Eighteen percent (18%) are not sure.

I was surprised to read that there seem to be just two positions - it is either the sun or GHG; no space for other causes, including internal variability. I had believed that the "skeptics" in the US were only able to persuade large parts of the public that the GHG-explanation of the warming is false or a "hoax", but it seems that they have achieved more, namely that many accept "the sun" as a better explanation.

Interview zur Bürgerkriegsstudie in nature

Andreas Frey von der Frankfurter Allgemeinen Sonntagszeitung befragte mich zu der in Nature erschienenen Studie von Hsiang, Meng und Cane: „Civil conflicts are associated with the global climate“ - daraus wurde ein Artikel in der Ausgabe am 28.8.2011 auf Seite 53

~~
Posting by Frederik Schenk

Spencer-Paper leads to Resignation of the publishing Editor-in-Chief

Some days ago, Prof. Wagner, editor-in-chief of the journal Remote Sensing, took the responsibility for having published the paper of Roy Spencer and resigned from his position:

“After having become aware of the situation, and studying the various pro and contra arguments, I agree with the critics of the paper. Therefore, I would like to take the responsibility for this editorial decision and, as a result, step down as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Remote Sensing.”

Rasmussen Report

A new Rasmussen Report finds:

"With hurricane season in full swing, Americans have mixed views on whether global warming is behind extreme weather conditions.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 41% of American Adults believe global warming is creating climate changes that lead to more extreme weather events. Forty-three percent (43%) disagree with that assessment, while 16% are not sure.
The latest findings show little change from January of last year. However, the number of Americans who feel global warming is linked to extreme weather is down 14 points from early June 2008 when 55% felt that way.

Still, separate polling shows that 59% say global warming it at least a somewhat serious problem. Just 37% do not think climate change is a serious issue. These findings have remained fairly consistent for years now."

Transdisciplinary analysis

An analysis of the "climate problem" by a theoretical sociologist, a theoretical physicist and a climate researcher:

von Storch, H., A. Bunde and N. Stehr, 2011: The Physical Sciences and Climate Politics In J.S. Dyzek, D. Schlosberg, and R. B. Norgaard (eds): The Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society. Oxford University Press. Oxford UK, 113-128

Two major conclusions about the science of climate, and the knowledge about climate may be drawn: