October 11, 2008 4:05:42 AM CDT
(Newser) – Scientists thought they'd convinced the world it was getting warmer, but a powerful, flush campaign of cynics is still successfully sowing doubt, Newsweek reports—and hobbling efforts to stave off disaster. From its humble beginnings ridiculing any warming, the "denial machine" has picked up funding from big oil and developed a more nuanced strategy: make Americans believe climate change is still an open question.
Losing in the labs, conservative skeptics are taking their fight to the press, using conferences, papers and media allies to recast the looming crisis as a debate—not unlike erstwhile tobacco apologists content to poke an array of holes in the evidence that tobacco causes cancer. The obfuscation appears to be working: Most Americans still think the scientific community is divided on the issue, while Europeans think it commands urgent attention.
Source MSNBC
Sep 5, 08 3:39 PM CDT Scientists worry humans might not curb carbon emissions in time to save the planet from irreversible harm, and some have suggested a radical concept called geo-engineering, the Economist reports. Once the stuff of science fiction, geo-engineering would combat global warming by manipulating the environment. While promising, critics warn ecological consequences could be disastrous and might encourage nations to continue using fossil fuels. More »
Sep 3, 08 7:30 PM CDT Global warming could make it easier for non-native plants to take root on the Arctic's Svalbard archipelago, but one researcher is fighting the problem on the ground level, Der Spiegel reports. Chris Ware has set up shop at Longyearbyen’s airport, where he cleans arriving passengers' shoes. "Dirt almost always contains seeds," he said. "Sometimes it is one, sometimes it is 30 or 40." More »
Aug 6, 08 5:10 AM CDT Want to see what we’re in for as the planet keeps warming? Visit Greenland, where climate change has even created a new kind of language for its people, writes Thomas L. Friedman in the New York Times. Conversations on the melting island are now peppered with phrases expressing amazement at the speed of climate change and expressions of uncertainty such as "I don’t know anymore.” Call it "climate speak," says Friedman. More »
Aug 3, 08 7:57 AM CDT Global warming is a serious issue—but it shouldn't blind us to other immediate environmental concerns, writes Joel Achenbach in the Washington Post. “Humans are environment-destroying creatures by nature" and ruining the earth in any number of ways—but instead of paying attention to pressing local issues, every disaster is now written off as the result of climate change, Achenbach warns. More »
Jul 17, 08 4:46 PM CDT Climate change will bring longer, hotter, smoggier summers in the coming decades across the US, a new EPA reports says. Expect more wildfires and hurricanes, too, along with water problems in the West, the Washington Post reports. The federal report is noteworthy because it refutes the Bush administration's rosier outlook on global warming, the Post notes. More »
climate change • environment • global warming • oil • science • Americans