Collide-a-scape

There’s a fascinating, informative discussion thread on the dynamics of societal collapse over at The Oil Drum, prompted by a very readable 10,000 word essay on the fall of the Roman empire, cleverly entitled, “Peak Civilization.”

This is really complicated stuff that the news media utterly fails to convey, preferring instead to focus on single-cause “forcings,” be it drought, climate change, overpopulation, or overexploitation of natural resources. I’m susceptible to this myself with respect to drought.

Of course, the media takes its cue from scholars such as Jared Diamond, whose one-size-fits all thesis is pretty well deconstructed by Joseph Tainter. Fans of Tainter will be heartened to know that his work is intelligently discussed (as far as I can tell) at the aforementioned essay and comment thread on The Oil Drum.

The dominant framing of the water/drought issue in California is quite similar to that of the emerging climate change/developing world meme.

In California, drought is simplistically blamed for the state’s water woes and economic plight of farmers. Similarly, venerable authorities claim that climate change is responsible for 300,000 annual deaths and much misery in developing countries.

Neither storyline is accurate. Critical, countervailing narratives by reputable scholars are offered but largely ignored–not because they are wrong but because they don’t fit the dominant frame.

So in this sense, I’d say that Peter Gleick is to California’s supposed water/drought/misery connection as Roger Pielke Jr. is to the supposed climate change/disaster connection. Both have marshalled evidence and made arguments that challenge the respective storylines.

No matter. The dominant, false storylines drive the debate in the media and in policy and political circles. Go figure.

Hat tip for Gleick: Noah Buhayar at Environment Capital

It’s easy to imagine George Will smirking as he wrote this, and Joe Romm snarling as he posted this, the bile in his gut gurgling upwards into familiar screeches,

“SHAME…NO SHAME…SHOULD BE ASHAMED…ARRGGHH…DENIERS…BREAKTHROUGHWILLHIATT…YEAHHHAA…

Summarizing the theme of a recent hearing at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Kate Sheppard at Grist writes:

More senators and citizens might support a climate bill if it emphasized the national security challenges presented by climate change, former Virginia Sen. John Warner (R) argued on Tuesday.

I’ve made similar points here and here.

I’ll say it again: I’m astonished that enviros and climate advocates haven’t made this central to their argument. The other side surely understands the powerful symbolism of military brass and national security hawks warning of climate change. Why do you think Marc Morano at Climate Depot offers no linkage to news of the hearings or statements from Warner and the other witnesses?

In response to this article, the Blue Marble tries valiantly to drive a stick through the zombie that stalks us all:

We love a good conspiracy as much as the next investigative magazine–especially one that involves Big Pharma, the FDA, and the CDC. But as we’ve extensively reported here, the vaccines = autism meme might just be the most damaging medical myth of the decade. Not only is it based on false “science” that’s tearing apart the families of sick children, it’s unintentionally sickening thousands of others.

Timothy Egan is one of the best writers at the NY Times. Here’s his killer lede from today’s column:

Like a brief, intense summer squall, a media storm passed over small-town America a few years ago, stripping away what was left of the myth of the rural idyll to reveal a cast of hollow-cheeked white people smoking meth behind the corn silo.

I find it astonishing that J-schools out West are content to stand pat amid the newspaper industry’s collapse.  How is it possible that a noted environmental journalist from one recently shuttered paper can scrounge only $3,000 for his new investigative operation?

The Rocky Mountain News and Seattle Post-Intelligencer are gone. Where are the innovative partnerships and initiatives that should be flowing out of J-schools? All you tenured faculty: are you MIA?

As CJR notes:

With the loss of P-I, The Rocky Mountain News and countless other jobs across the region, the country’s old frontier needs some new pioneers.

J-schools are the last remaining and best situated institutions to help launch these bare-bones, pioneering start-ups. But as far as I can tell, they’re content to let everyone else do the heavy lifting.

I’m enjoying the bloggy-world dust-up between Mooney/Kirshenbaum and PZ Myers.

Now that my CU Fellowship is over, I’ve been out in the field reporting on a bunch of stories, so blogging has been light the last few weeks.

Here’s a piece on the big pothunting investigation I recently wrote for Science magazine, published today (sub req). For those who haven’t followed the twists and turns of this case, it’s pretty fascinating. It’s a rich story that keeps sprouting odd tentacles.

Here’s the latest development, as reported in the Salt Lake Tribune.

An economist from Australia who had never heard of Roger Pielke Jr. until he saw this warped criticism from Joe Romm actually takes the time to read Pielke and concludes:

In no way is the guy a “climate denier”. Rather, he seems concerned that:

1. Proposed policy is too ineffective and instead more measures should be taken to directly encourage innovation.

2. Scientific results are used incorrectly by many climate policy advocates. This reduces the credibility of science in the eyes of the public when they realise “they’ve been had”.

So I don’t see what all the fuss is about.