Exquisite control of systems is possible through correct use of feedback control. But awareness of the limitations of the model you use is necessary to make correct use of it, [more]
There are very large and important differences between local and global statistics. Differences we cannot afford to overlook. [more]
Heartland's defense of their billboards did more damage than the billboards themselves because they revealed the bizarre thinking behind them for all to see. But emotionally laden comparisons generally tend to backfire on whoever uses them. [more]
Your per capita fraction of the arable land on earth is about an acre, which must sustain you and your descendants forever. [more]
If Journalists would just stop asking questions, the government wouldn't have to stop the scientists from answering. Better yet, if the scientists would stop doing science there would be nothing to ask them about. And if mother nature would stop being such a drama queen in the first place we wouldn't have to worry about any of this. [more]
Economics poses as a pure science when it is actually best construed as a particularly crude form of engineering. We should not be predicting what we do. We should be deciding what we do, and using economics as a tool to get us to the future that we choose. [more]
We can’t live without this essential element—yet at the same time we’re having an increasingly hard time living with it. What in the world are we going to do? [more]
We may have had only one degree of warming in the global mean, but that doesn't mean that severe warm outliers "would have occurred" otherwise. Many attempts by prominent meteorologists to attribute proportions of blame for individual severe events to "natural variability" and "anthropogenic influence" yield relatively modest cause for concern, but are based on an unjustifiable simplification. New results make it easier to understand why their reassurances are wrong. [more]
[This article original appeared on Shaping Tomorrow's World, author retains copyright] By Stephan Lewandowsky Winthrop Professor and Australian Professorial Fellow, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia Original posted on 26 March 2012 In a previous post, we saw that uncertainty is not your friend. In a nutshell, if there is uncertainty, things could be worse than anticipated as well as better. [more]
The insights gained from an understanding of earth system science may tempt scientists to play the role of Cassandra, the ancient Greek beauty who was granted the gift of prophecy, but who was cursed so that nobody would believe her. [more]
A recent increase in jet stream blocking is leading to an increase of "stickiness" of weather, which helps neither the sunny places nor the wet ones. The recent warmth in the midwest is an example. This was not predicted by climate science, illustrating the maxim that uncertainty is not your friend. [more]
If people believe that sustainability and economic growth are incompatible then why would their place their bets with economic growth? [more]
The documentary Switch would be an admirable overview of the energy problem, except for the small detail it leaves out - that net carbon emissions need to go to zero as soon as possible. [more]
Mike Mann has an excellent brief summary of the "hockey stick" controversy up on the CNN site. Nothing new to our regulars, I suppose, but worth bookmarking so you can show it to your friends and acquaintances. [more]
Beyond Planet Three
The Ottawa Citizen reports: A vortex [sic] of population growth, land scarcity and a changing climate has wrenched Shashemene and much of densely populated south-central Ethiopia from an area that produced food surpluses less than a decade ago to a place where food aid is regularly needed. [more]
