This week’s U.S. Drought Monitor shows a swath of red and dark red across New Mexico, indicating extreme and exceptional drought conditions. The last 12- and 24-month periods have eclipsed even those dry times of the early 20th century and the 1950s.… [more]
Category Archives: Beyond Planet Three
Oklahoma Tornado Relief
The recent tornado seasons have given us much to think about, but first things first. The Oklahoma tornado was particularly devastating. It’s easy to lend a hand, though… [more]
The Value of Peer Review
Via Stoat, an excellent survey of the epistemological value of peer review by Victor Venema.… [more]
Do We Need to Remember How to Plan?
Naomi Klein, a couple of years ago, observed that “it is not opposition to the scientific facts of climate change that drives denialists but rather opposition to the real-world implications of those facts.” She quotes Dellingpole: “Modern environmentalism successfully advances many of the causes dear to the left: redistribution of wealth, higher taxes, greater government intervention, regulation.” and offers her own “inconvenient truth”. She says that on this point, Dellingpole is right.
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Migratory Species Vulnerable to Five Key Threats
The ‘Big Five’ primary causes of biodiversity loss … are habitat destruction, overharvesting and poaching, pollution, climate change and introduction of invasive species.” Migratory species are especially vulnerable “as they depend entirely on a network of well-functioning ecosystems to refuel, reproduce and survive in every ‘station’ they visit and upon unrestricted travel.” … [more]
A right wing defence of pure science funding by governments
Andrew Coyne does an excellent job of demonstrating why the move away from pure science funding is a bad idea from an economic perspective… [more]
Italian Pesticide Ban Improves Bee Colony Health
A ban on the insecticide-soaked seed coating enforced by the Italian government last year seems to have worked wonders, judging from the freshest data collected on the ground by researchers, beekeepers and regional authorities alike.… [more]
Canada to Abandon Pure Science Altogether?
Phil Plait reports that the National Research Council—the Canadian scientific research and development agency—has now said that they will only perform research that has “social or economic gain”. In the past, civilized countries as a matter of pride contributed to the common pursuit of knowledge.
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Syria, the First Domino?
Writing in The Guardian, Nafeez Ahmed explicitly points to climate change as a component of the humanitarian disaster that is the Syrian civil war.… [more]
So Much Terrible Serendipity
There’s a thoughtful, beautifully written, and terrifying story about human/wildlife interaction, specifically an endangered seal in Hawai’i, written by Jon Mooallem, at the New York Times Magazine site.… [more]