What's in the New UN IPCC Climate Report?

Check out some good recaps from Chris Mooney at Mother Jones and Jason Samenow at the Washington Post.

Chris Mooney: "Scientists Need to Speak Up"

Chris Mooney, the author of The Republican War on Science, has a must-read op-ed in today's Washington Post calling on scientists to more effectively influence the public debate:

Scientific training continues to turn out researchers who speak in careful nuances and with many caveats, in a language aimed at their peers, not at the media or the public. Many scientists can scarcely contemplate framing a simple media message for maximum impact; the very idea sounds unbecoming. And many of them don't trust the public or the press: According to a recent Pew study, 85 percent of U.S. scientists say it's a "major problem" that the public doesn't know much about science, and 76 percent say the same about what they see as the media's inability to distinguish between well-supported science and less-than-scientific claims. Rather than spurring greater efforts at communication, such mistrust and resignation have further motivated some scientists to avoid talking to reporters and going on television.

They no longer have that luxury. After all, global-warming skeptics suffer no such compunctions. What's more, amid the current upheaval in the media industry, the traditional science journalists who have long sought to bridge the gap between scientists and the public are losing their jobs en masse. As New York Times science writer Natalie Angier recently observed, her profession is "basically going out of existence." If scientists don't take a central communications role, nobody else with the same expertise and credibility will do it for them.

You can read more from Chris at his Discover Magazine blog, The Intersection.

Tuesday: Authors of "Unscientific America" in DC

The Green Miles will be in DC Tuesday night to hear form the authors of Unscientific America:

Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum
Unscientific America (Basic Books, $24)
Tuesday, July 28, 7 p.m.
Politics & Prose
5015 Connecticut Ave., NW

The authors of The Republican War on Science and Storm World sees an urgent need for more coverage of science in mainstream media, for improved education in the sciences, and for greater public engagement by hyperspecialized scientists if we are to grapple successfully with problems like climate change and the energy crisis.

Co-sponsored by the Center for American Progress. Jonathan Moreno, Senior Fellow at CAP and editor of Science Progress, will introduce this event.

You can read more from Chris and Sheril at their blog, The Intersection.