We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Skepticism vs. denial about climate change [11:24m audio]

from PBS. 

Gavin Schmidt, a climatologist at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, is interviewed on a PBS program regarding the difference between skepticism and denial from a scientific point of view in the context of climate change. In the interview he refers to a group of scientists and non-scientists who have been deliberately spreading disinformation about acid rain, ozone depletion, air pollution, etc., but this government sponsored program interviewer carefully steers away from exploring the details of this serious charge. 

For a detailed explanation of this disinformation campaign that Schmidt referred to, you simply must read Merchants of Doubt by Oreskes & Conway.
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