November 2, 2008
Campaign adventures
by Sylvia S Tognetti
I spent a good part of the afternoon knocking on doors for the Obama campaign, on the other side of the Potomac river in Loudoun County VA - which happens to be Neddie Jingo's neighborhood. It seems that most of the action happened right before we got there. For historical context, and to find out more about "the real Virginia" see the links on the front page of his blog to a series of posts about "The John Mobberly Story." As for my own campaign adventure, I got to see who some of the "undecideds" are. Yes, they still exist, and they say they don't need any more information to make up their minds. Which makes me wonder how they go about actually making up their minds. Whatever...
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May 6, 2008
Just don't inhale
by Sylvia S Tognetti
I'm only posting this video because I haven't been able to get this song out of my head since Revere gave it new meaning... Way back when, the Tom Lehrer album on which this song appears was among the few my parents had other than classical music, and before I was old enough to start my own collection, so it got overplayed. But this is the first time I have actually seen what he looked like in performance. It is even funnier now. In retrospect, it also does a better job than we seem to be doing now, of linking pollution to human health.
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March 16, 2008
Tiempos locos
by Sylvia S Tognetti
...a phrase often used to describe the weather in Guatemala, where I recently spent 3 weeks, mostly working on an ecosystem services case study that I will say more about when the report is done, and where local papers carried headlines about “Super Martes.” More than once I got to practice my Spanish answering questions about our dysfunctional elections. Had Comedy Central been among the cable channels, I might have just let Esteban Colberto explain it - but I did get to see Jon Stewart on the CNN international channel, making fun of CNN... Over one of the weekends, I also witnessed a few tourists roasting corn and marshmallows in the lava that is creeping down the slope of the Pacaya volcano, and learned that the country lies at the intersection of three colliding tectonic plates – both physically and metaphorically, i.e., in the political realm. The problems they face in the aftermath of a long civil war make our problems look mild in comparison. But they are not unrelated.
Before I left - after Sen. Obama made the Reagan comment - and Sen. Clinton took it out of context, I started writing a post I did not finish at the time because I was trying to put my finger more precisely on just what it was that changed under Reagan with respect to science and policy... a point I'll come back to. Naomi Oreskes addresses that very nicely in this presentation (video link), which is well worth your time to watch if you haven't already. But the key point was, and still is, that both Obama and Clinton missed the point about Reagan, and that the narrative of the Democratic party campaigns is going to have to change before we can change anything else. Which might even help break the current stalemate. For now, neither one is off the hook. I have generally refrained from blogging about the primary because we will need the combined talents of all of the candidates including those that who have dropped out and those who have stayed out (i.e., Gore – who I would still prefer over the leading contenders), and not just to win in November. So I offer this post in the spirit of constructive criticism. In case you need a reminder, here is the full Obama/Reagan quote:
What I'm saying is I think the average baby-boomers have moved beyond the arguments of the 60's but our politicians haven't. We're still having the same argument... It's all around culture wars and it's all ... even when you discuss war the frame of reference is all Vietnam. Well that's not my frame of reference. My frame of reference is "what works." Even when I first opposed the war in Iraq, my first line was I don't oppose all wars, specifically to make clear that this is not an anti-military, you know, 70's love-in kind of approach.
I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not. He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it. I think they felt like with all the excesses of the 1960s and 1970s and government had grown and grown but there wasn't much sense of accountability in terms of how it was operating. I think people, he just tapped into what people were already feeling, which was we want clarity we want optimism, we want a return to that sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship that had been missing.
Obama was absolutely right that Reagan changed the American political trajectory, but it wasn’t by appealing to the center in some middle of the road chasm strategy. (Digby imagines a message equivalent to Obama's as it might have been uttered by Reagan - it didn't happen). During the 1980 presidential campaign, I learned, in a political science 101 class at GWU, that Reagan didn't have a chance because, as the professor explained, in America, fringe candidates don’t win. It was just “common sense.” Appealing to the center is (or at least was), a time-honored tradition in American Politics. However, with a little help from the Iranian hostage crisis, Reagan changed the rules, not by appealing to the center but by evoking nostalgia for an idyllic and simple past that never was, and by taking clear untriangulated positions that made solutions to complex and messy problems sound equally simple: the market will solve everything if the government just gets out of the way. His most recent employment had been as a motivational speaker. As it got closer to election day, “common sense” changed. The election day outcome would depend on the weather because Democrats are generally not energized enough to come out in the rain to vote. Rain or shine, Republicans are the ones who are there when the polls open. On that "mourning in America" it rained.
Like the weather, our elections have become more fickle ever since. Twelve long years later, President Clinton won by using a right wing frame of reference. Anything that might have previously been construed as the "center" was left in the wilderness, along with more diverse perspectives. And with that shift in political discourse, there was little context or frame or reference for anything his vice president or anyone else had to say about the climate - or any other messy and complex problem. As Frank Luntz once asked (in this recent Frontline interview "you tell me where global warming fits in on the more immediate issues - Iraq, Iran, terrorism, health care, prescription drugs, education..." It doesn't. Lets call climate the context of the context.
Underlying this shift in political discourse was an equally profound shift in the science and policy relationship. As Naomi Oreskes points out in her lecture, there was a consensus on climate change in 1979 based on research developed over the previous 50 or so years. That consensus was also based on the conclusions of scientific committees made up of members who had served both Democratic and Republican administrations, as well as international scientific bodies, to which the establishment of the IPCC was a response.
Prior to that time, science was generally not a partisan enterprise, because it provided support and reinforcement for a mainstream political agenda for which there was general agreement, e.g., progress through industrialization, national security through weapons that provided the capacity for Mutually Assured Destruction, and efficient use of natural resources. But these did not come without trade-offs and political opposition. In other words, science was politicized in a different way in that it was used to support rather than to question established policies.
As I have discussed in earlier posts - throughout most of the 20th century, science for policy was largely confined to the deterministic and delusional frame of reference in which it was expected to enable the control of natural systems, provide certainty, and above all, provide justification for controversial decisions, for example, by determining “acceptable risk” even with unknown probabilities. This approach is rooted in the early part of the 20th century when, according to the environmental historian Samuel Hays, in his classic book on Conservation and the Gospel of Efficiency
Hays characterized this as a denial by Theodore Roosevelt of the reality of social conflict and an attempt to develop “concepts and techniques which would, in effect, legislate that conflict out of existence” so as to return to an idyllic agrarian past that never really existed. This in turn minimized the political influence of “institutions which reflected the organized sentiment of local communities”, whose interests were considered only in order “to facilitate administration and to prevent... decisions from arousing too much resentment” -- resulting in widespread social alienation. This is now generally recognized as sham public participation. Conveniently avoided were the messier problems of judgment under uncertainty as well as issues of equity in the distribution of costs, benefits, risks and uncertainties, that were merely shifted rather than reduced.
There are still those who have such expectations of science - but few of them are actually scientists. Although the frame remains a powerful one, the foundation of that narrative crumbled as a new generation of scientists began to investigate the consequences of using science to try to control the world, and moved away from a static towards a more dynamic view of the world.
Then Reagan got elected, which is when, according to Oreskes, scientific uncertainty began to be used as a political tactic. To summarize some of her key points - it was during Reagan’s administration, in 1984, that the George Marshall Institute was founded by a few physicists who had built their careers during the cold war – Robert Jastrow, along with William Nierenberg and Frederick Seitz who served on the board of directors. The initial purpose was to defend Reagan’s SDI or “Star Wars” initiative from scientific and political attacks by most other physicists who judged it to be technically dubious as well as politically destabilizing. In 1986, 6500 of them signed a statement in which they declared a boycott of program research funds. The initial goal of the Marshall Institute was to demonstrate that not all physicists were against the SDI program, by debating science in the media rather than in scientific forums, and demanding “balance” in media coverage. Ironically, although Reagan opposed and eventually dismantled the Fairness Doctrine as a form of government interference in markets, among the successful tactics of the Marshall Institute was to threaten lawsuits under the Fairness Doctrine if “one sided” programs were aired.
Until the end of the cold war, the Marshall Institute also focused on other cold war related programs: nuclear winter, seismic verification of the ban on underground nuclear tests, and the future of the space program. Then it turned its attention to an area in which it did not even have expertise, i.e., global warming, following what Oreskes calls “the tobacco strategy” of “keeping the controversy alive” by creating reasonable doubt. This was a program that actually began before the Reagan election. From 1975 to 1989, RJR Nabisco, the parent company of Philip Reynolds, invested $45 million in a program that Seitz directed after 1978, that identified and supported promising underfunded investigators who could back up those "doubts." In “the tobacco strategy”, Seitz at least they tried to provide some form of rational justification for his claim that there was no evidence that 2nd hand smoke created a risk of lung cancer. Citing the 500 year old scientific notion of Paracelsus that “the dose makes the poison”, he dismissed the linear dose-response model because it did not address what might be the threshold value below which there would be no adverse effects. However he did not present any evidence of such a threshold.
In addition to claims of scientific uncertainty – that I have long argued only work because of the false expectations of scientific certainty created over the preceding century, global warming was also dismissed with claims that concerns are exaggerated, and that if it does turn out to be a problem, technology and markets will solve it, providing, of course, that the government does not interfere. What evidence I have seen suggests the opposite, but there is plenty of ink on that so I’m not going to begin to address that in this post. See the Oreskes lecture for more details on the evidence that already existed at that time, and predictions based on it that have since been confirmed.
Coming back to Obama’s Reagan remarks, what troubled me most was that he deepened a troubling narrative, that reinforces myths about the “excesses of the “60s and ‘70s” and about moving on from the fights of the ‘90s. As if the Clintons, and our current president, reflected the entire generation of baby boomers. This narrative probably has more to do with media hype than with the two leading Democratic candidates, both of whom seem to be smart people, who probably know all of this. But there must be people who believe this crap, which is only reinforced by their campaign talk. To be fair, Obama seems to have moved on a bit himself – to evoking Kennedy - perhaps having learned something, and/or perhaps realizing that boomers vote too.
First of all, it would be great if we could all just get along, but partisan conflicts go back much farther than the 1990s, or even the 1960s, the New Deal and the Magna Carta. The current administration has indeed taken aim at all of those as well as the US Constitution. Second, if, as Obama says, most have moved on from what he calls the bickering of the '60s and '90s (or whenever else), it is not from merely getting beyond or magically transcending those conflicts but because we are now in the age of consequences of past attempts to control complex natural systems, and have new kinds of problems to face. Had Reagan not been elected, we would be much further along in addressing such consequences, e.g., climate change. As for entrepreneurship, I personally know two people who were entrepreneurs in what was a nascent renewable energy business who were forced to change careers as Reagan cut all R&D funding for it, took Carter's solar panels off of the White House, and brought in the likes of James Watt, etc etc etc. Since it was before the internet era, all he had to do to prevent information from getting out of some of the agencies was to cut the maintenance contracts for photocopying machines. If some Democrats recall Reagan with a bit of nostalgia it is only because at least he did much of this in the light of day rather than in obscure signing statements and initiatives with nice-sounding but deceptive titles. The current administration doesn’t even bother to try to justify their decisions with anything other than spin and deception. Without Habeas Corpus, I don't know why they even bother to do that. (Just some obscure legal text that once provided safeguards against arbitrary imprisonment and insured a right to a trial by jury - without which all other rights established in the United States Constitution are hypothetical, as is the need for public policies to be justified with any kind of evidence or rational argument.)
As for Guatemala and elsewhere in developing countries, as seen in the film "Charlie Wilson's War" regarding Afghanistan, a post-cold war reconstruction is a hard sell after a series of proxy wars conducted or supported in secret, but we could go a long way towards achieving that by addressing climate change in ways that also reduce poverty. And now, I have just arrived in Italy for a meeting related to another project that aims to do precisely that, and that I'll blog more on in the future, when it is more formally launched. Being here will also give me an opportunity to meet with Silvio Funtowicz over breakfast in the morning. Stay tuned.
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December 4, 2007
Farewell then, wimps of America
by Jerry Ravetz
All of a sudden, the wimps of America aren’t there. Now that they’re gone, we miss them. Come back please, we really do love you. After the wimps, it won’t ever be the same again.
What is a wimp? It’s one of those funny people who doesn’t sincerely believe that Greed Is Good. Or someone who knows about Adam Smith’s other book, the sentimental one about morals.
The wimps in America were the self-appointed guardians of our standards. They took pride in quaint things like ‘integrity’, even though it kept them poor. When the gave an AA rating to a financial product, it used to mean just that and no more, no less. We didn’t need to know what sort of junk had been chopped up and repackaged inside. We could just buy them cheap and sell them dear in confidence, knowing that what the wimps said was true.
Then something happened. The American wimps wised up. Perhaps they had heard all those students asking, “If you’re so smart, why ain’t you rich?” Or they realised that they were behaving like irrational actors in the paradigm. So they joined the game. In addition to derivatives and SIV’s, their ratings went for sale too. What could be more natural?
Noone told us that that was happening. In fact we hadn’t even known that the American wimps were there. That’s not really our fault; who ever learned about Regulation? Only the people who took courses with numbers like 327, in other words the wimps themselves. The rest of us just learned how to make with the curves, so as to get our ticket for the professional gravy train.
But now the wimps are gone, and in New York another show is beginning. This is called ‘Mister District Attorney’. It involves exposing a scandal, getting newspaper headlines, sending a few guys to jail, and then going for a Governorship and beyond. Over there, the wimps have been replaced by the sharks.
After the sharks comes the outraged Great American Public, and their legislators. They want to make a Prohibition of sin in finance. So first we had Sarbanes-Oxley and now it’s to be FAS 157, standards for evaluating assets. Never mind that it’s all bad for business; the Great American Conscience will have been appeased.
But back here in Olde England, the horizon is still clear. We have really nice wimpy wimps for regulators. Normally they just murmur, “wonderful, wonderful.” When something really atrocious happens they whisper, “naughty, naughty”. For them it would be simply inconceivable for a city gent to do anything so vulgar as to go to jail.
So it’s very likely that in the present Puritanical reaction in the States, London will soon take an even bigger piece of the action from The Big Apple. Then with our own dear wimpy wimps as regulators, it will be like the kids taking over the candy store. ‘Anything goes’ will be the new theme song in The Square Mile. And it doesn’t need much history of economics to know that eventually, as night follows day, we’ll all be using that old American saying, “Buddy, could you spare a dime?”.
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July 8, 2007
PNT Exclusive - Stephen Colbert answers the call
by Sylvia S Tognetti
Special to the Post-Normal Times. If you watched the Colbert report last week, you may recall, that Stephen had a fit because USA Today, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal all received iphones before he did. Saturday evening, after he pitched the first pint of "Stephen Colbert's Americone Dream" ice cream to Jerry (of Ben & Jerry's) at the Charleston Riverdogs baseball game, he was presented with the one pictured above. So he answered it. I guess we will get his review when he goes back on the air next week. Jerry dished out ice cream. Then the game got rained out. But Americone Dream is now available at all area Piggly Wiggly's. Proceeds go to the Americone Dream Fund to support various charities. So you may eat it in good conscience.
As for the iphone, I didn't get one to review either, but I caught a glimpse of the other kind, belonging to a friend - it was impossible to get out of the hands of a child. I don't like it because you can't read books on it. So I guess its perfect for Stephen - since he doesn't read.
This is Sylvia Tognetti, reporting from The Low Country behind the scenes, in The Colbert Nation.
[revised, 8:30 am]
Update: NoFactZone.net has footage of Stephen pitching the pint and several more blog posts and pictures from the River Dogs game, including a cross-post of this post. Via a comment left over there, by RiverDog, I now know who it was that stepped in to give him the "iphone":
Good catch. Me and one of my employees are big Colbert fans and I pointed out we should present him with a Colbert ‘08 jersey and my employee is the one who created the iPhone…complete with the apple on top!
Lastly, I'm not sure whose call Stephen answered - the title of the post reflects my attempt to stick to the main topic of this blog - environmental science and policy. To "Answer the call" from Al Gore, click here.
For those visiting this blog from outside the United States, who may not have heard of Stephen Colbert, I should also add that, I often post clips from his comedy show because, as I explained in this previous post, he does a much better job than most scientists at conveying the value of science for the common good. Besides that, he is "America's Benigni."
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June 22, 2007
It all depends on what the choices are
by Sylvia S Tognetti
I take most opinion polls I hear about with a grain of salt because what people think usually depends on how you frame the question and what the choices are, and can change as people learn more about the problem. Just now, a new opinion poll on global warming came up on the RSS reader that actually presents the respondents with policy options and cost estimates and shows that the majority of Americans still support taking action on global warming even when presented with costs. It was conducted by the New Scientist with a polling team from Stanford and with some cost estimates and analysis provided by Resources for the Future - and is worth a read. It is also expected to provide a springboard for debate about how best to tackle global warming, which will undoubtedly lead to more learning and possibly to more options...
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June 20, 2007
Root causes
by Sylvia S Tognetti
Dani Rodrik - an economist who is esteemed for his work on global trade issues to which he brings an institutional perspective, and who is refreshingly candid about blindspots in his own field, is looking for the benefits of changes in the global financial system that have occurred over the past 25 years or so, and can't find any. For a list of the risks, see this article he links to, by Martin Wolf in the Financial Times, who does a good job of describing some of the mechanics of the "financial engineering" that has occurred. Wolf hasn't quite figured out if this is good or bad:
Our brave new capitalist world has many similarities to that of the early 1900s. But, in many ways, it has gone far beyond it. It brings exciting opportunities. But it is also largely untested. It is creating new elites. This modern mutation of capitalism has loyal friends and fierce foes. But both can agree that its emergence is among the most significant events or our time.
but promises Rodrik an answer in next week's column. What his article suggests to me is that novelties in the global financial system have unleashed risks and uncertainties as unprecedented and possibly as uncontrollable as those in the climate. If there is indeed a "triumph of the trader in assets over the long-term producer" and if "capital is flowing in the wrong direction, from poor to rich nations" - what does that say about approaches being taken to protect the production functions of ecosystems so as to insure the flow of services, like water and climate regulation, and to alleviate poverty and promote sustainable development? Rodrik concludes:
I am among those who see the future risks as being substantial. I think there is a fundamental incompatibility between unfettered global finance and a fragmented system of political sovereignty at the national level. I am also not convinced that this new international financial capitalism has actually lived up to its promise: it has on the whole not been beneficial to developing nations, and it has created great inequality in the rich countries (as Wolf acknowledges). So we need a substantial rethink.
All the potential Keynes's out there: we need your ideas!
I don't think the answers will all come from economics or that we will find any Keynesian silver bullets but I will eventually flesh out a post about the notion of a "Post-Cold War Reconstruction" as a framework for a substantial rethink and for redefining the whole concept of security, which would answer the question Frank Luntz asked in the Frontline interview: "you tell me where global warming fits in [on the more immediate issues]" Iraq, Iran, terrorism, health care, prescription drugs, education...". There is some good stuff out there - now if we could just get somebody intelligent elected for president who isn't intimidated by complexity or delusional voters.... (Come on Al!)
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May 17, 2007
On the cultural and environmental philosophy of coffee cups
by Sylvia S Tognetti
David Ng shares some thoughts about his coffee cup and asks:
1. Can you show us your coffee cup?
2. Can you comment on it? Do you think it reflects on your personality?
3. Do you have any interesting anecdotes resulting from coffee cup commentary?
3. Can you try to get others to comment on it?
So here is one of mine - a souvenir from attending working group meetings of the Millennium Ecosystem Asessment. The full text on it reads: "Coffee, freshwhater, sugar... in f act everything we use is provided by the ecosystems we are part of. How much longer will they be able to provide these services? When I finish this cup I am going to look into it..." Inside at the bottom of the cup, as a reminder, is the link to the MA website. My other cup says "Oysters are habitat forming." And now I have a paper to finish about protecting ecosystem services provided by soil so I can keep drinking this stuff, and so the oysters in the Chesapeake Bay don't have their filtering mechanisms overwhelmed.
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May 16, 2007
The Pro-Glacier agenda
by Sylvia S Tognetti
I have real work to finish but, in the wee hours of the morning, as I waited for more coffee to bubble up from my stovetop espresso pot, I turned on the TV just in time to catch this clip of Stephen Colbert ranting about The Pro-Glacier Agenda. He also reminds us that Ptolemy's view, that the the sun revolves around the earth has been around 1400 years longer than the the notion that the earth revolves around the sun - but watch the video for more insight on mental rigidity and denialism. Then compare the above picture, taken by me on the Denali glacier sometime in the spring of 1988, with this one taken at the same location in June 2004, posted at wunderground by Steve Gregory. According to the pilot who flew him in, who could easily have been the same one that flew me in, "the out-cropping of rock in the background took all of just 3 years to become visible."
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April 22, 2007
The curse of convenience: an Earth Day sermonette
by Sylvia S Tognetti
I'm always somewhat cynical about the encouragements we hear every Earth Day, for individuals to conserve and recycle, when these are not accompanied by any mention of policies that needed to cap total consumption, to create more choices, and ultimately, to make sure we aren't just becoming more efficient producers of greenhouse gas emissions and other forms of garbage. The cars we drive now are certainly more efficient than the ones that were around before the gas crisis of the 1970s, but it sure doesn't seem to have reduced consumption. Here is Maryland, as the state joins in a Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, preparations are also underway to build another highway, the Inter-County Connector, which not only doesn't go anywhere, but would preempt funding necessary to expand mass transportation and create more alternatives to driving. But that is not to say that, we shouldn't conserve as much as possible.
So in honor of Earth Day, here are some words about water conservation I came across in a collection of writings by Guido Ceronetti, "La Fragilitá del pensare" (The fragility of thought) in my own rough translation from Italian:
Go ahead and waste words and occasions, but not water.
...Turn on the faucet and down comes water.... It is the curse of convenience.... Go get it with a bucket and a botle, when there is a breakdown, and immediately you are reminded that water is precious, that life requires effort. Pouring it from a jug is an educational act: "after soaking the feet, there is enough left, tepid enough to shave". "After shaving, enough remains to cook an egg." "After the egg is cooked, after the water has chilled, I can soak my dentures." This is civilization.
Herbicides, pesticides, chemical fertilizers, agricultural chemicals, travel, penetrate, slide down, insinuate themselves, nourishing their petrified pseudo-life on the death of water. And water is the absolute biological frontier. A supernatural blindness is needed to continue in this way, with such anger, to destroy its potability...
Now don´t forget to carry a cloth bag next time you are out shopping and running errands. On my shopping list is a rain barrel, which won´t fit in a bag but it can save tremendous amounts of water by capturing water than can be used in the garden, but, if everyone in my neighborhood did it, we could reduce stormwater runoff in Muddy Spring as well as to the Chesapeake Bay.
In other news, in The GreatTurtle Race, from Costa Rica to the Galapagos, Stephanie Colburtle has so far managed to avoid mistaking any plastic bags for jellyfish and is back in the lead. But I´m also cheering for Drexelina and Sundae, who stayed behind on beach patrol.
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April 16, 2007
Better know a terrapin
by Sylvia S Tognetti
Last Thursday, Stephen Colbert adopted Stephanie Colburtle the (Leatherback) Turtle, who so far is leading on this first day of The Great Turtle Race, from Costa Rica to the Galapagos - assuming she doesn't mistake any plastic bags for jellyfish along the way. Apparently, this is an offshoot of Stephen's 240-part series "Better know a Terrapin" which I am eager to see but, to my knowledge, this series hasn't actually aired yet... Since Testudo the Terrapin is the mascot of the University of Maryland - where I did my graduate studies - when I wasn't riding tides around the Chesapeake Bay in a kayak looking for its notorious ambassadors, I'm going to kick it off here.
What has fascinated me about the diamondback terrapin is the way its existence is intertwined with the diverse habitats found in the Bay, in the various stages of its lifecycle. It is adapted to brackish water, nests on what little is left of the sandy beaches, finds shelter among what is left of underwater sea grasses and on the disappearing predator free islands, feeds in the salt marshes, hibernates in the muddy bottoms of creeks and rivers where the salinity is low, and moves between salinity gradients in the bay itself, surfacing to drink freshwater found on the surface after it rains. It has also been found drowned in crab pots and at Maryland basketball games, cheering for the Terps - at least in the year they won the national championship.
Although Terrapins can be found in estuaries of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, the Chesapeake Bay, with its extensive mix of shallow and nearshore habitats, happens to be the terrapin stronghold, So while non-Marylanders are warned to "Fear the Turtle" I fear for it. To save the Terrapins, we have to protect the whole Bay, just as to save the Leatherbacks, we have to protect the ocean - particularly the nearshore and coastal areas, with comprehensive conservation strategies. For more information, visit The Terrapin Institute.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Pictured above is one of the 50 sculptures exhibited around the state last year in the UMD Fear the Turtle Sculpture Project. It is entitled Thanks for all the fish, was done by Kit Cappillino, and was located by the National Aquarium in Baltimore. Pictured below is Michelangelo, the Mutant Ninja Terrapin, who I would not want to see get upset. The latter is a creation of David Brosch.
Reference
Hart, K.L. and D.S. Lee. The Diamondback Terrapin: The biology, ecology, cultural history and conservation status of an obligate estuarine turtle. Studies in Avian Biology No. 32: 206-213.
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March 12, 2007
Re-emergence of Glen Canyon
by Sylvia S Tognetti
I was in Salt Lake City last week for a symposium on "The Colorado River Compact in the 21st Century: Time for Change?"held at the University of Utah Wallace Stegner Center,and am still climbing out of the avalanche of information that landed on me. Another flurry of blog posts is in the works but in the meantime, here is a picture of an arch at Glen Canyon, which is starting to make a reappearance, courtesy of the dropping water level in Lake Powell. The photograph posted with permission from Tom Till, who included this in his presentation on "The Flowing Desert." For many, the reappearance of Glen Canyon was the bright spot in the western water crisis. Even Goldwater is said to have regretted his vote for the Glen Canyon Dam. Nevada was not as enthused. More on that to follow.
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February 20, 2007
Time for a Post-Cold War Reconstruction
by Sylvia S Tognetti
For all of the European visitors to this site, Randy Newman sings a few words in defense of America, well, sort of...
Hat Tip goes to Jonah Lehrer at the Frontal Cortex blog, who also has a good post about The Certainty Bias typically found in political decision-making. I'll come back to the subject of the title of this post...
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December 22, 2006
Signs of the Post-Normal Times
by Sylvia S Tognetti
Nobody expects to see bears wide awake and roaming wild in the winter. Apparently, they have stopped hibernating in the mountains of northern Spain. Or osprey in the Scottish Highlands in December (which normally migrate to west Africa), or Red Admiral butterflies, or buff-tailed bumblebees or swallows or blooming Evergreen ivy, ox-eye daisies, primroses and daffodils in Britain, or 240 wildplants and 200 cultivated species flowering in the Netherlands, or for the smew (a diving duck) to stay home for Christmas - in Russia and Scandinavia. Or to find the American breadbasket growing in Canada - which hasn't happened yet - and which might be a double surprise, since, as a commenter to the article pointed out, the topsoil in Canada and Siberia were scraped off during the last ice age. Or, authentic Japanese restaurants in Paris, or Tuscan Villas in Chevy Chase (suburbs of Washington DC), or muddy springs in Silver Spring, or the Spanish Inquisition on Halloween. Or for Henry Kissinger to say "Its time to rock" and then ask Stephen Colbert to "Crank it up." (If you missed Guitarmageddon, i.e., the Colbert Report on Wednesday 12-20-06, watch the whole series of clips from The Shred Down - Stephen went way over the top in this last show of 2006). And if you want to know what this has to do with science and policy, watch Stephen explain politics to a class at the Harvard Institute of Politics.
Nor did anyone expect the Greenland ice cap to melt but, apparently, this also has some unexpected economic benefits. A new microbrewery in Greenland, can now brew beer from "the purest water imaginable" - melted inland ice - but only that which has broken off. As the Greenland Brewhouse website (hat tip: Jeff Masters) explains:
We are very much aware of the global warming, and it is very important to us not to destroy or use the unique inland ice, but only use the ice that have broken off. We are strong supporters of sustainable development, and care for nature and environment - and strong opponents of the industrial pollution !
...Greenland's inland ice is about 3000 metres thick, 2000 kilometres long and 800 kilometres wide. The snow at the bottom fell over 180,000 years ago. Every year about two metres of snow falls over the inland ice and slowly the snow is pressed into ice. The enormous pressure in the centre forces icebergs out into Greenland's many fjords.
Our beer is brewed by hand with great care using the world's purest water. The melted inland ice, which is one of the main ingredients in beer from Greenland Brewhouse, is at least 2,000 years old and therefore completely free from pollution. The small icebergs are specially selected by local fishermen, who tow them to the brewery in Narsaq. Here, the ice is melted to form the unique water that is used in the hand-brewed beers from Greenland Brewhouse.
Orders for it are said to be flooding in but, to find out whether or not trading the ice-cap for pollution-free beer is a good deal, see the next post from Paul Baer, in which he will present an analysis of the actual worth of the ice-cap, which was not considered in the Stern calculations of the costs of climate change. Yes, I know I said this post was coming soon about a month ago but he got side-tracked by the AGU meeting in San Francisco, had to track down a figure he wanted to use, and apply for a job etc. It was worth the wait. We should have it up there before Christmas.
Also coming soon will be reviews and discussion of two new books on science and policy: The The No-Nonsense Guide to Science by Jerry (Jerome) Ravetz, and Interfaces between Science and Society, edited by Ângela Guimarães Pereira, Sofia Guedes Vaz and Yours Truly. This last book is the product of a workshop held in Milan in November 2003, where I went to re-establish contact with those who were my real mentors in graduate school, and present the idea for this blog as a way to create a space for broader discourse on science and policy necessary to address all of these new challenges. ok, so November/December is also a good time to visit relatives in Italy - that is when the olive oil is fresh and green with a pungent heavenly taste of... olives! At least for now... Now its time to "crank it up."
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November 22, 2006
Remembering what makes America a special place
by Sylvia S Tognetti
Or should I say "made"? Time will tell but, in case you were wondering what might have been, Brent Budowsky channels JFK on this 43rd anniversary of his assassination, with a message that puts the predicaments of 2006 into some historical context. Absolutely required reading for anyone not old enough to remember that day, which really did change everything. And just to stay on the topic of this blog - science won't help to make he world a better place or lead to better policy without a bold vision of what it is we want to accomplish.
I came across this while digging up links for another post in progress, which I probably won't finish until after Thanksgiving... Also forthcoming is a guest contribution from Paul Baer regarding the Stern report. Stay tuned.
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September 23, 2006
Science bash
by Sylvia S Tognetti
I had my doubts about this grand social experiment. What to make of a couple of DC socialite bloggers hosting a birthday bash for Chris Mooney and Matthew Nisbet at a swanky place called "The Science Club"? But being an inquiring mind, I couldn't resist the opportunity for some participant observation along with an equally adventurous friend. OK so, we may have altered the outcome with our presence - and were probably the only baby-boomers in the whole place. But it allowed me to meet Dr. Nisbet, and to wish both him and Chris a happy birthday. And there were actually a few other people who actually work in other areas of science policy. and yes, Big Head Rob really has a big head. It was also a good excuse for a stroll into town on a cool evening. So I pronounce it a success, but I have no idea if there is a consensus on that, and I really don't want to know nor do I care whether KAC ever found out if Mooney is "spongeworthy."
As for where are the science gossip bloggers - when I first had the idea to create a site called The Post-Normal Times, - which was before I had even learned what a blog is, it seemed like it would just have to include a gossip column. If for no other reason than to discuss how science policy really gets made. But the common wisdom is, the same way as any other policy - like sausage - you don't want to know that either. Off the record, if you ask someone who actually works on science and policy, a likely straight-faced reply is, "I didn't know there was any such thing as a policy based on science."
At least not under this administration. If you aren't convinced, read Chris's book, The Republican War on Science
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July 9, 2006
CAMPIONI DEL MONDO!
by Sylvia S Tognetti
This time I started drinking coffee earlier in the game - it didn't keep it from going into penalty kicks but they earned this one. Once I venture out of the house, I'll try to get some pictures of the madness that is sure to be going on for the next several weeks. Last time Italy won the world cup (1982), I arrived here a few days later....
These last few posts have been somewhat of a digression from environmental science and policy - the main subject of this blog - but not entirely. As a geographer, I am intrigued by places and what makes them special. This is a source of conflict between science and policy because science is fixated on finding generalizations that can be applied anywhere. This also has a lot to do with European reluctance to accept genetically modified organisms, and might just become the subject of another book about Tuscany, but not like anything you might have read or heard about. This one will have to pass the laugh test in Tuscany - a high bar. According to the writer Curzio Malaparte, who wrote a book called "Those Cursed Tuscans," (1958) Mussolini never could have come to power had he tried to make those speeches from a balcony in Piazza Signoria in Florence rather than from the Palazzo Venezia in Rome because he could not have said those things and kept a straight face before an audience of Florentines (like Oriana Fallaci for example...) What makes this particular place special is a question I have been asking myself since long before I became a geographer. It all started when my father burst into uncontrollable laughter while reading that book. He tried to explain what was so funny but I was only about 7 or 8 years old at the time. He grew up dodging the draft under Mussolini and American bombs at the same time, and then got the hell out of Italy with a scholarship but sent me here to school. I'm not sure if anyone here actually read Under the Tuscan Sun but the film drew guffaws for using outdated stereotypes from other regions of the country.
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On the trail of real formaggio
by Sylvia S Tognetti
Last summer about this time, Arianna Huffington wrote a post about cheese-gate and the trail of phony formaggio that I always intended to blog something about. Now I'm hot on the trail of real formaggio, here is my two cents. A few days ago, on a day trip north with a few relatives, we stopped in Parma for the real thing and I learned the difference in taste between parmesan made from the milk of cows grazed in the mountains from that made from cows grazed in the valley and in the hills. But if it isn't from Parma, it isn't Parmigiano. There are big signs on the road that let you know when you are entering into the zone of origin of Parmigiano Reggiano. Cheeses from neighboring regions made in the same way, are not called Parmesan. Instead, the proper name for the type of cheese is "grana" as in Grana Padano and Trentin Grana.
Now I'm sitting by a window that looks out over a grove of olive trees at the base of the Pisan Hills, said to be inhabited by wild boars, but I haven't seen any yet myself. I also ate a few plums, right from a plum tree, and two days ago, in the nearby town of San Piero, picked up a big bag of the pine nuts for which this place is also known, because they come from a species of pine that can be found only along this narrow coastal region and are tastier than any you can find anywhere else.
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Ulterior motives
by Sylvia S Tognetti
Riding on the outcome of the World Cup championship game this evening may be the future of Media World. Apparently, before the games even started, when Italy was regarded as having little chance of winning, this German company offered to reimburse the cost of LDC and plasma televisions larger than 32", purchased between May 18th and June 8th, if Italy wins. Over 10,000 Italians took them up on the bet. If you read Italian, the offer can be found online here.
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July 4, 2006
Must have been the coffee!
by Sylvia S Tognetti
I almost fell asleep watching the Italy/Germany soccer game, but, as the game went into overtime, determined not to see the game end with penalty kicks, accepted a cup of coffee and sat up straight, just in time to see Italy make two goals in the last two minutes of the second period of overtime. Now that I'm fired back up, here are a few pictures from another game, "Il Gioco del Ponte" - i.e., The Bridge Game that is played every year in Pisa, by teams from opposite sides of the Arno river - the side on which the sun comes up - the Mezzo Giorno, and the side on which it sets - the Tramontana (the side I was rooting for because it is where most of my relatives live and I visit, as often as possible. It all starts with a medieval parade that makes the US marines look docile but its all drama. Following which, a challenge is sent from one side to the other, following which, the biggest men from either side of town battle for the main bridge, by pushing on a large cart until the flag is knocked over on one side of the bridge or the other. The Pisan and the neighborhood flags wasn't the only ones flying - below the bridge was a boat flying the Red Cross flag, ready to rescue anyone falling from it. It has happened.... but everything remained rather civil this time. Tramontana won again, as they have since 1998. But what makes it even more worthwhile is that the entire downtown area is closed to traffic and, after the game is over, there are a lot of people walking around in medieval dress, as if they dressed like that every day. Also, sitting on the wall along the Arno river at sunset, one could also feel a maritime breeze coming in from the Mediterranean.
Earlier in June is another festival that I missed when, in addition to closing the streets to traffic, all electric lighting is turned off. The river and the entire downtown of Pisa are lit up entirely with candle lanterns - this is done for the Night of San Ranieri, the patron saint of Pisa, known elsewhere in the world as the Night of the Shooting Stars, the English title of a Taviani brothers film that tells the story of an incident that took place on that day in 1945. I also missed the boat races among the "4 Maritime Republics" - Pisa, Genova, Venice and Amalfi - which were hosted here this year. Pisa won that too. Before I leave, maybe I will get a chance to see the boats that were used....
This is Sylvia Tognetti,aka, The Ronin Geographer, reporting from the Tramontana, in the Marine Republic of Pisa...
Note: I have a painfully slow connection - so there is a lag between writing and posting.
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July 3, 2006
Una vista di una camera con una vista
by Sylvia S Tognetti
Giá che sono in Italia, una traduzione in Italiano del´ultimo post. Se arrivano commenti interessanti, forse traduceró anche quelli:
Firenze, 23 Giugno, 2006. Firenze appare di essere diventata una bella scena per il fondo del palco mondiale. La mostruositá nella foto sopra é la vista dal tetto di un edificio nel centro di Firenze, casa di un amica dagli anni di scuola (medie e primi di liceo) che ho fatto in quella cittá, esito a dire quanti anni fa, ma ho avuto una lunga interruzione dalla scuola durante la grande alluvione del 1966, e poi ricordo bene i tempi subito dopo, quando fango usciva dai rubinetti. Ero in partenza per Firenze da Pisa quel giorno che é successo ma fortunatamente, fu cancellato il treno (dopo che ero abordo). Insomma, il quartiere é cambiato. Nella direzione opposta si vedono grandi macchine da costruzione, fino almeno alla distanza a cui si riesce a vedere con gli occhi. Ai lati, i paesaggi iconici di colline, includendo i telescopi di Galileo, ci stanno sempre. Pure rimane il Ponte Vecchio, che peró era chiuso per usare come pista per una sfilata di Roberto Cavalli, per vendere quello che é diventato il piú notevole prodotto Italiano da quando Marcello Mastroianni si é buttato nella fontana di Trevi nella Dolce Vita - l' immagine maschile. La sfilata era parte di "Pitti Immagine Uomo" che, secondo Il Firenze (nuovo giornale locale), ha confirmato l' immagine del uomo contemporaneo di essere "sportivo-vanitoso" - che vuole essere esclusivo e ricercato a tutti i costi. Con la eccezione peró del' uomo di Cavalli, il quale si é pavoneggiato in un foulard multi-uso, portato come cravatta, vestito in colori rosso e viola, una camicia con rifiniture in pitone bianco e chissá cosa. Io non ho direttamente visto questa faccenda, e non ho idea se era pitone vero. Cerco solo di fare senso di come é descritto nel giornale e il mio Italiano é un po arruginito ma ora comincia a tornare....
Altre cose non hanno cambiato proprio per niente. Ulisse Sifossifoco, un blogger Fiorentino, per cuil il Ponte Vecchio é anche la strada per ritornare a casa dal lavoro, non ne volle sentire. Quando gli hanno detto che il ponte era stato "acquistato" per la sfilata e che perció era chiuso per la sera, gentilmente offrí "un rap di moccoli a colonna sonora per questa sfilata di brubbrú" (cioé, cafoni vestiti da festa). Un modo di parlare che, nella mente di altri Italiani, é associato con la Toscana quanto lo é Dante. Peró forse infondo é anche la ragione perché Danta é diventato famoso. Dopo di avere scritto in Latino della eloquenza della lingua volgare, cioé, il vernacolo Toscano, e dopo di essere stato mandato in esilio, ha scritto La Divina Commedia in quella lingua che piú tardi, in una forma piú pulita e uniforme, é diventato ¨Italiano.¨ Sifossifoco poi prende il suo ¨nom de blog¨ da una poesia di Cecco Angiolieri, che era un compagno di battaglia verbale di Dante. Questa poesia presenta un immagine di uomo piú archaico - uno che, invece di essere cercato, cerca, non donne ma,¨donne giovane¨ ' esclusivamente! Ma tornando al problema di traversare il Ponte Vecchio per ritornare a casa, Sifossi ha anche offerte la scelta di farlo passare, e fu subito dato una scorta da due poliziotti. Come lo descrive lui, era come quando Pinocchio fu portato a case dai gendarmi.
Questo incidente non lo ho visto direttamente o preso fotografie - ho solo la parola di Sifossi, il quale ho finalmente avuto l´opportunitá di conoscere in persona. Sifossi, autore di un blog che leggo da un paio di anni, ed un´altra blogger Fiorentina, La VisContessa, hanno organizzato una rimpatriata blogger a Firenze in Piazza Brunelleschi. E siccome, per caso stavo facendo la valigia quando fu annunciato, e non era molto fuori del mio itinerario, decisi di fare la inviata per il Post'Normal Times.
Quando siamo arrivati alla fine di una bella serata con aria fresca in piazza, sono stata scortata alla casa di un amica - cioé la camera con la vista della camera con la vista, sopra un´altro grande prodotto del disegno della Toscana di Pisa - la vespa. Solo per poi essere svegliata ed imbarazzata da una colonna sonora, presentata da Americani ubriachi che cantavano cercavano di cantare, America the Beautiful. Siccome molti di questi vecchi edifici non hanno aria condizionata, non ero certamente l´unica a dormire con le finestre aperte. Deve essere stato le 3 di mattina. Almeno avrebbero potuto cantarlo bene - una cosa che forse potrebbe anche migliorare le relazioni internazionali, almeno al livello personale. Alle riunioni scientifiche internazionali, dove, duranti periodi sociali, i participanti spesso cantano qualcosa dal loro paese, Amercani hanno anche una reputazione di non potere cantare.
Sylvia Tognetti , aka, la Geografa Ronin, inviata al Post-Normal Times, da una camera con una vista di una camera con una vista di Firenze.
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Grazie a problemi di connezione internet, altre foto della rimpatriata dovranno aspettare che torno a Muddy Spring (Sorgente Fangoso - il nome che ho dato al quartiere dove abito, parte di "Silver Spring" (Sorgente Argentato)
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July 2, 2006
A view of a room with a view
by Sylvia S Tognetti
Firenze June 23, 2006. Florence it seems, has become the ultimate backdrop for the world stage. The eyesore pictured above is the view from the rooftop of an apartment building in downtown Florence, home to a friend from the years I spent in there in middle and high school - I hesitate to say how many years ago but I had a long break from school during the big flood in 1966, and then witnessed the immediate aftermath, when mud flowed from the water faucets. I was actually on my way to Florence from Pisa when it happened but my train was fortunately cancelled (after I was on board). The place has changed. In the opposite direction are building cranes as far as the eye can see. Sideways, in the iconic hillside landscapes, Galileo's telescopes are still there. So too, the Ponte Vecchio, though it was closed off for the evening for use as a runway for a Roberto Cavalli fashion show, to sell what has become Italy's best known product ever since Marcello Mastroianni jumped into the Trevi fountain in La Dolce Vita - the male image. The show was part of "Pitti Immagine Uomo" - which, according to the local newspaper, Il Firenze, confirmed the image of the contemporary man as "sportivo-vanitoso" i.e., a vain and sportive type, who wants to be exclusive and sought after at all costs. With the exception of the Cavalli man of course, who strutted his stuff in a multiple use scarf worn as a tie, red violet colors, a shirt with finishing touches in white python, and what have you (I didn't actually see it and have no idea if it was real python skin - I'm just trying to make sense of the description and my Italian is a bit rusty - but its coming back).
Some things haven't changed at all. Ulisse Sifossifoco, a Florentine blogger, for whom the Ponte Vecchio is the shortest way to walk home from work, was having none of it. Upon being told the bridge had been acquired for the fashion show and was therefore closed for the evening, he kindly offered to provide a soundtrack for the "brubbrú" parade (boors all dressed up in party clothes), in a "rap di moccoli" - a rap of colorful cussing - which, in the mind of other Italians, is associated with Tuscans as much as is Dante. Though perhaps it is the reason Dante became famous to begin with. After writing in Latin about the eloquence of the vulgar tongue (i.e., the Tuscan vernacular), and after being forced into exile, he wrote The Divine Commedy in what later, in a more polished form, became known as "Italian." Sifossifoco actually takes his "nom de blog" from a poem by Dante's verbal sparring partner, Cecco Angiolieri. This poem presents a more archaic male image, as one who, rather than being sought after, seeks after, not women but, younger women - exclusively! But getting back to the problem of crossing the Ponte Vecchio to get home, Sifossi also, of course, offered the option of simply letting him cross it, and was promptly escorted across by two police officers. As he put it, it was like when Pinocchio was brought home, dangling from the arms of two "gendarmi." (armed guards).
I didn't witness this one myself or get pictures so I had to take Sifossi's word for it when I finally had the opportunity to meet him in person. Sifossi, who happens to be the author of a blog I have been reading for a few years, together with another Florentine blogger, La VisContessa, organized a repatriation of bloggers, in Piazza Brunelleschi. And since I just happened to be packing my suitcase when this was announced, and it wasn't far out of my way, I decided to cover it for The Post-Normal Times
As a delightful evening drew to a close, I was escorted to my friend's place - i.e., the room with a view of a room with a view by "Volpe", on the back of that other great product of Tuscan Pisan design - the vespa. Only to be awakened and embarassed by a soundtrack provided by drunk Americans in the street, singing trying to sing, America the Beautiful. Since most of those buildings don't have air conditioning, I surely wasn´t the only one sleeping with open windows. It must have been 3 am. The least they could do is get it right. It might even improve international relations - on a personal level anyway. At international scientific meetings, where participants often sing songs from their own countries, Americans actually have a reputation for not being able to sing.
For the Post-Normal Times, this is Sylvia Tognetti, aka, the Ronin Geographer, reporting from a room with a view of a room with a view - of Florence.Italy.
Postscript: The delay in posting this is because I went off radar shortly afterwards - this time, Italy was on the way to Nairobi, where I went for a workshop, and didn't have much time for the internet at times that it was accessible - once I finally found a decent connection. I also didn't have enough time to explore Nairobi enough to blog anything interesting about it, or to go on any safaris, but I did actually notice a man wearing a scarf as a necktie - actually, a french participant in the workshop I was attending. He swore it was nothing new. Italy is also on the way back from Nairobi, And there are a few other stops on the itinerary before getting back to DC, so stay tuned.
Since I'm having internet conection problems, I'll put additional pictures of the Florentine blogger repatriation, in a trip report, after I get back to Muddy Spring.
Also, in order to content the Viscontentessa, who claims to have lived happily ever discontented, an Italian translation, in the next post
Nel prossimo post, una traduzione in Italiano, per contentare la Viscontentessa - che Visse felice e scontenta... Siccome ho problemi di connezione internet, altre foto della rimpatriata dovranno aspettare il mio ritorno a Muddy Spring, quando scriveró una cronaca di viaggio.
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May 1, 2006
Required reading
by Sylvia S Tognetti
If you are one of those visitors from outside the US who is still wondering what is going on in the US (or don't get cable tv and haven't read any other blogs yet in the past 2 days) look no further than the video and transcript of Steven Colbert, speaking "straight from the gut... [giving] people the truth, unfiltered by rational argument" - Saturday evening at the annual White House Correspondent's Dinner, also reported on here. You may also want to see the transcript of his appearance on 60 minutes the next day. But watch the video - you have to see it to believe that he said all this with Bush sitting nearby, and in the presence of "the mainstream media" while being broadcast live on CSPAN. Is this a great country or what? A few excerpts, that explain how science and policy decisions are actually made, and provide some context:
...let's review the rules. Here's how it works. The President makes decisions, he's the decider. The Press Secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Put them through a spell check and go home. Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know, fiction.
...Because really, what incentive do these people have to answer your questions, after all? I mean, nothing satisfies you. Everybody asks for personnel changes. So the White House has personnel changes. Then you write they're just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
First of all, that is a terrible metaphor. This administration is not sinking. This administration is soaring. If anything, they are rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg.
...The greatest thing about this man is he's steady. You know where he stands. He believes the same thing Wednesday, that he believed on Monday, no matter what happened Tuesday. Events can change, this man's beliefs never will.
...I stand by this man. I stand by this man because he stands for things. Not only for things, he stands on things. Things like aircraft carriers and rubble and recently flooded city squares. And that sends a strong message, that no matter what happens to America, she will always rebound with the most powerfully staged photo ops in the world.
...Fox News gives you both sides of every story, the President's side and the Vice President's side.
And just to show that he didn't let anyone off the hook:
Jesse Jackson is here. I had him on the show. Very interesting and challenging interview. You can ask him anything, but he's going to say what he wants at the pace that he wants. It's like boxing a glacier. Enjoy that metaphor, because your grandchildren will have no idea what a glacier is.
He ended by expressing disappointment that the job of the White House Press Secretary had already been filled, and presented an audition tape of him conducting a White House Press conference - don't miss this one.
On a more serious note, in case you think it was in any way "over the top," another bit of required reading is this article which shows that Bush's claim to be above the law goes far beyond domestic surveillance:
President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution.
Among the laws Bush said he can ignore are military rules and regulations, affirmative-action provisions, requirements that Congress be told about immigration services problems, "whistle-blower" protections for nuclear regulatory officials, and safeguards against political interference in federally funded research.
I was going to write a longer post last night in answer to Roger Pielke's latest post about linking hurricanes and climate policy - and Gore's new film on global warming, but was out enjoying the beautiful weather and dinner with my neighbors. And there is this bigger elephant in the room. But I will, soon enough - and hurricane season is almost back so I don't think that thread is going anywhere. I have a few things to say about Gore too.
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March 1, 2006
An ode to the Lorax
by Sylvia S Tognetti
I previously posted the words of An African Forest Tale which is written in the form of an Ode to the Lorax by Jesse Ribot, who explained:
As I tried to write the story-with all its contradictions-it felt more to me like a Dr. Seuss tale than a scholarly history. So, I began writing in Seuss-esque verse. To my delight, the resulting text told the story better than anything I had written in a more-serious moment.
I had posted it together with one of the illustrations by Senegalese artist Mor Gueye, who painted a whole series of illustrations on reverse glass, that practically tell the story all by themselves. Now you can see all of the illustrations, and hear Jesse tell the tale in his own voice, in this video that I promised to post as soon as I figured out how to reduce it to a manageable size for the web - which I have now been able to do, thanks to a new computer.
For the higher quality version (17 MB) click here.
For a lower quality version (2.5 MB) click here.
There is an even higher quality version, that permits the images to be viewed in a larger size but it is about 250 MB - if you are really really really interested, and would willing to make a donation to support higher costs of bandwidth, send me an e-mail (sst at postnormaltimes dot net).
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February 9, 2006
The word - of Steven Colbert
by Sylvia S Tognetti
[the promised link - then click Eureka!]
Colbert talked about science this evening and really nailed it - it is better watched, (if you have access to cable it reruns several times the next day) - if the video segment gets posted online at the show site, I will update this post with a link. In the meantime - I recorded it and made the following transcript of "The Word" segment:
The word: Eureka - as in you reek et science America! That why the president is really pushing his competitiveness initiative, which will double the number of science teachers in the next 5 years (Bush hot for teachers) so, if you are a high school student who is crazy about science, you are in luck (for a change) because the whole world is opening up to you like a blossom (but girls still won’t), because the president is putting his money where his mouth is (Buttcheek of the Saudi Royal Family). He… he is cutting the education budget by 3.2 billion dollars, (that’ll learn ya) but… but the truth is, you don’t need to buy books to learn (Gideon gives bibles for free). You can still get the fundamentals (from fundamentalists). So, take the president’s challenge, be a scientist - whatever fires your curiosity: biology (but not evolution), genetics (but no stem cells), climatology (but no global warming), geology (nothing before 5000 years ago), astronomy (ditto). There are so many choices it can be confusing. But, you know, there is a new science out there. It is the science of studying what science is worth studying (scientology?). Now… now if the president’s contradictions between saying and doing don’t make logical sense to you, do what all great scientists do, and just take it on faith and, if you are already a scientist, just tow the administration’s line, and then you will get federal funding (Eureka). And that’s the word.
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January 6, 2006
Starting from Zeta
by Sylvia S Tognetti
The end of 2005 didn't end the hurricane season of 2005, which finally ended today as Zeta disintegrated. For more, see Jeff Masters blog at Wunderground, for which I am adding a special link to the blogroll because he doesn't just report the weather - he also reports on departures from normal - and not just about hurricanes. Check out his explanation of what this cloud is, and why we will probably be seeing it more often.
Before moving on, a comment about 2005: After Katrina, can anybody still believe that more and better scientific information will necessarily lead to better policy decisions?
2005 was the year that some proclaimed the science wars to be over (see also this post by PZ Myers] - largely because of a war on science itself that made differences between the two cultures pale in comparison. It's about time. I have gotten into a few arguments with scientists myself, but it is only because I value science that I even bother. I have often heard statements to the effect that it is necessary to "get the science right" before dealing with the mushy stuff, like policies and institutions. The catch is, that getting good scientific information that is relevant to social concerns, and to particular places, is itself an institutional challenge. Not to mention getting it to actually be used in decision-making, or getting a decision to actually be made....
Although this is beginning to be recognized, and great efforts have been made to collaborate across these disciplinary divides, there is a pitfall in this too, in that everything seems to get reduced to the conceptual framework of the discipline of the person who designs and initiates the study. This is an issue I became very conscious of over 15 years ago when I worked at the National Academy of Sciences, where I helped to organize and staff what may have been the first committee composed of an almost even split between natural and social scientists. Subsequently I went to graduate school but never quite managed to get a dissertation off of the ground - probably because I developed a background in both the natural and social sciences and could never reduce an argument to either one without feeling like I was making a caricature out of reality (ok, so there were other reasons, like major differences with my first graduate adviser and a program switch that was all for the best). More recently, as part of a working group for the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, I felt like I had entered into a world created by a couple of ecological modelers, or some sort of soft bureaucracy structured to correspond with the compartments of their model (still, in spite of the unwieldy process, there is a lot of good material in the soon to be released technical volumes - more on that later).
2005 also catapulted Chris Mooney's book, The Republican War on Science
What is more interesting to me is where some of the negative public reactions towards science, or experts in general, comes from. In science for policy, there is a tendency that parallels that found in interdisciplinary efforts, which is that of reducing complex problems to a scientific framework that leaves out much of what people care about. This frame is itself a hidden value judgment, which, for example, is ultimately what is behind the opposition to GMOs in Europe. A few months ago, Mario Giampietro passed through town and gave me an earful of scientific explanations for his objections to GMOs and why functional equivalence is a myth. He has even published articles about this. But over dinner, he gave me the real reason, in his own language. You can't make gnocchi without the yellow sticky potatoes that come only from Avezzano in the Abruzzo. If you try to make gnocchi with Idaho potatoes it will be a disaster! If you want to find out what kind of peaches are best for soaking in wine you will have to learn Italian and go ask a Roman - some things are better left not only in their own language but also in their cultural context. But these peaches only grow at Castel Gandolfo, the summer residence of the pope. There is no functional equivalent.
As I half grew up in Italy, I understand this only too well. One of my favorite things to do when I visit family in Pisa is to go on a bike ride to the market with my aunt. The last time I did this, one of the vendors held up a head of lettuce and said it came from Torre del Lago. He went on to insist that, if you eat this lettuce you will hear Puccini. Hearing Puccini might have only been my imagination, but the association of the image with the taste seared the taste in my memory. I'm sure there is nothing else like it anywhere. The controversy isn't about GMOs, but about a way of life and the value of places. Where food comes from is no less important than where people come from. But policy decisions are not based on such things. As for functional equivalence, it depends on the functions you are looking at. If looking only at nutritional characteristics of food, it is possible that soylent green could be engineered to be functionally equivalent to potatoes from Avezzano or lettuce from Torre del Lago - but what I will call the Puccini factor would be lost forever. And the world itself would become a less interesting place to live.
As for that book... maybe if I put "Tuscany" in the title, people would even read it. As a half Pisan, DOC, I know I can tell a more interesting story than Under the Tuscan Sun, and, as a geographer, it would also give me a chance to rant about what makes places unique and special.... (Interested publishers can write to me at sst at postnormaltimes dot net).
May we all find at least some moments of normalcy in the coming year.
Posted by Sylvia S Tognetti at 10:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 7, 2005
Who domesticated who?
by Sylvia S Tognetti
I've been reading a book on Climate Change in Prehistory
Posted by Sylvia S Tognetti at 12:18 PM
Keeping an eye on the eye of epsilon
by Sylvia S Tognetti
It's still there. Jeff Masters tries to explain. As for the reason for so many hurricanes made landfall in the US in this season, he explains in a