Posts Tagged ‘climate change’
Agriculture, American Association for the Advancement of Science, biofuels, climate change, cover crops, Drake University School of Journalism and Mass Communication, environment, Iowa State University Extension Service, Justin Glisan, Kathie Dello, Martha Shulski, Miles O'Brien, Nebraska, North Carolina, Rick Weiss, Science Center of Iowa, SciLine, tariffs, wind energy
In Government on August 19, 2019 at 7:27 am
An aerial view of the flooding at the Camp Ashland, Nebraska on March 17, 2019, after a Platte River levee broke. Nebraska experienced its worst flooding ever in spring 2019, something climatologists say is likely to become more common under global climate change. Credit: Staff Sgt. Herschel Talley, Nebraska National Guard, via photopin (license).
When you want to learn about climate change, talk people who study climate.
SciLine, the science information service for journalists, did just that. As part of a science essentials boot camp for political reporters, the nonprofit (associated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science) gathered three state climatologists before a Science Center of Iowa audience earlier this month.
The climate mavens from Iowa, Nebraska and North Carolina were unequivocal in their assertion that man-made climate change is real. Doubts among the public, especially farmers, are fading as bouts of extreme weather become more common, they said.
The three experts varied somewhat, however, in their thoughts on how we should respond to the climate change threat. And it seemed to me that the discussion mostly missed the point in a substantial way.
Read the rest of this entry »
climate change, Democratic Party, FiveThirtyEight, Iowa Caucuses, March for Science Iowa, mental health, Research!America, Science Debate, Zogby Analytics
In Government, Uncategorized on July 25, 2019 at 8:30 am
Regular readers of this blog (Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?) know I’ve nagged them to push political candidates (for almost any office, dogcatcher included) on science and evidence-based policy.
March for Science Iowa is all about this and asked candidates in the 2018 elections to answer science issue questionnaires. As one of a handful of active members, I helped organize panels of science advocates and journalists to insert science into the Iowa Caucus campaign.
But there hasn’t been hard data on how Iowans feel about science policy or how presidential candidates should address it – until now.
A new poll indicates that we care about candidates’ positions on science – and care a lot.
Read the rest of this entry »
Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Andrew Yang, Bold Iowa, Brianne Pfannenstiel, CAFOs, Citizens Climate Lobby, climate change, Des Moines Register, Douglas Burns, Drake University, Elizabeth Warren, Green New Deal, IASTEM, Iowa Caucuses, Iowa Starting Line, Jay Inslee, Jennifer Zwagerman, March for Science, March for Science Iowa, Pat Rynard, Sarah Beckman, Science on the Stump, SciLine, The Carroll Times Herald, WOI-TV
In Government, STEM on June 17, 2019 at 7:10 am
Sarah Beckman of WOI-TV speaks to the audience at the March for Science Iowa Science on the Stump forum. From left, Douglas Burns, Brianne Pfannenstiel and Pat Rynard listen in. Photo by Joe Sheehan.
For Iowans who care about science – government support for research, using evidence to define policy, and things like addressing climate change and backing vaccine safety – now is the time to speak up.
The caucus campaign gives us a quadrennial opportunity to push for these goals. Candidates – and the reporters who cover them – are listening.
That was one message from Iowa journalists last month at Drake University in Des Moines. They were on the second of two panels gathered for Science on the Stump, hosted by the March for Science Iowa, a nonpartisan group that advocates for evidence-based policy and research in the public interest. I helped organize the event and previously wrote about the first forum, of scientists and science observers.
You can listen to the entire discussion on the March for Science Iowa Facebook page.
The journalists who spoke noted that Iowans often dictate the subjects candidates address when they appear in cafes, barns, auditoriums and living rooms across the state. For example, activists and interested voters have made climate change a key science-related issue.
Reporters, editors and producers also respond to voter feedback, but a lack of science expertise sometimes makes it difficult for them to sift competing claims. Read the rest of this entry »
American Association for the Advancement of Science, Charles Nelson, climate change, Drake University, Gannett, Rick Weiss, Science writing, SciLine, USA Today, vaccinations, Washington Post
In STEM on September 3, 2018 at 8:20 am
A page from Science comics, circa 1939, when newspapers warned of a mad scientist rampage – and the president trusted the FBI. Via the Digital Comic Museum.
If you’re looking for it, there’s good science news reporting everywhere. There’s a long list of science blogs (this is only a few), many written by researchers themselves. There also are innumerable podcasts and videos – some authoritative, some not.
But unless you’re seeking such information, you probably won’t see it. Science coverage in general-interest publications, like newspapers, is almost nonexistent. (Exceptions include the USA Today section in Gannett papers around the country, which often has a science story anchoring its cover, and the New York Times Tuesday section.) Most media can no longer afford reporters who specialize in science.
So what’s a local newspaper or television station to do when science issues burst onto the scene? How can they answer readers’ questions about whether the latest flood or wildfire is related to climate change? How can they address the latest discovery at their local university and gauge its importance?
A nascent website, financed through donations grants from foundations, offers those local reporters quick, scientifically valid and understandable explanations on these issues, free of charge. Its organizers were in Iowa recently to promote the effort and attract both reporters and the scientists who can help them.
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Andrea “Andy” McGuire, Cathy Glasson, Charles Aldrich, climate change, Fred Hubbell, Jake Porter, John Norris, Kim Reynolds, March for Science, March for Science Iowa, Marco Battaglia, Nate Boulton, Paul Knupp, Ross Wilburn, water quality
In Government on May 29, 2018 at 7:52 am
March for Science Iowa organizers hope to do this in gathering information from candidates in the June 5 primary election. The photo was taken at the 2017 March for Science Iowa in Des Moines.
Apparently, it’s difficult to get candidates to reveal their views on science, research and evidence-based policy.
Weeks after sending questionnaires to candidates for several statewide Iowa offices and for Congress, March for Science Iowa organizers (including me) have received few responses.
The idea was to gather this information in one place – the MFSI website – so voters can compare stances.
I don’t know if campaigns are too busy, too understaffed or just don’t care, but at the time of this posting, only three Democrats, two Libertarians and one Green Party candidate have responded. MFSI President Kaitlin Higgins has posted their responses on the site.
The questions were designed to be open-ended and without prejudgment. The March for Science Iowa volunteers put them on the site without comment.
Stepping outside my role as a march volunteer, however, I have some thoughts on what the few candidates wrote.
Read the rest of this entry »
An Inconvenient Truth, climate change, Jordan Shaw, Kaitlin Higgins, March for Science, March for Science Iowa, Third Congressional District
In Government, STEM on April 19, 2018 at 7:35 am
Most of the hardy folks at the second March for Science Iowa at the Capitol. Credit: Shari Hrdina, Bold Iowa.
By Thursday of last week, it was becoming clear that the 2018 version of the March for Science Iowa would suffer from the state’s bizarre spring weather. Over the previous few days, the forecasts sank from 60 degrees and sunny to the low 40s and rainy.
Organizers (including your correspondent) hung onto hope that the situation would change, but by Saturday morning it appeared almost certain to be a miserable day.
It wasn’t the best outcome, yet march leaders had already decided that the event’s purpose would endure past a single annual event. They’re determined to give voters the information they might have gotten had the event gone as planned.
Read the rest of this entry »
Andy McGuire, Cathy Glasson, Cindy Axne, climate change, Dan Zumbach, David Young, Deidre DeJear, Eddie Mauro, environment, evolution, FIRST LEGO League, Fred Hubbell, Governor's STEM Advisory Council, Jim Mowrer, John Norris, Jules Ofenbakh, Kim Reynolds, March for Science, March for Science Iowa, Mike Naig, Nate Boulton, Next Generation Science Standards, Paul Knupp, Paul Pate, Pete D'Alessandro, Ross Wilburn, Terry Branstad, Tim Gannon
In Government, STEM on April 9, 2018 at 7:42 am
A pointed sign from the 2017 March for Science Iowa.
Plans are shaping up for the 2018 version of the March for Science Iowa, a more overtly political version of last year’s event, when more than 3,000 Iowans flooded the Capitol grounds.
With elections coming up, organizers (including your humble correspondent) have invited candidates to appear on Saturday (the event starts with the march at around 1:00, followed by candidate forums and speeches at 2:00) to detail their views on publicly supported research, science education and evidence-based policy.
The march is nonpartisan: We want to hear from politicians and candidates from both parties. But it is not nonpolitical: We demand that our elected officials and contenders uphold science.
We invited candidates for governor, the Third Congressional District, agriculture secretary and secretary of state. Most will attend.
But only from one party. Guess which.
Read the rest of this entry »
Agriculture, climate change, environment, Gene Takle, Iowa State University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ross Alter, Science Magazine, U.S. Department of Agriculture, World Climate Research Programme
In Government, University research on March 8, 2018 at 7:39 am
About now, farmers in Iowa and across the Corn Belt get itchy. As the weather warms, they start tuning plows and planters, preparing to put another crop of corn and soybeans in the ground.
Within months, the rural Midwest will largely be a sea of towering stalks filling out ears and squat bean plants putting on pods.
But this sea of biomass has unforeseen effects on Midwestern climate, a study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology suggests – and, I would argue, contributes to global climate change.
When you’re driving past those carpeted fields this summer, you can thank them for countering higher temperatures driven by greenhouse gas emissions, but curse them for more frequent drenching, violent thunderstorms and tornadoes.
It stands to reason that agriculture – which has never been more intense or widespread in human history – is doing something to our weather. But there are bigger questions about its impact. Read the rest of this entry »
Charles Darwin, climate change, evolution, IASTEM, Iowa City, James Hansen, James Van Allen, NASA
In STEM on February 21, 2018 at 7:35 am
One of the better signs at last year’s March for Science Iowa featured dear old Darwin. Credit: Paula Mohr.
Iowans have an opportunity to hear from a hero in the battle to halt or reverse climate change.
The event is the annual Iowa City Darwin Day, actually a two-day symposium to honor Charles Darwin, the naturalist whose book, “On the Origin of Species,” posited evolution as an explanation for the diversity of life on Earth. The celebration is held every year on or around the great scientist’s February 12 birthday. This year it’s Friday and Saturday, February 23-24, on the University of Iowa campus.
Darwin Day celebrates science – particularly science that often is denigrated or attacked, such as evolution and human-caused climate change. Many of the sessions revolve around these two subjects and how to communicate about them with skeptics.
This year’s program includes a rare chance to see in person a former Iowan who has become a champion and a lightning rod on climate change.
Read the rest of this entry »
climate change, Donald Trump, Environmental Protection Agency, evolution, Governor's STEM Advisory Council, Iowa Legislature, Kim Reynolds, March for Science, March for Science Iowa, Next Generation Science Standards, NOAA, Scott Pruitt, STEM, Terry Branstad, vaccinations
In Government, STEM on March 15, 2017 at 7:13 am
A postcard to President Trump from Deborah Bunka, via the March for Science Iowa Facebook page.
I authored this post, which first appeared on the Iowa Starting Line blog. – TRO
Even before he was elected, commentators and experts noted a strong anti-science streak in Donald Trump’s rhetoric. Now that he’s been inaugurated, they’re calling him the most anti-science president ever. Trump is enacting an agenda that, at best, selectively supports scientific evidence and research.
With the appointment of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to run the Environmental Protection Agency, it’s clear that climate change will be downplayed or dismissed in the Trump administration. Pruitt took a moderate stance in his nomination hearings, but now is proudly revealing his anti-science views. Earlier this month he said he disagrees with the overwhelming evidence that carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to global climate change.
Trump and Pruitt are putting their words into actions. The administration has offered a plan to cut the budget for the EPA’s Office of Research and Development by 40 percent. The EPA as a whole would get a 24 percent cut. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a major climate research agency, also would get a severe reduction. Other proposals under consideration would roll back Department of Energy financing for energy efficiency and renewable energy and for research on reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
Trump’s disdain for sound science goes beyond climate, however, and spans political parties. He’s given credence to the disproven notion that vaccinations cause autism and met with noted anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (of the famed Democratic family).
It’s easy to pick on Trump, but in truth his election and views are just the culmination of years of attacks on science, evidence and research – attacks that aren’t solely from conservatives. Now, scientists and those who value research and evidence as a foundation for sound public policy are fighting back.
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climate change, Donald Trump, evolution, Iowa State University, Jordan Shaw, March for Science, March for Science Iowa, Mike Pence, Shamus Roeder, STEM, University of Iowa, vaccinations
In STEM on January 30, 2017 at 7:08 am
A March for Science Iowa comic by designer Miles Greb (@goldrushcomic) via the March for Science Iowa Facebook page. I think the model looks like a dark-haired Scarlett Johanssen.
Jordan Shaw was a lab technician working in food safety a few years ago when one of his supervisors, a researcher working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, published a study comparing eggs from organic and free-range chickens to standard eggs.
Time published her results: there was little difference in terms of safety or quality between the different eggs.
When the magazine posted the story on line, Shaw was stunned. “The comments on that were just unreal, like ‘you can’t trust the USDA because they’re the idiots who made the food pyramid,’” said Shaw, now a food safety consultant living in West Des Moines.
That made Shaw consider how to help the general public better understand science. “What we’re seeing now, really badly, is that science is elite, it’s liberal, all this stuff, and the problem is our populace just doesn’t understand, honest and truly, what is peer-reviewed science.”
His alarm increased when he read reports that the Donald Trump administration was suspending research grants and communications from key government science offices, especially those associated with the environment.
So Shaw – and others across the state – are taking action. They’re planning an Iowa version of a national march in Washington, D.C., to support science and research.
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AGU, American Geophysical Union, Andrey Petrov, Arctic, Arctic-FROST, caribou, climate change, National Science Foundation, reindeer, Russia, Taimyr Peninsula, University of Northern Iowa
In University research on December 21, 2016 at 2:27 pm
It was inevitable, given the timing, that Andrey Petrov’s latest research would get some unusual treatment.
At the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco last week, Petrov presented a report showing that one of the world’s largest reindeer herds is contracting. After reaching a peak population of around a million in 2000, the pack has fallen to around 600,000 in the Taimyr Peninsula, its home territory and one Russia’s northernmost parts.
With Christmas just days away, some websites relayed the news with a tongue-in-cheek approach.
At Gizmodo, the headline was “400,000 Reindeer Vanish in Ongoing War on Christmas.”
LiveScience introduced its piece with “Santa’s Reindeer Feel the Heat as Numbers Shrink Worldwide.” The lead goes on with “Santa Claus better stock up on reindeer, because he may have trouble scrounging up replacements in the not-too-distant future, new research suggests,” before continuing with a serious and thorough report.
The BBC, meanwhile, played it straight.
I’ll admit: the Christmas time peg is one reason I’m also jumping on this study. But there are serious reasons and ramifications for the worldwide reindeer decline. Read the rest of this entry »
archaeology, Army Corps of Engineers, climate change, Connie Mutel, Cynthia Peterson, Des Moines River, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Iowa DNR, IOWATER, Iowaville, Lance Foster, Lynette Seigley, Project AWARE
In Government, STEM on July 17, 2016 at 6:16 pm
One of at least two nearly complete car frames volunteers wrestled from the lower Des Moines River on Project AWARE.
I was waist-deep in chocolate-brown water, my feet sunk ankle-deep in gooey Des Moines River mud, and I was gripping the waterlogged backrest of an overstuffed recliner, helping wrestle it onto the floor of a green fiberglass canoe.
It was my first day on Project AWARE (A Watershed Awareness River Expedition) on the Des Moines River through Van Buren County in southeast Iowa. My wife and I had paddled for only an about hour before finding ourselves drenched and grimy as part of a canoe and kayak armada helping clear the river of an amazing assortment of garbage, big and small.
And this was our vacation. We were among hundreds of volunteers who took time off work for the event’s 14th annual edition, July 11-15, sponsored by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) with help from numerous sponsors.
It’s dirty, smelly work, but paddling the river also can be serene and picturesque, and it’s a terrific chance to meet like-minded, outdoorsy and friendly people. It’s no wonder volunteers return year after year, each time on a different river segment. It’s like RAGBRAI on the river, without the crowds and mass partying.
A healthy dose of Iowa science – and history – also is imparted over the four nights that volunteers camp along the route. During our time on the project, we learned more about the natural history of the area where we now live part-time. Read the rest of this entry »
Ames Laboratory, climate change, Department of Energy, Ernest Moniz, Iowa State University, Sensitive Instrument Facility, Steve King
In Government, University research on May 9, 2016 at 12:10 pm
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz talks to reporters in Ames, Iowa, on May 6, 2016.
For a while now, I’ve puzzled over something: Why does a segment of the population – and an even larger portion of Congress – disavow the evidence for anthropogenic (human-caused) global climate change?
Weather records show temperatures are increasing, with each year seeming to set a new record. Oceans are rising. Violent storms, droughts, wildfires and other weather-driven phenomena are happening more often and with greater force. Scientists who study the climate overwhelmingly agree we’re changing the atmosphere for the worse.
So why do so many people deny the evidence? And, more importantly, how do we change people’s minds and get them to take action before it’s too late?
I don’t have many answers and my small forum can’t do much to correct the situation, but last week I talked to someone who does have answers – and the power to do something about it.
When U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz came to Iowa, I got a moment to ask him about this. While his answer was reasonable, it was a bit disappointing. Read the rest of this entry »
Ames Laboratory, climate change, Ernest Moniz, Iowa State University, Iran, John Kerry, Nobel Prize, Sensitive Instrument Facility, Steven Chu
In Government on April 25, 2016 at 7:10 am
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz greeting friends on his first day on the job, May 2013. Credit: U.S. Department of Energy.
I’m not a fan of Bill Nye. I certainly endorse his science advocacy and education efforts, but he’s of my sons’ generation, not mine, and his lack of deep academic credentials leaves him open to the kind of challenge Sarah Palin recently made. (I’m not saying Bill Nye isn’t a scientist, as Palin did. I’m saying there are other science spokespeople with stronger resumes and greater accomplishments.) So I didn’t make a big deal out of Nye lecturing at Drake University April 14.
But I am excited about the pending visit of a real science superstar: U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. He’s coming to Ames on Friday, May 6 to speak at the dedication of the Ames Laboratory’s Sensitive Instrument Facility. (I wrote about the SIF and the high-tech tools it houses earlier this year.) He’ll stay overnight and deliver the undergraduate commencement address at 1:30 p.m. in Hilton Coliseum on Saturday, May 7.
It’s exciting because, as I’ll explain, Moniz is probably the most consequential energy secretary in history – a big influence on world peace and climate stability. Read the rest of this entry »
Iowa Science Interface 