Category Archives: ethics

The adults in the room

Posted on May 22, 2018 by

I was having another discussion on Twitter with Jean Goodwin, who posted the following quote. It’s attributed to Mark Largent and may have been delivered at a AAAS meeting. I’m interested in what other people think of this. I don’t … Continue reading →

Posted in ethics, Science, Scientists, The philosophy of science, The scientific method | Tagged , , , , | 178 Comments

Dark webs

Posted on May 15, 2018 by

I’ve been trying to think of what to say about this New York Times articles discussing an alliance of heretics, and I’ve been struggling. I think it’s important to have people who challenge the orthodoxy, and who express views that … Continue reading →

Posted in ethics, Open Thread, Philosophy for Bloggers, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , | 593 Comments

It’s mostly about risk

Posted on May 8, 2018 by

I wanted to post this video (see end of post), that I first came across in this comment (H/T Pehr Björnbom). It’s a few years old, so some things may have changed, but it’s still mostly relevent. It’s a discussion … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, ClimateBall, ethics, Global warming, Policy, Roy Spencer | Tagged , , , , , | 147 Comments

Speaking out

Posted on May 6, 2018 by

There’s a current Twitter hashtag called #WeNeedToChangeTheWorld, which WMC has also discussed in this post. It’s bit cliché, but it’s probably true, for many reasons. As also mentioned in WMC’s post, Peter Jacobs tweeted the following The politics of the … Continue reading →

Posted in ClimateBall, ethics, Policy, Politics, Scientists | Tagged , , , , | 144 Comments

Flying

Posted on March 18, 2018 by

I noticed another discussion on Twitter about whether or not climate scientists should fly. I have written about this before and the issue of people making personal sacrifices is something I’ve pondered recently. I have a great deal of respect … Continue reading →

Posted in ClimateBall, ethics, Personal, Policy, Politics, Research, Scientists | Tagged , , , , | 198 Comments

Climate Hawks

Posted on February 22, 2018 by

After a brief Twitter discussion with Ted Nordhaus (who authored the article I wrote about here) I came across another of his recent articles. It’s about Climate Hawks’s revealed preferences. The basic suggestion is that Climate Hawks don’t really behave … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, ClimateBall, ethics, Global warming, Policy | Tagged , , , , | 315 Comments

Carbon budget constraints

Posted on November 23, 2017 by

I’d been meaning to highlight a statement from Kevin Anderson for quite some time. A brief lull in postings gives me a chance to do so. It relates to the Paris goal of keeping global warming below 2oC. I haven’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, ethics, Global warming, Policy, Politics | Tagged , , , , | 25 Comments