Category Archives: Politics

Vulnerability and resilience

Posted on December 14, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

I’m starting to better understand why some reasonable people are often concerned about the way in which the impact of extreme weather events are sometimes framed. It’s quite well explained in this recent paper by Myanna Lahsen and Jesse Ribot … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Environmental change, Global warming, Policy, Politics, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 146 Comments

Declaring a climate emergency?

Posted on June 6, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

Matthew Nisbet, Professor of Communication, Public Policy, and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University, has a new article called Manufacturing Consent: The dangerous campaign behind climate emergency declarations. It makes similar arguments to those made by Mike Hulme in an article … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Philosophy for Bloggers, Policy, Politics, Science, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 57 Comments

On baselines and climate normals

Posted on January 17, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

Mike Hulme, Professor of Human Geography at the University of Cambridge, has a somewhat bizarre article published in Academia Letters called Climates Multiple: Three Baselines, Two Tolerances, One Normal. It’s basically a discussion of the recent World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Philosophy for Bloggers, Politics, Science | Tagged , , , | 91 Comments

Policy in the language of science

Posted on October 24, 2020 by ...and Then There's Physics

I was listening to the a Received Wisdom podcast. It’s a podcast by Shobita Parthasarathy and Jack Stilgoe, which I have written about before. At the beginning of the podcast, the hosts were discussing the Great Barrington Declaration, and Jack … Continue reading →

Posted in Policy, Politics, Science, Scientists | Tagged , , , , | 77 Comments

Across the lines

Posted on May 31, 2020 by ...and Then There's Physics

I haven’t really come across anything to write about recently. I’ve been thinking a bit about models and how they are used to inform decision making. I’ve been thinking a bit about the use of scientific advice. I also had … Continue reading →

Posted in advocacy, Personal, Philosophy for Bloggers, Policy, Politics | Tagged , | 20 Comments

Sometimes it’s never good enough

Posted on March 30, 2020 by ...and Then There's Physics

I’ve, in the past, suggested that climate scientists could end up being criticised whatever happens. If the impact of climate change ends up being less severe than it could have been, climate scientists will probably be criticised for being alarmists. … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy for Bloggers, Policy, Politics, Scientists, The philosophy of science | Tagged , , , , , | 105 Comments

A physicist for president?

Posted on March 19, 2020 by ...and Then There's Physics

Jim Al’Khalili has an article in Scientific American called [a] physicist for president? Jim is a physicist, so he’s probably being somewhat provactive. Also, he’s mostly arguing for someone who applies the scientific method to thinking and decision-making and is … Continue reading →

Posted in economics, physicists, Politics, Scientists, The scientific method, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 51 Comments

Listen to the (political) science

Posted on December 30, 2019 by ...and Then There's Physics

I’ve been meaning to post a review of 2019, but wanted to first comment on something else. I quite often see criticism of how some people approach the issue of climate change. For example, in the Guardian yesterday, there was … Continue reading →

Posted in Carbon tax, Climate change, Policy, Politics, Science, Scientists | Tagged , , , , | 78 Comments

Societal tipping points

Posted on October 24, 2019 by ...and Then There's Physics

Noami Oreskes and Nicholas Stern have a New York Times Opinion piece called Climate Change will cost us even more than we think. Some are very critical, others are a little more circumspect. I, on the other hand, think that … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, economics, Global warming, Policy, Politics, Severe Events | Tagged , , , , | 173 Comments