Category Archives: Science

Extreme weather event attribution

Posted on June 11, 2019 by

This is a joint post between myself and Eric Winsberg, Professor of Philosophy at the University of South Florida. Eric has just published, together with Naomi Oreskes and Elisabeth Lloyd, a paper called Severe Weather Event Attribution: Why values won’t … Continue reading →

Posted in advocacy, Climate change, Research, Science, The philosophy of science, The scientific method | Tagged , , , , , , , | 156 Comments

Promises and perils of the Paris agreement?

Posted on June 2, 2019 by

A few people were sharing, on Twitter, a Science article called Promises and Perils of the Paris Agreement. It mostly seemed unobjectionable. It discusses the linear relationship between warming and emissions, and how this allows one to define carbon budgets … Continue reading →

Posted in Carbon tax, Climate change, Policy, Science | Tagged , , , , , , , | 32 Comments

The Carbon Cycle

Posted on May 24, 2019 by

Robert Rohde, who is lead scientist for Berkeley Earth, has created a really nice illustration of the carbon cycle. It shows how the CO2 cycles between the different carbon reservoirs, and how our emissions have perturbed the carbon cycle so … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Research, Science | Tagged , , , , , | 40 Comments

If it seems obvious, it probably isn’t

Posted on May 13, 2019 by

There’s an interesting paper that someone (I forget who) highlighted on Twitter. It’a about when science becomes too easy. The basic idea is that there are pitfalls to popularising scientific information. Compared to experts, laypeople have not undergone any specialized … Continue reading →

Posted in Pseudoscience, Research, Science, Scientists, Sound Science (tm), The philosophy of science, The scientific method | Tagged , , , , , | 44 Comments

The debate has changed

Posted on May 4, 2019 by

I’ve been finding it quite difficult to think of things to post about. One reason is that I’ve been rather busy. Another, though, is that I think the debate has changed. It seems that there is more and more discussion … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, ClimateBall, economics, Environmental change, Policy, Science, The scientific method | Tagged , , , , | 117 Comments

Post-normal science

Posted on April 7, 2019 by

I’ve been reading a paper by Daniel Sarewitz, that was being highlighted by Jane Flegal on Twitter. The paper is called Of Cold Mice and Isotopes Or Should We Do Less Science? There’s quite a lot that could be said … Continue reading →

Posted in Policy, Politics, Research, Science, Scientists, The philosophy of science, The scientific method | Tagged , , , , , | 125 Comments

Models and scenarios

Posted on April 6, 2019 by

I was following, or trying to, a Twitter discussion about models and scenarios. It was – I think – about models that forescast technology development, and you can find it here if you’re interested. I didn’t entirely follow it, but … Continue reading →

Posted in economics, Research, Science | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments