Collide-a-scape » Blog Archive » Collide-a-scape >> Games People Play

Truth is, many of the saner folks on Romm’s side of the climate debate have grown weary of his antics. They tune out the rants. To them, he’s like the outlandish, bombastic uncle at Thanksgiving that everybody tolerates because he’s part of the family. But behind his back, they’re rolling their eyes at his unseemly outbursts.

Exhibit B is this post and thread from Michael Tobis at his new home, Planet 3.0: Beyond Sustainability. I have much higher expectations of Michael, and have previously expressed great hopes for the site he has created. But in the aforementioned post’s discussion on recent scholarship that has challenged Jared Diamond’s eco-collapse narrative for Easter Island, Michael made a startlingly biased and willfully ignorant argument. It’s so unbelievable that I’m going to excerpt the highlights. They occurred during an exchange with the two archaeologists who came by to discuss the findings of their book with Michael in the thread of his post.

Quake blamed for 451 later deaths : National : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri)

According to the Ishinomaki city government, 125 cases were recognized as deaths resulting from the disaster because the victims swallowed a lot of seawater when the tsunami swept in or because they remained in cold water for a long time before being rescued. Nearly half died of pneumonia or hypothermia.

Panchayat members to be trained as climate risk managers - India - DNA

A male and female member from each Panchayat in vulnerable states will be trained as climate risk managers (CRMs). “They will be trained in the science and art of managing climate aberrations.

Opinion: Another signal that now is the time to curb emissions — The Daily Climate

I helped author the report because I am deeply concerned about what happens to the least advantaged when extreme events hit.

...We can still avoid the worst calamities by changing our behavior.  In the end, we can't determine exactly who will be hit by what, but we all need to take action. The most recent survey of the science says that must happen today, not tomorrow.

Sabrina McCormick is a lead author of Chapter 5 of the IPCC's Special Assessment on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation. She is also an assistant research professor at George Washington University. 

Sabrina B. McCormick, Ph.D., M.A.

Sabrina McCormick’s areas of expertise are in environmental and medical sociology, science and technology studies, social movements and development. She is primarily interested in the social contestation, politics and science that inform understandings of environmentally-induced illness....She completed her PhD in Sociology at Brown University in 2005 and has since been jointly appointed in the Department of Sociology and the Environmental Science and Policy Program at Michigan State University.