Trees, climate friend or foe?

It’s fun to be a contrarian, to point out cases in which commonly held conceptions falter, or when the opposite is true.

But contrarian points often require quite a bit of nuance, and seldom do they completely invalidate the common ideas they critique. Also, there is a real danger that in the popularization of contrarian scientific ideas by those without expertise in the field in question, much of the nuance and qualifications gets lost, and readers can be mislead into believing things that do not reflect the actual results or opinions of the researchers whose work is cited.

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A new Urban Land Institute report on Americans’ traveling behavior concludes that cleaner cars and cleaner fuels alone can’t reduce carbon emissions unless Americans drive fewer miles at slower speeds, avoid gas-burning traffic jams, and reduce their number of trips.

It’s all part of the prescription being put forward by a new ULI report linking carbon emission trends and excessive climate change to a growing population.

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Coauthors Mooney and Kirshenbaum at a Washington, D.C., bookstore event.

Scientific issues continue to play a larger and larger role in many important public policy issues. No news flash there.

Neither is it news that public understanding of science falls short, far short, of what many in the science and policy fields would like to see. New studies emerge practically monthly illustrating that the situation is getting worse, not better.

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In the summer of 1988, as Yellowstone National Park burned and congressional hearings on global warming were being held in a sweltering Washington D.C., Tony Barnosky was digging into the floor of a Colorado cave.

Traveling back in time, as he wrote in his new book, Heatstroke: Nature in an Age of Global Warming, Barnosky was uncovering ecosystems long gone - each shaped by changes in Earth’s climate.

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Journalist Eric Pooley’s January 2009 Shorenstein Center critique and analysis of press coverage of climate change policy issues has generated substantial attention and on-going “buzz” in climate journalism circles.

After publishing freelance writer John Wihbey’s February 17 article and analysis of Pooley’s “discussion paper,” The Yale Forum asked four respected university-affiliated environmental and science writers their views on Pooley’s analysis: Their comments and Eric Pooley’s own reaction to those comments follow.

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“An impassioned plea to construct a better economics ….”

And “If we can’t afford the future, what are we saving our money for?”

Those are just two sound bites used by the publisher in promoting Tufts University economist Frank Ackerman’s new and highly readable “Can We Afford the Future: The Economics of a Warming World.”

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Climatologist Michael E. Mann might be forgiven for having wondered if yet another book on global climate change was warranted. Whether yet another global warming book could make a significant contribution to the field, could be different from the many - and many of them excellent - that preceded it.

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As bookshelves increasingly sag with climate change books, it would be hard to find one more useful to journalists than Robert Henson’s The Rough Guide to Climate Change, recently issued in a second, revised edition.

The book, first published in 2006, is an engaging and comprehensive primer that veteran environmental or science reporters and global warming neophytes alike could benefit from reading - or simply having nearby as a ready reference.

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“A hopeful book in a discouraging time.”

It’s how Antioch University Professor David Sobel characterizes “How We Know What We Know About Our Changing Climate: Scientists and Kids Explore Global Warming,” co-authored by Lynne Cherry and Gary Braasch.

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It’s a silly exercise, going through a photojournalism book by a widely respected environmental photographer and trying to identify from 100-plus photos that single iconic image that says it all about the new book.

With a hundred-plus world-class photos to choose from, it’s the proverbial needle and haystack challenge.

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