The Benshi

Grist Magazine blogger David Roberts (Left) squares off against Steve Everley of American Solutions (right) in a "debate" in a bar "moderated" by "rock star" Mark McGrath.

.

I managed to do a brief interview this morning with David Roberts of Grist Magazine who was the pro-climate action side of last Thursday night’s Lexus “Darker Side of Green” debate-in-a-bar show in Chicago. I’ve been a fan of his blogging for a while and while I generally have advised against people taking part in these potential kangaroo events, he seemed to me to be one of the few skillful and potentially aggressive spokespersons for climate action who actually should be up on the stage if there has to be someone doing it.

. Read the rest of this entry »

A couple of weeks ago I attended the strange and pointless global warming “debate” in Hollywood staged by carmaker Lexus at a bar, moderated by comedian Andy Samberg of Saturday Night Live. I had a hard time taking it seriously in my account of it.

This week they are getting ready for the next installment — this time in Chicago, moderated by noted academician Mark McGrath of the once hot band, “Sugar Ray,” (of “Spread Your Wings and Fly,” “fame”).

THIS WEEK’S LEXUS CLIMATE “DEBATE” LINE UP FOR CHICAGO: For the climate community, David Roberts of Grist Magazine, for the skeptics, Steve Everley of conservative group American Solutions, and moderating the whole mess, Marky Mark McGrath.

Climate blogger Joe Romm has already uncorked his critical skills on the absurdity of the “debates,” and I largely agree, though there is one bright side to this event.

The pro-climate science side will feature one of the rising voices of the environmental world, David Roberts of Grist Magazine. I am of the general opinion that given the clownish nature of the climate skeptics (particularly when they feign concern for the poor who will supposedly be neglected by too much carbon worry) and given the clownish nature of the venue (a cacophonous bar with a drunken mob, as was the case in L.A.), I can really only recommend that the climate science crowd devalue the event by offering up a stand-up comic who knows the basic talking points (and there are plenty of these, starting with people like Bill Maher and Dana Gould).

But if there has to be a legitimate climate voice (and you know that given the lure of all expense paid travel and hanging with celebrities they would eventually find someone), I think David Roberts is the best shot. I’m hoping to talk a couple of Chicago friends into attending and giving me their take which I will relate here if they do.

The recent Shirley Sherrod NAACP incident illustrates two aspects of broad communication — “arouse and fulfill,” and the need to take risks. Which reminds me that there’s only one person in the entire global warming movement who can wear with honor the badge of “risk taker,” and that’s Al Gore.

AROUSAL, DISCONNECTED FROM FULFILLMENT, IS DANGEROUS.  As Shirley Sherrod learned the hard way — “arousal” is a key part of effective communication, but if you decide to push things with it, you run the risk of someone (i.e. Breitbart) taking your arousal part out of context.  And yet … I don’t think she’s complaining about the power and attention she is now reaping with all the national fame.  You wanna win big with communication, you have to take risks.

Read the rest of this entry »

This video we did in 2008 is THE reason why Discovery Channel should not be propagating the fear and destruction of sharks with their annual Shark Week. What the video says is hard to even fathom — that humans have so emptied the oceans in the past 50 years, you rarely see sharks in the open seas today.

If you want a responsible, up-to-date for the 21st Century perspective on sharks, I strongly recommend you watch Sharkwater. I was deeply impressed with the job Rob Stewart did in hitting exactly the right note for how we should perceive sharks today.

Read the rest of this entry »

The collapse of climate legislation last week is in part due to the ineffective mass communication of climate science. Washington D.C. is ablaze with “Monday Morning Quarterbacking” on literally this Monday morning (I’m in D.C.), but at the core of it all is a toxic mix of poor communication and failed leadership.

It’s now official — this country is in the grips of a full blown science communication crisis.

BIG BUSINESS MAKES A MOCKERY OF CLIMATE SCIENCE. Rolling Stone (the magazine that recently engaged in "assisted career suicide" with General McChrystal) has apparently decided to make itself culturally relevant again. In this month's issue they point a fickle finger at President Obama for his failure to push forward a climate agenda. This illustration comes from their article.

Last week Senator Harry Reid announced that the only major piece of climate legislation in Congress is officially dead. Rolling Stone points to the Obama Administration in doling out blame — which is particularly painful given what would have seemed like a prime opportunity to springboard something off the BP disaster.

For the science world, the official crisis is that the best scientists this nation has to offer are trying to tell the public that excess carbon emission is a serious problem that needs to be addressed. But their message is not coming through. THAT IS A SCIENCE COMMUNICATIONS CRISIS. It doesn’t get any more cut and dried.

On Friday I took part in a conference call on this subject with a team from The Nature Conservancy who will transcribe the call and eventually publish it in their monthly science publication, Science Chronicles. This week I’m in Washington D.C. to meet with folks at the Union of Concerned Scientists and Center for American Progress to talk about the mass communication of climate issues.

And in the meanwhile, we have THE ONE BIG STORY THAT IS NOT BEING TOLD: That the predictions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which climate skeptics have repeatedly labeled as being, “alarmist,” are now consistently being EXCEEDED. Things are getting worse MORE RAPIDLY than expected.

You would think, given the outdoor sauna that places like Washington D.C. currently are experiencing (the misery index is through the roof here!), that EVERYONE would be talking about global warming, but as yet that’s not happening. I think there’s a lag factor at work for the present. But wait til late August if it stays like this.

UPDATE: It’s Monday morning in D.C. and the landscape is cluttered with downed trees from yesterday’s violent thunderstorms, and OpEd’s from last week’s climate collapse. Perhaps the most prominent is Paul Krugman in the NY Times who says the climate effort didn’t fail because of a lack of science or because of the weak economy. He points the finger of blame at GREED (meaning the coal and gas companies with their powerful disinformation campaign) and COWARDICE (politicians who have given up the fight, with John McCain as his biggest target, labeling him a “climate coward”).

Similarly, Lee Wasserman in the NY Times blames not just the politicians, but the Obama Administration in general. He concludes his editorial by saying, “Citizens wouldn’t support an approach they couldn’t understand to solve a problem our leaders refused to acknowledge.” He couldn’t have said it more clearly — we have a failure of both communication and leadership.

And lastly, Joe Romm of Climate Progress seems to have scored the tragi-comic quip of the day with his encapsulation of it all: “The best thing about improvements in health care is that all the climate-change deniers are now going to live long enough to see how wrong they were.”

JOIN US IN WICHITA! My 86 year old mother, Muffy Moose, co-star of “Flock of Dodos,” and I will be on hand to help celebrate the annual meeting of the Wichita chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State with a screening of the movie on Friday evening, September 10, at the Exploration Place in Wichita, Kansas.

Read the rest of this entry »

Nearly two decades after filming our simple, silly, and sentimental evening with three lobster fishermen from Stonington, Maine, we’re going to have a special screening of the film, September 22 at the Collins Art Center on the campus of the University of Maine, Orono. It’s not a well made film. I know. I made it. But it has something at it’s core that makes it every bit as watchable and enjoyable today as it was in 1991 when we completed it — it has the heart and soul of three lobster fishermen. And that’s all it takes to make something ageless — the human element.

Read the rest of this entry »

TOTAL TACTICS: Last Sunday the Union of Concerned Scientists launched this excellent, very positive communications campaign with ads in major newspapers. These ads aren’t meant for scientists or bloggers who read 25 articles about climate science a day. They’re meant for members of the general public who have no interest in ever looking at a graph, even if it is famous.

Read the rest of this entry »

“TOTALLY LIEM” (5 minutes): We are so grateful we were lucky enough to shoot a fun interview with Karel Liem for “Flock of Dodos” that managed to capture a few spontaneous moments of his laughter and enthusiasm. It isn’t much, but just by watching this you can understand why his students and colleagues were so fond of him. He brought a warmth and happiness to the often-cold world of biology. What more can you ask for to draw people into the profession of science.

Read the rest of this entry »

So I dropped two tabs of acid last night, hopped in my car, cruised around Hollywood and somehow found myself in bar packed full of drunken hipster junkies screaming at two experts squaring off on the subject of global warming with the role of moderator played by Andy Samberg of SNL. Or was it Sandy Amberg of SOL? It’s all a surreal blur now.

 Yes, indeed — if you want a good lesson in climate science, then I’m sure you know that a “debate” in a bar in Hollywood hosted by a comedian is the place to get it, right? On the left, climate skeptic and jovial lunkhead, Phelim McAleer. On the right, inappropriately smart and sincere Simran Sethi. In the middle, the guy whose dick was once in a box.

Read the rest of this entry »