Staff

Journalists examine teapot tempests as real glaciers melt

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None of [the major papers] thought that the IPCC’s statement that the Himalayan glaciers would likely melt by 2035 was in itself worth mentioning, let alone basing a story around. So how much effort should the same papers spend reporting on the withdrawal of this claim? That depends on whether you think melting glaciers, or scientific misstatements about melting glaciers, are the bigger threat to humanity.

Medical dark matter: Living conditions determine health

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Although doctors can save some sick people, they have no power to make most people live longer. Despite over $2 trillion a year of modern medical care, US life expectancy has dropped to 50th in the world (CIA 2009) behind all of Europe and behind some very poor countries. It seems to me that societal factors account for about 85% of differences in life expectancy, with genetics and individual health care accounting for the remainder. … Our American lifestyle takes years off our lives and cannot be sustained indefinitely by available energy resources.

Characterizing the incalculable

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It is simply impossible to assign a clear, calculable probability to any scenario for climate change or future oil supplies. The best we can do is to characterize the incalculable. But, by knowing the range of presumed outcomes, we can start to characterize the effects and therefore gauge the probable severity of any particular outcome.