[Coral-List] Reporting Co2 to the public

Matt Bjornson mbjornson at gmail.com
Sun Sep 16 19:22:57 EDT 2012


While the idea is commendable, I don't think it will yield the desired
result. Case in point: there's already a public display of the debt this
country is accruing and each persons portion. Yet there are few who are
fiscally responsible themselves (one only need look at the national savings
rate) and even fewer elect politicians who are fiscally responsible.

Can't hurt though...

On Sun, Sep 16, 2012 at 11:47 AM, Steve Mussman <sealab at earthlink.net>wrote:

>
>    Of course, Ellen is correct and her analysis clearly illustrates some
> of the
>    reasons why the science has
>
>    thus far proven to be inept at changing the paradigm. It appears that
> trying
>    to advocate for effective change
>
>    in dealing with climate change (pardon the hyperbole), is taking on the
>    moral equivilency of The Battle of Thermopylae.
>
>    There appears to be no way to prevail against the forces that be.
> Perhaps we
>    would be better off to look at it
>
>    as analogous to slowly turning a massive ship.
>
>
>    I just hope that the maneuver can be accomplished before we hit the
> reef..
>
>
>    Regards,
>
>    Steve
>
>
>
>
>      -----Original Message-----
>      From: Ellen Prager
>      Sent: Sep 15, 2012 4:06 PM
>      To: Steve Mussman
>      Cc: Douglas Fenner , "coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov"
>      Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Reporting Co2 to the public
>      Having  worked frequently with various media outlets, including the
>      network, cable news, and morning shows, this is a really tough sell
> and
>      quite frankly highly unlikely. It is always good to try to push them
> to
>      cover more science, but many news outlets are covering less these
> days,
>      not more.  Many have let their science correspondents go, or have them
>      cover other topics instead (crime, celebrities, etc).  My experience
> is
>      that unless it is a crisis, visibly stunning, morally shocking,
> obviously
>      high impact on the public or a fantastic gee whiz story, getting
> science
>      on the news is quite difficult.  And as has been noted, showing it in
> a
>      way that explains why anyone should care and that is understandable
> for
>      the broad public are obstacles as well.
>
>    I have been trying for years to get on as an "Earth Analyst" like they
> have
>    military or legal analysts...but alas no takers.  Though I do get on
> when
>    related crisis, events, etc occur.
>    You  could  pitch  websites that cover science stories - Live Science,
>    ScienceDaily - but those are not the audiences you are after....I know.
>    Ellen
>    Dr. Ellen Prager
>    Earth2Ocean, Inc
>    Author 2011 book, Sex, Drugs, and Sea Slime: The Ocean's Oddest
> Creatures
>    and Why They Matter
>    On Sep 15, 2012, at 1:57 PM, Steve Mussman wrote:
>
>      Bruce Carlson's idea is brilliant, but as Doug has pointed out, there
> are
>      some hurdles to overcome.
>      Not the least of which is how to lobby "the powers that be"
> effectively
>      enough to get the idea implemented.
>      Perhaps some would be more receptive than others. Something tells me
> that
>      FOX News might balk.
>      And  let's  not  forget  that there will be some powerful sources of
>    advertising
>      revenue that will show force
>      on all fronts.Then comes the problem Doug alluded to of educating the
>    public
>      as to the relationship
>      between CO2 concentrations and the earth's temperature. James Hansen
> has
>      used watts per square metre
>      as  a  way to illustrate this forcing, but can this be comprehensively
>      consumed by the general public?
>      I'm a good example of a layperson that struggled through the process
> which
>      to be honest, required some faith.
>      Nevertheless  this  is  too good of an idea to drop because of a few
>    obstacles.
>      We should all be thinking
>      of  ways to push this forward. And Bruce should get the intellectual
>    property
>      rights!
>      Regards,
>        Steve
>      -----Original Message-----
>
>      From: Douglas Fenner
>
>      Sent: Sep 14, 2012 6:42 PM
>
>      To: Eugene Shinn , [1]coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>
>      Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Reporting Co2 to the public
>
>      As far as I know, reporting CO2 to the public would require stating
>
>      what the concentration of CO2 is in the atmosphere (that's what the
>      Keeling
>
>      Curve shows). It is probably normally expressed in something like
> parts
>
>      per million, which the public may not understand, so expressing it as
> a
>
>      percent  as well could serve to increase public understanding of that
>
>      aspect.
>
>      Whether CO2 should be reported as a percentage of atmospheric gases
>
>      depends on the purpose. If the purpose is to show that CO2 does not
> drive
>
>      temperature changes, then stressing how small the concentration of
> CO2 is
>
>      in the atmosphere could be used to deceive readers into thinking that
> CO2
>
>      is not important in climate change (and thus decrease public
>
>      understanding). Showing how little nerve gas concentration would be
> needed
>
>      in the atmosphere to kill the entire human population could
> illustrate how
>
>      even a gas in much less concentration than CO2 could have strong
> effects.
>
>      The concentration of argon or even nitrogen could show that very high
>
>      concentrations of inert gases aren't necessarily toxic. What should be
>
>      included all depends on the purpose.
>
>      Showing a figure of how much additional heat energy (such as watts or
>
>      joules) is retained in the earth due to the increases in CO2 might
>
>      illustrate the connection between CO2 concentrations and changes in
> mean
>
>      global temperature. If the purpose is to protect the fossil fuel
> industry,
>
>      then maybe that shouldn't be included.
>
>      Cheers, Doug
>
>      On Fri, Sep 14, 2012 at 4:22 AM, Eugene Shinn wrote:
>
>      Good ideas to report Co2 to the public. I suggest that the graphs all
>
>      of you have suggested also include graphs of global temperature
>
>      change over the same period of time. Should Co2 also be reported as a
>
>      percentage of atmospheric gases? The Terry Hughes video is excellent
>
>      and truthful. Gene
>
>      --
>
>      No Rocks, No Water, No Ecosystem (EAS)
>
>      ------------------------------------
> -----------------------------------
>
>      E. A. Shinn, Courtesy Professor
>
>      University of South Florida
>
>      College of Marine Science Room 221A
>
>      140 Seventh Avenue South
>
>      St. Petersburg, FL 33701
>
>      Tel 727 553-1158----------------------------------
>
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>
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>
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