[Coral-List] Reporting Co2 to the public

Delbeek, Charles CDelbeek at calacademy.org
Sun Sep 16 18:47:22 EDT 2012


I remember when I was in teacher's college in 1986, by Environmental Studies prof was a staunch environmentalist and champion of recycling etc etc, yet he admitted that he had about given up hope that the message he was preaching would ever be accepted, yet look where we are now where recycling programs and "green" products and technology abound ... somehow somewhere during the next 5 years or so since 1986 there was a paradigm shift where all of a sudden environmental awareness became the "in thing".

I think it is far too early to give up on the climate change message.

J. Charles Delbeek, M.Sc.
Assistant Curator, Steinhart Aquarium
California Academy of Sciences

p 415.379.5303
f. 415.379.5304
cdelbeek at calacademy.org
www.calacademy.org

55 Music Concourse Dr.
Golden Gate Park
San Francisco CA 94118

Prepare to be moved! Earthquake, an all-new exhibit and planetarium show, is now open.
..


-----Original Message-----
From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov [mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of Steve Mussman
Sent: Sunday, September 16, 2012 9:48 AM
To: Ellen Prager
Cc: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Reporting Co2 to the public


   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

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