Deborah Byrd’s Recent Comments

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  a finite planet on an energy binge

  David, yes, I agree absolutely with you and with Alex and Sarah.  We're a finite planet on an energy binge.  No amount of purchasing "green products" or "carbon offsets" is going to change that.

  What's heartening is that - in the scientific community - more and more research is being conducted around the idea of true well being, hard choices and deep change.

  The evidence points to the idea that - while there is a certain level of human comfort required to achieve a sense of well being - having more and more doesn't make a person happier and happier.

   

  Deborah Byrd Earth & Sky Radio Series "A clear voice for science."

  On It's descended completely into 'small steps' posted 2 years, 6 months ago 37 Responses

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  yes yes

  Andrew, I looked at your post, and I agree with you.  As someone who has written about science for 30 years, all of the sources your describe are one that I'd look to, if I wanted to understand the scientific truth about climate change.

  But then I'm a left-leaning, enviro, science type myself.  And I've just come from a website where right-leaning, non-enviro, non-science types have an entirely different kind of truth.

  I'm not asking how to find the scientific truth.  I'm asking how to overcome the problem that there are so many voices in the world today ... it's hard for people (not me, maybe, and not you ... but people generally) to know what to believe.

  So many voices shouting ...

  It's come down to WHO you believe.  

  And meanwhile the climate is out there doing its thing, which, as any good scientist knows, is essentialy unpredictable.

  I keep wondering ... do most people really want the same thing?  A world that their children can live in?  How will the voices ever stop shouting all these differences long enough for us to see that - as humans on planet Earth - we have more in common than not ... ?

  Deborah

  Deborah Byrd Earth & Sky Radio Series "A clear voice for science."

  On What do the climate scientists think? posted 2 years, 10 months ago 24 Responses

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  so many voices

  I don't think the issue is that we've oversold climate science.  I think the issue is that the world has so many voices now ... it's hard to know who to believe.  On the internet, people are tending to form groups around various niches ... like the one here at Grist.  These various groups have widely different points of view, and the "truth" is different for all of them.  

  To us here at Grist, we can question whether climate science is being oversold.  Meanwhile - at the same time, but in another part of the virtual space of the web - people are strongly disputing that climate change is caused by humanity, and that it should be allowed to disrupt "business as usual."

  I blogged about this yesterday on the Earth & Sky website, referring to an article by Jeff Jacoby at townhall.com titled "Climate of Fear."  My post was called Climate of fear or climate of folly?

  But why should some readers believe me in contrast to Jeff Jacoby ... or vice versa?  I think the real question centers on why people carry the belief systems that they do ... it's a question of values.

  Deborah Byrd Earth & Sky Radio Series "A clear voice for science."

  On What do the climate scientists think? posted 2 years, 10 months ago 24 Responses

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  human world

  The physical reality is that we're linked to Earth in a way that's very profound.  Scientists nowadays study this phenomenon, speaking about the Earth and humanity as a coupled human-environment system.  

  It's not just that we affect Earth.  We affect it, and Earth affects us in turn ... the effects cycle back and forth between us.

  It's always been this way.  Humans have evolved in response to Earth.  Blaming humanity for affecting the Earth is like blaming the wind for causing the trees to sway.

  Deborah Byrd Earth & Sky Radio Series "A clear voice for science."

  On Huh? posted 2 years, 11 months ago 13 Responses

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  Great Transition

  Good morning David,

  The people who've written the Great Transition Initiative's new paper series are scholars.  

  Their goal is to envision possible futures.  If one of those futures involves a utopian society ... well, that's just one possible future.  They envision some scary futures as well ... a whole range of global scenarios.

  There are many, many interesting ideas there.

  Deborah Byrd Earth & Sky Radio Series "A clear voice for science."

  On Know it posted 2 years, 11 months ago 5 Responses