Tag: climate change
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This is just stunning. In fact, it’s hard to believe it’s true. But the Heartland Institute, a fiercely conservative and libertarian think tank that champions denial of climate change, is running billboards in Chicago featuring pictures of notorious criminals, like Ted Kaczynski (aka the ... Read More
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California’s initiative process can be both a wonderfully democratic and perilously dumb way to make law. On no issue could that be more true than the proposed initiative to shut down nuclear power in the state. The question – which proposes shutting down the Diablo Canyon and San Onofre ... Read More
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Majorities around the world believe that the climate of the earth is changing, that human activity is contributing to those changes, that the changes are happening so fast they could do really serious damage to environmental AND human health…and yet most people don’t really care. As a ... Read More
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Here’s some bad news for those of you who like to think you can think rationally about risk. You can’t. You know all those thoughtfully considered views you have about nuclear power or genetically modified food or climate change? They are really no more than a jumble of facts, and how you ... Read More
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A year ago a terrible earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear power disaster in Japan gripped the world’s attention for weeks. The news is already full of stories about the anniversary of those frightening events, and lessons learned. Here’s one. The word ‘Fukushima’ means something to many of ... Read More
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As I have written here before, many of us are more worried about some environmental risks than the evidence suggests we need to be - mercury, bisphenol a, nuclear power - and less worried about some eco-threats than the evidence tells us we ought to be - climate change, particulate air ... Read More
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In his groundbreaking 1995 book Descartes’ Error, neuroscientist Antonio Damasio describes Elliott, a patient who had no problem understanding information, but who nonetheless could not live a normal life. Elliott passed every standard intelligence test with flying colors. But he was ... Read More
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This space recently offered some thoughts about “The Ethics of Climate Change Denial”. The basic case was that denial which arises out of the innate subconscious urge we all have to adopt views that agree with our tribe, because of the importance of social cohesion, does not seem unethical ... Read More
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Like its own self-sustaining chain reaction, the battle over nuclear power rages on. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has for the first time since 1978 approved construction of new nuclear reactors. Meanwhile, anti-nuclear advocates continue to release warnings about the risks. Nuclear Power ... Read More
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About Risk: Reason and Reality
Fear is good. It helps protect us. But getting risk wrong — worrying more than the evidence says we need to, or not as much as the evidence says we should — produces stress and leads to unhealthy choices for ourselves and for society. We do have to fear fear itself: too much, or too little. Understanding why the gap exists between our fears and the facts is the first step toward managing the potential risk of risk misperception, and making healthy choices for ourselves, our families, and our communities. David Ropeik is an instructor at Harvard, a consultant in risk perception, risk communication, and risk management, author of How Risky Is It, Really? Why Our Fears Don’t Always Match the Facts, principal co-author of RISK: A Practical Guide for Deciding What’s Really Safe and What’s Really Dangerous in the World Around You, and was a broadcast journalist in Boston for 22 years.
Recent Posts
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5/22
Are Some States of Living Worse Than Death? And Should Government Decide?
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5/14
How Tribalism Overrules Reason, and Makes Risky Times More Dangerous
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5/04
Heartland Billboards on Climate Change. The Dangerous Ignorance of Ideology
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5/01
Child Abduction. Risk, Reason, and a Reporter's Personal Story
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4/23
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4/16
Democracy. A Dangerous Way to Make Decisions About Some Risks
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4/11
Losing a Loved One, and the Heartlessness of Calculating the Value of a Statistical Life.
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4/03
Nukes and Tanning Beds. How Can the Same Risk Feel SO Different?
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3/31
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3/28