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 | Stephan LewandowskyWinthrop Professor, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia |
Professor Stephan Lewandowsky is a cognitive scientist in the School of Psychology at UWA. His research focuses on the role of scepticism in memory updating and the distinction between scepticism and denial.
He has published nearly 140 papers, chapters, and scholarly books on how people remember and think. His latest book on “computational modeling in cognition” draws together strands from philosophy of science, mathematics, and computer science to illustrate how cognitive scientists can best learn to understand how a complex system such as the mind operates.
He received a Discovery Outstanding Researcher Award from the Australian Research Council in 2011.
He is also an award-winning teacher of statistics.
More biographical detail including a list of all his scholarly publications can be found on his academic homepage at www.cogsciWA.com.
Stephan has regularly contributed to national debate and links to his pieces in the Australian and international media can be found here.
Blog Posts
| The scientific consensus on climate change: Still pivotal and more pervasive than everPosted on 16 May 2013 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
Science is debate. It’s a debate that takes place at conferences or in the peer-reviewed literature, and scientific debates contribute to the error-correction process that has served science and the public well for a century or more.
 | Recursive Fury: Facts and misrepresentationsPosted on 22 March 2013 by John Cook & Stephan Lewandowsky |
Our paper Recursive fury: conspiracist ideation in the blogosphere in response to research on conspiracist ideation has been published. The paper analyzed the public discourse in response to an earlier article by Lewandowsky, Oberauer, and Gignac (LOG12 for short from here on), which has led to some discussion on this blog earlier.
| The involvement of conspiracist ideation in science denialPosted on 5 February 2013 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
There is growing evidence that conspiratorial thinking, also known as conspiracist ideation, is often involved in the rejection of scientific propositions. Conspiracist ideations tend to invoke alternative explanations for the nature or source of the scientific evidence. For example, among people who reject the link between HIV and AIDS, common ideations involve the beliefs that AIDS was created by the U.S. Government.
| One world, two realities: BigAussieHeatPosted on 11 January 2013 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
Update 11/1/13: video of duststorm added. Australia is experiencing the mother of all heat waves. Records are tumbling everywhere: For the first time in recorded climatic history, the country experienced 7 consecutive days above 39C (90F 102F). Extremes are everywhere, and the Bureau of Meteorology issued a special climate statement.
| The top (Climate) Events of 2012Posted on 29 December 2012 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
A group of us, all interested in climate science, put together a list of the most notable, often, most worrying, climate-related stories of the year, along with a few links that will allow you to explore the stories in more detail.
| Emotive Short-Circuitry vs. Deliberative Reasoning: The Australian vs. the ABCPosted on 27 December 2012 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
Updated 1/1/13
| Poster on Uncertainty at the American Geophysical Union Meeting in San FranciscoPosted on 28 November 2012 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
This post relates to a poster at the American Geophysical Union Meeting in San Francisco in December 2012 that summarizes our work on uncertainty in climate science. (Thursday, 6 December, 1:40 PM - 6:00 PM, Poster Hall, Moscone South).
| Frankenstorm Sandy and TobaccoPosted on 31 October 2012 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
What does "frankenstorm" Sandy have to do with smoking? Well, quite a bit actually, in an indirect way. I talk about the underlying cognition of tobacco and climate change here, for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
| The pivotal role of perceived scientific consensusPosted on 29 October 2012 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
The embargo on my latest paper on the cognition of climate change, published in Nature Climate Change, has now been lifted. The paper and abstract are available using the doi: 10.1038/10.1038/NCLIMATE1720.
| Another Downfall video in the makingPosted on 19 October 2012 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is best known for its reliance on feather dusters to "achieve active self-regulation" by the radio industry. In a notable development today, ACMA traded in the feather duster for some chalk and a blackboard when announcing that one of the nation's most notorious Shock Jocks, a certain Alan Jones of station 2GB in Sydney, will be given basic training in journalism. This training will presumably introduce Mr.Jones to subtle distinctions such as the difference between a fact and a falsehood.
| The sky is not falling--but emissions arePosted on 18 October 2012 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
Today's headline in The Age, one of Australia's major newspapers, is Power pollution plunges. The article notes that the introduction of a price on carbon (currently $23/tonne) may have contributed to a fairly sharp drop in emissions intensity (i.e., the amount of of CO2 emitted per unit power generated). The article is accompanied by the following graph:
| Inferential Statistics and ReplicationsPosted on 10 October 2012 by Stephan Lewandowsky & Klaus Oberauer |
When you drop a glass it'll crash to the floor. Wherever you are on this planet, and whatever glass it is you were disposing of, gravity will ensure its swift demise. The replicability of phenomena is one of the hallmarks of science: once we understand a natural "law" we expect it to yield the same outcome in any situation in which it is applicable. (This outcome may have error bars associated with it but that doesn't affect our basic conclusion).
| The Stickiness of MisinformationPosted on 10 October 2012 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
Together with colleagues Ullrich Ecker, Colleen Seifert, Norbert Schwarz, and John Cook I recently published a review paper of the literature on misinformation—why does misinformation "stick" to people's memories? Why would anyone believe patent nonsense, such as the claim that President Obama was born outside the U.S.? And how can we help people discard such erroneous beliefs?
 | A simple recipe for the manufacturing of doubtPosted on 19 September 2012 by Klaus Oberauer & Stephan Lewandowsky |
Mr. McIntyre, a self-declared expert in statistics, recently posted an ostensibly unsuccessful attempt to replicate several exploratory factor analyses in our study on the motivated rejection of (climate) science. His wordy post creates the appearance of potential problems with our analysis.
| Drilling into noisePosted on 17 September 2012 by Stephan Lewandowsky & Klaus Oberauer |
The science of statistics is all about differentiating signal from noise. This exercise is far from trivial: Although there is enough computing power in today's laptops to churn out very sophisticated analyses, it is easily overlooked that data analysis is also a cognitive activity.
| Climate denial a “warmist” hoax?Posted on 13 September 2012 by Stephan Lewandowsky & Klaus Oberauer |
Understanding people means to have a Theory of Mind. A model of other people’s thinking.
| Faking that NASA faked the moon landingPosted on 12 September 2012 by Stephan Lewandowsky & Klaus Oberauer |
Data integrity is a central issue in all research, and internet-based data collection poses a unique set of challenges. Much attention has been devoted to that issue and procedures have been developed to safeguard against abuse. There have been numerous demonstrations that internet platforms offers a reliable and replicable means of data collection, and the practice is now widely accepted.
| Bloggers' Hall of AmnesiaPosted on 10 September 2012 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
The publication of my paper on conspiracist ideation was met with several nearly-instant accusations. First out of the gate was the claim that I did not contact 5 “skeptic” or “skeptic-leaning” blogs to link to the survey.
| A Cabal of Bankers and Sister SouljahPosted on 9 September 2012 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
One of the many adverse consequences of knee-jerk science rejection is the voluminous noise generated in response to certain events, such as the recent publication of my paper on rejection of science and conspiracist ideation. Whenever baseless accusations are launched, whether against me or other scientists, this detracts attention from other potentially substantive issues.
| An update on my birth certificatesPosted on 7 September 2012 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
My inbox has become a kaleidoscopic staging post of human diversity. A few requests are noteworthy for tutorial reasons:
| Confirming the obviousPosted on 6 September 2012 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
The public response to my forthcoming paper in Psychological Science, entitled "NASA faked the moon landing—Therefore (Climate) Science is a Hoax: An Anatomy of the Motivated Rejection of Science," has provided a perfect real-life illustration of the very cognitive processes at the center of my research.
In fact, the cascading eruption of allegations and theories about the paper and myself have illustrated the impoverished epistemology of climate denial better than any mountain of data could have done.
It is helpful to analyze some of the theories that have sprung up in response to my paper.
First out of the gate was the accusation that I might not have contacted the 5 "skeptic" bloggers, none of whom posted links to my survey. Astute readers might wonder why I would mention this in the Method section, if I hadn't contacted anyone.
In an exercise more reminiscent of juvenile hyperventilation than adult cognitive control, several individuals jumped to the conclusion that I must be guilty of academic misconduct because no skeptic blogger could recall having been contacted by me. And of course, those bloggers know more about my research, or that in any other scientific discipline, than myself or any of my scientific colleagues.
This theory, alas, is now in terminal decline. First, one individual recovered his search skills after launching wild accusations against me and found that he had been contacted not once but twice.
Oops.
We now also know that two of the people who were contacted even replied to my assistant's query.
Oops. Oops.
Let's move on quickly. There must be another gourd somewhere.
And thus, as sure as night follows day, the second theory was born, arising like Phoenix from the ashes of the first one. The second theory revolves around the dates of certain events: It turns out that I gave a talk at Monash University in Melbourne, during which I alluded to these data briefly, after having done a very rough preliminary analysis. This event occurred a few days after Mr. McIntyre had been contacted with a request to post a link.
Oh how nefarious! I reported data only 3 days after contacting a blogger to collect data!
Never mind that the first theory claimed I never contacted anyone. That's sooooo 2011. Let's move on to the next conspiracy.
Only 3 days and I reported data from 1100 subjects. The travesty of it!
I wish this theory well, and I suspect much more analysis of dates, involving multi-colored Gantt charts, will be performed once the identity of the other 4 bloggers will (hopefully—I am working on it) have become public in the near future.
Reality-based readers may now note that it doesn't matter whether 3, 30, or 666 days elapsed between Mr McIntyre ignoring an email and me giving a talk about data gathered from other blogs.
| Misplaced email in the climate wars? Not again, please!Posted on 4 September 2012 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
It has come to my attention that one of the individuals who initially denied—yes, folks, that's the correct word, look it up in a dictionary—having received an invitation to post a link to my survey on the rejection of science on his blog, has now found that email.
| NASA and the blogospherePosted on 3 September 2012 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
I recently published a paper on the motivated rejection of science that is forthcoming in Psychological Science. The abstract of the paper is as follows:
| AGU Fall Meeting sessions on social media, misinformation and uncertaintyPosted on 16 July 2012 by Stephan Lewandowsky & John Cook |
We have proposed several sessions for the AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco on 3-7 December: on uncertainty, misinformation and social media. AGU members are invited to submit abstracts for the sessions - the deadline to submit an abstract is August 8. Details of the sessions are:
| Climate Uncertainty and Emission CutsPosted on 2 June 2012 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
It is very clear that uncertainty is no one’s friend. We have seen that greater uncertainty about the evolution of the climate should give us even greater cause for concern. We have seen that all other things being equal, greater uncertainty means that things could be worse than we thought. We have also seen that greater uncertainty means that the expected damages from climate change will necessarily be greater than anticipated, and that the allowance we must make for sea level rise will also be greater than anticipated. All of those results arise from simple mathematics, and we do not even have to resort to any economic modelling to understand how greater uncertainty translates into greater risk.
| Do you want some science with your entertainment?Posted on 21 April 2012 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
On Thursday next week the ABC (Australia, 26 April, 8:30pm AEST) will be airing the documentary I can change your mind about … climate, which has been attracting quite a bit of media attention already. Its main protagonists are two polar opposites: A conservative politician, former Senator Nick Minchin, and a young climate activist, the founder and chair of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition Anna Rose.
| Keeping Dry: Uncertain Sea Level Rise and the Risk of FloodsPosted on 3 April 2012 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
We have already seen that uncertainty about the future evolution of the climate is not your friend because it means things could be worse than anticipated. And we have shown that as uncertainty grows, then it is almost inevitable that the expected damage from climate change will also increase.buil
| The Inescapable Implication of UncertaintyPosted on 26 March 2012 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
In a previous post, we saw that uncertainty is not your friend. In a nutshell, if there is uncertainty, things could be worse than anticipated as well as better.
| Uncertainty is not your FriendPosted on 6 March 2012 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
The Australian Future fund is tasked with delivering high risk-adjusted returns on public funds, such as the Australian Government’s budget surpluses, in order to cover the Government’s unfunded superannuation liability arising from entitlements to public servants and defence personnel.
| From the Debunking Handbook to “Widerlegen: aber richtig!”: Die deutsche ÜbersetzungPosted on 26 February 2012 by Stephan Lewandowsky & John Cook |
Das “Debunking Handbook,” daß John Cook und Stephan Lewandowsky for einigen Monaten auf Englisch produziert haben, ist inzwischen mehr als 465.000 mal heruntergeladen worden. Unter Anderem ist das “Handbook” von Richard Dawkins und Al Gore auf deren Internetseiten empfohlen worden.
Das “Handbook” ist jetzt auf Deutsch übersetzt worden, und wir machen es nun hier zum herunterladen verfügbar. Der deutsche Titel ist “Widerlegen: aber richtig!”
Wir bedanken uns sehr bei unseren ehrenamtlichen Übersetzern, Bärbel Winkler und Oliver Marchand, für ihre sehr detaillierte und ausführliche Arbeit.
| Disasters that Come and Go—But They Will be BackPosted on 23 January 2012 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
Who hasn’t heard the phrase “in today’s dollars”? We all know that this refers to the price of goods being adjusted to reflect the passage of time.
| Debunking Handbook: update and feedbackPosted on 23 January 2012 by John Cook & Stephan Lewandowsky |
When we published the Debunking Handbook, I have to admit, we completely underestimated the impact it would make. A few days after the launch, it suddenly went viral with over 150,000 downloads in a single day. This week, it just ticked over 400,000 downloads. We always planned that the Handbook would be useful not just for climate myths but for communicators having to deal with any type of misinformation. Nevertheless, it was surprising to see the Handbook featued on websites as diverse asRichard Dawkins and Silobreaker. A website devoted to debunking MLM myths saw it as "useful when debating with brainwashed members of MLM organizations". A Muslim forum speculated that it "Should be useful when engaging people who believe lies about Islam". Currently, several educators are looking to integrate it into their curriculum.
| Estivation RenovationsPosted on 17 January 2012 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
Whereas most species of bears hibernate, Australians indulge in estivation instead, preferring slightly cooler beaches to their offices, especially when university air conditioning is turned down or off.
| The Curious Invisibility of ProgressPosted on 16 December 2011 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
The Australian sustainable business market will grow to $2.9bn in 2014 from $1.6bn in 2010, according to a new report from independent analyst firm Verdantix. Their report, issued on 19 April 2011, goes on to quote author Susan Clarke that “... carbon regulations, rising energy prices and natural resource scarcity also create new market opportunities. Innovative firms ... already benefit from the market for energy efficiency and carbon management."
| The Missed Oil Change and the Durban BathtubPosted on 11 December 2011 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
The climate talks in Durban have drawn to a close at around 5AM local time after a marathon all-night session.
| Data for DurbanPosted on 7 December 2011 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
There is a climate conference on in Durban, South Africa. This event has been difficult to miss because it has been accompanied by the usual distractions: First, we had another release of stolen personal correspondence among climate scientists (the two-year old rejects from the “climategate” non-scandal), presumably in the hope that this would torpedo the climate negotiations. No one has shown much interest in this very transparent attempt to malign scientists.
| Australian Media and Reporting of the Carbon Price DebatePosted on 1 December 2011 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
Professor Wendy Bacon and a team of researchers have published a report on the coverage of climate change in the Australian media.
The research is based on a comprehensive review of 3971 media articles which were published in ten Australian newspapers on the topic of climate change policy, during the period February 2011 and July 2011.
Key Findings of the research are at the front of the report. They include:
| The unbearable simplicity of carbon reductionPosted on 29 November 2011 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
In Australia, the sky will fall in on 1 July 2012 next year.
| The Debunking Handbook: now freely available for downloadPosted on 27 November 2011 by John Cook & Stephan Lewandowsky |
The Debunking Handbook, a guide to debunking misinformation, is now freely available to download. Although there is a great deal of psychological research on misinformation, there's no summary of the literature that offers practical guidelines on the most effective ways of reducing the influence of myths. The Debunking Handbook boils the research down into a short, simple summary, intended as a guide for communicators in all areas (not just climate) who encounter misinformation.
The Handbook explores the surprising fact that debunking myths can sometimes reinforce the myth in peoples' minds. Communicators need to be aware of the various backfire effects and how to avoid them, such as:
| The Debunking Handbook Part 5: Filling the gap with an alternative explanationPosted on 25 November 2011 by John Cook & Stephan Lewandowsky |
The Debunking Handbook is an upcoming guide to debunking myths, by John Cook and Stephan Lewandowsky. Although there is a great deal of psychological research on misinformation, unfortunately there is no summary of the literature that offers practical guidelines on the most effective ways of reducing the influence of misinformation. This Handbook boils down the research into a short, simple summary, intended as a guide for communicators in all areas (not just climate) who encounter misinformation. The Handbook will be available as a free, downloadable PDF at the end of this 6-part blog series.
This post has been cross-posted at Skeptical Science.
| The Debunking Handbook Part 4: The Worldview Backfire EffectPosted on 23 November 2011 by John Cook & Stephan Lewandowsky |
The Debunking Handbook is an upcoming guide to debunking myths, by John Cook and Stephan Lewandowsky. Although there is a great deal of psychological research on misinformation, unfortunately there is no summary of the literature that offers practical guidelines on the most effective ways of reducing the influence of misinformation. This Handbook boils down the research into a short, simple summary, intended as a guide for communicators in all areas (not just climate) who encounter misinformation. The Handbook will be available as a free, downloadable PDF at the end of this 6-part blog series.
This post has been cross-posted at Skeptical Science.
| The Debunking Handbook Part 3: The Overkill Backfire EffectPosted on 20 November 2011 by John Cook & Stephan Lewandowsky |
The Debunking Handbook is an upcoming guide to debunking myths, by John Cook and Stephan Lewandowsky. Although there is a great deal of psychological research on misinformation, unfortunately there is no summary of the literature that offers practical guidelines on the most effective ways of reducing the influence of misinformation. This Handbook boils down the research into a short, simple summary, intended as a guide for communicators in all areas (not just climate) who encounter misinformation. The Handbook will be available as a free, downloadable PDF at the end of this 6-part blog series.
This post has been cross-posted at Skeptical Science.
| The Debunking Handbook Part 2: The Familiarity Backfire EffectPosted on 18 November 2011 by John Cook & Stephan Lewandowsky |
The Debunking Handbook is an upcoming guide to debunking myths, by John Cook and Stephan Lewandowsky. Although there is a great deal of psychological research on misinformation, unfortunately there is no summary of the literature that offers practical guidelines on the most effective ways of reducing the influence of misinformation. This Handbook boils down the research into a short, simple summary, intended as a guide for communicators in all areas (not just climate) who encounter misinformation. The Handbook will be available as a free, downloadable PDF at the end of this 6-part blog series.
This post has been cross-posted at Skeptical Science.
| The Debunking Handbook Part 1: The first myth about debunkingPosted on 16 November 2011 by John Cook & Stephan Lewandowsky |
The Debunking Handbook is an upcoming guide to debunking myths, by John Cook and Stephan Lewandowsky. Although there is a great deal of psychological research on misinformation, unfortunately there is no summary of the literature that offers practical guidelines on the most effective ways of reducing the influence of misinformation. This Handbook boils down the research into a short, simple summary, intended as a guide for communicators in all areas (not just climate) who encounter misinformation. The Handbook will be available as a free, downloadable PDF at the end of this 6-part blog series.
This has been cross-posted at Skeptical Science.
| Submission to the Independent Media InquiryPosted on 9 November 2011 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
This is the full text of a written submission to the independent inquiry into media and media regulation, which commenced public hearings in Melbourne on 7 November 2011.
| Series on Science at The ConversationPosted on 4 November 2011 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
Series of articles on State of the Science
at The Conversation has kicked off
All pieces can be found through this page.
(The remainder of this post summarizes the series and was originally posted before the series started.)
| The Loud Fringe: Pluralistic Ignorance and DemocracyPosted on 18 October 2011 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
It appears self-evident that democracy functions best if its citizens share a common reality. There is common agreement that society stands to benefit from diversity of opinions, but most people also appear to agree that a society would suffer when segments of the population operate within a fictional social world that is disconnected from reality.
| Carbon Free in the DesertPosted on 22 September 2011 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
Australia’s CO2 emissions are among the highest in the world, when expressed on a per capita basis. When our historical responsibilities are taken into account, we are 14th—out of about 200 countries in the world. Nonetheless, political figures and the media like to point fingers at other countries whose per capita emissions are even higher than ours. For example, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) spew out nearly 30 tonnes of CO2 per capita, compared to our 19 tonnes (but don’t rejoice—the Swiss get by with about 5 tonnes, or nearly 75% less than us!).
| Yes, There is a PatternPosted on 27 August 2011 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
It’s beginning to add up. After some period of uncertainty, the picture that emerges is beginning to fit into the neo-McCarthyite pattern of attack on scientists that has become all too common in the United States.
| Nuclear Power: Thanks, but No ThanksPosted on 8 August 2011 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
In two recent posts (here and here), colleague David Hodgkinson eloquently presented the case for nuclear power as one strategy to deal with climate change. Rather than revisiting all arguments in favour of nuclear power or against it, he focused on three core issues: (a) expense, (b) nuclear waste, and (c) militarization. In addition, Hodgkinson suggests that unless we put in place an infrastructure now, an ostensibly “cheap” nuclear power option will be precluded when the world gets serious about emission cuts within the next 10 years or so.
| Earthworker Cooperative UpdatePosted on 5 August 2011 by Stephan Lewandowsky & Dave Kerin |
Some time ago we introduced the Earthworker Cooperative, a cooperative dedicated to providing finance, assistance with marketing strategy, R&D and networking of the various, loose strands of the social sector of the Australian economy. Their goal is to create a powerful force for the collective good, on behalf of its member cooperatives, unions, shire councils, faith-based communities and individuals.
| Something Does Not Add UpPosted on 2 August 2011 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
Something does not add up.
| Another new type of post: Point and CounterpointPosted on 28 July 2011 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
Fresh on the heels of our "in the news" items, we introduce another type of post, called "Point and Counterpoint", identified by this icon:
| U.S. Congress Looking after the World (or Not?)Posted on 28 July 2011 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
The American Association for the Advancement of Science reports today:
| In the News This Week: A New Type of PostPosted on 21 July 2011 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
A reader recently emailed us and posed the following very good question: "The jump from academic and worthy discussion to our daily discourse is so vast a leap. How do we go about infusing our daily conversations with real information and thoughtful opinion."
| Australia's Emissions in Context: Our Present ResponsibilityPosted on 5 June 2011 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
Australia's sum total of historical emissions places us near the top of the world's polluters. Despite our small population and the relatively small size of our economy, across history, we have emitted more CO2 from burning of fossil fuels than 94% of all other countries.
| Historical Responsibilities: Carbon Emissions in ContextPosted on 1 June 2011 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
It has often been claimed that Australian annual CO2 emissions are such a tiny fraction of the world’s total, around 1.5%, that there is no need for us to take action. If we are only responsible for such a small proportion, why should we bother with a carbon tax or emissions trading scheme?
| Shaping Tomorrow's World After One MonthPosted on 30 May 2011 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
About a month ago, we unveiled Shaping Tomorrows World, a website dedicated to exploring solutions to the multiple crises and challenges that are currently facing our societies.
| If It's Not Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n Roll, what is it? Creativity maybe?Posted on 25 May 2011 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
Let’s face it. The 1960’s were a time of radical change. And what we need today, like it or not, is another substantial transformation of our societies—from our current fossil-fuel based economies to an alternative means of economic productivity that is based on other sources of energy.
| Environmentalism: The Case for Radical IncrementalismPosted on 8 May 2011 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
Clive Hamilton makes a strong case in favour of a radical environmentalism. Citing the suffragettes and the U.S. civil rights movement as precedent, he proposes a similar radicalism as the way forward for the environmentalist movement, and in particular for stimulating long overdue action on climate change.
| The Importance of Conversational FramesPosted on 28 April 2011 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
Societies rely on tacit “frames” to conduct and understand conversations. One popular frame in Western democracies is the notion of “balance”—the idea that all sides of an issue deserve to be heard and that solutions can be found by balancing their demands and needs. This idea entails the assumption that all sides have a roughly symmetrical entitlement to be heard.
| Acceptance of Science and IdeologyPosted on 28 April 2011 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
President Barack Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961. Recent U.S. surveys reveal that only 1 in 3 Republicans accept this simple fact, notwithstanding the incontrovertible evidence provided by something as straightforward as a Hawaiian birth certificate. The remaining 2 out of 3 Republicans either believe that President Obama was born outside the United States (between 45% and 51%, depending on the particular poll) or they profess uncertainty about his place of birth.
| Shaping Tomorrow's WorldPosted on 6 April 2011 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
Our planet is finite. We have 510,072,000 km2 of surface area to sustain all human economic and social activity. We have 510,072,000 km2 to support all of life. Nothing will change this physical limit. Our economy is based on growth. A fundamental tenet of capitalism is a continually growing economy that produces more and more goods. Indeed, per capita world economic output (GDP) has increased nearly 20-fold since 1960. During the same period, the world's population has increased from 3 billion to nearly 7 billion.
| The Challenge of Understanding AccumulationPosted on 15 March 2011 by Stephan Lewandowsky |
As the physical understanding of climate change within the scientific community has become more and more robust, paradoxically the public debate has become progressively more disconnected from the scientific literature.
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No Current Events PlannedRelevant events (mainly in Australia) will be announced here as they become available. |
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