Author: John Bruno
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Global warming continues to heat the oceans
This is a repost from Skeptical Science written by Dana1981: Levitus et al. had previously published updated ocean heat content (OHC) data on the National Oceanic Data Center (NODC) website, labeled as “Levitus et al. in preparation” (Figure 1). Figure 1: Global OHC for the upper 2000 meters of oceans (NODC) Levitus et al. (2012) is now…
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Obama speaks at UNC on importance of higher education
I had the treat of a lifetime yesterday. I attended (along with 8000 other members of the Carolina community) a speech by a sitting US president (only the 7th in the 200+ year history of Carolina). President Obama talked about the critical role of higher education in our country’s economic and social fabric. If we…
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Weighing advocacy and objectivity as a junior scientist
Speaking out: weighing advocacy and objectivity as a junior scientist Thomas A Morrison, Matthew P Ayres (2010) Speaking out: weighing advocacy and objectivity as a junior scientist. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment: Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 50-5 Thomas A Morrison (graduate student) Ecologists wear many hats, and some fit better than others. One…
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Tundra Connections: Mothers & Cubs live today!
Tundra Connections, an amazing online outreach platform produced by Polar Bears International will be running a live show today about mum and cub polar bears from the arctic! Learn more here. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z69k5_L_6B0&[/youtube]
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Clash of the fisheries titans
If you missed last Monday’s panel discussion “Are fisheries turning the corner” organized by the Nicholas Institute at Duke, you can watch the video below! Also check out Clare “@SeaFiez” Fieseler’s incredible Storify of it here. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKsgJ1C0qyg&f[/youtube]
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Ecologists and environmentalism
I love this essay by Ecology EIC and former Don of the Tallahassee Mafia Don Strong. I bring up his argument, that like art historians, ecologists should not be hesitant to defend what they study, whenever someone asks if I think it is alright for scientists to be advocates: Of course it is! Don’t you think…
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Advocacy and science
An excerpt from Peterson et al 1997 on advocacy, science, ecology and managers. Peterson, G., S. Pope, G. A. De Leo, M.A. Janssen, J.R. Malcolm, J.M. Parody, G. Hood, and M. North. 1997. Ecology, ethics, and advocacy. Conservation Ecology [online] 1(1): 17. Ecologists are frequently confronted with situations that they feel are wrong. However, it is…
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Communicating science to a nation watching reality TV
A great video of Sheril Kirshenbaum speaking about science communication. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uyo8VUbBqCI&[/youtube]
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Expert debunks lamo coverage of polar bear science
Below is a repost of a piece from MediaMatters by Jocelyn Fong covering Steven Amstrup’s response to the recent media coverage of polar bear populations, which led to a resurgence of that long debunked myth “Polar Bears are doing better than ever! They LOVE climate change!” Steven used to be a federal scientist and is now the lead…
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Global warming in a nutshell
From Skeptical Science: The Greenhouse Effect The Earth is a giant rock, hurtling through space in its orbit around the sun. It would be a frozen lifeless rock like the moon if not for the thin layer of atmosphere that traps solar energy and insulates the Earth’s surface, like a transparent blanket. The way the…