Unsettled
"Surging sea levels are inundating the coasts." "Hurricanes and tornadoes are becoming fiercer and more frequent." "Climate change will be an economic disaster." You've heard all this presented as fact. But according to science, all of these statements are profoundly misleading. When it comes to climate change, the media, politicians, and other prominent voices have declared that "the science is settled." In reality, the long game of telephone from research to reports to the popular media is corrupted by misunderstanding and misinformation. Core questions—about the way the climate is responding to our influence, and what the impacts will be—remain largely unanswered. The climate is changing, but the why and how aren't as clear as you've probably been led to believe. Now, one of America's most distinguished scientists is clearing away the fog to explain what science really says (and doesn't say) about our changing climate. In Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn't, and Why It Matters, Steven Koonin draws upon his decades of experience—including as a top science advisor to the Obama administration—to provide up-to-date insights and expert perspective free from political agendas. Fascinating, clear-headed, and full of surprises, this book gives readers the tools to both understand the climate issue and be savvier consumers of science media in general.
Stats for nerds
13recommend
21mentions
19people
2021–2026years
62% recommend29% neutral10% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- It’s ok to disagree. Disagreement isn’t verboten here. In fact, I’ve been reading the book Unsettled by Stephen E. Koonin which calls into question the consensus on climate change and the author makes some great points.
- I found the book Unsettled quite interesting https://www.amazon.com/Unsettled-Climate-Science-Doesnt-Matt...
He was high up in Obama admin
- 1. Look at https://www.amazon.com/Unsettled-Climate-Science-Doesnt-Matt...
It may alleviate some of your worries.
2. You say "climate change" "keeps me up at night". Do you believe that is a rational state of mind to have? Shouldn't you open up a bit and talk to a friend or professional about your feelings?
- Poor countries have no incentive to pay carbon fees. Then have rich countries pay their carbon fees? So then tax payers of developed nations take the hit and have their own economic output lowered while countries ignoring carbon fees move ahead. It's a death spiral.
Have a look at Steven Koonin's "Unsettled". He was an Obama DOE appointee and Provost of Caltech (he's a physicist). He makes convincing arguments that the climate change models are highly unreliable. It's not Fox News garbage, he's legit.
The US and EU are making very large policy moves based on models that are not necessarily accurate.
- Yes, read them. The scientific reports that is, not the condensed version presented in the media. If you read them well you'll find they do not support the climate doomsday prophecies which are being bandied around. The only way to use those reports to support those is to use the long-discredited - by the IPCC itself, mind you - worst-case scenarios yet it is those which the media and politicians use to support their doom cries.
When you're done reading at least the abstracts in the IPCC reports - but it is worth the time to read the actual reports themselves - you can also read a few other sources, e.g. Schellenberger's Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All, Björn Lomborg's False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet and Steve Koonin's Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn't, and Why It Matters. These give a far better view over what climate change entails and how it can be dealt with than the breathless fear-mongering as seen in the media and as spouted by politicians.
- > You're quoting the outputs of a propaganda industry, not the outputs of credible independent research.
One man's propaganda is another man's truth, and vice versa. Do you really think the EPI is credible? https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/economic-policy-in...
> These are the orgs who persistently try to sell trickle-down economics
That's ironic, given that the phrase "trickle-down" was invented by leftists as a marketing tactic: https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/thomas-sowell-on-the-trickle-...
> low regulation
Well, we can agree on that one at least.
> and other discredited, disastrous, and irrational neoliberal policy argument
Never mind. I guess we have nothing to agree on.
> Many are also enthusiastic climate change denialists.
You're clearly influenced by the outputs of a propaganda industry, not the outputs of credible independent research. See what I did there? I'll even one-up you with some links:
https://www.amazon.com/Unsettled-Climate-Science-Doesnt-Matt...
https://www.amazon.com/Apocalypse-Never-Environmental-Alarmi...
https://www.amazon.com/Fossil-Future-Flourishing-Requires-Ga...
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