Dickinson to Durban » Summer Reading Responses
Tactics of Last Resort: From Peaceful to Violent Protest
Mandela had long supported non-violent protest against apartheid. In 1961, however, he co-founded the MK to act as the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). He arrived at this striking reversal in methods only because it was forced upon him. Events like the Sharpeville Massacre, where police used lethal force on peaceful protesters, and the banning of the ANC in 1960 convinced Mandela that the anti-apartheid movement was at risk of utter defeat unless it resorted to violence. Despite the circumstances, Mandela was committed to avoiding any human casualties in his new efforts. Thus, he planned to begin with acts of sabotage that targeted buildings rather than people. This was an important strategic decision, as it would undermine the power of the system without brining condemnation upon them for … Read entire article »
Filed under: Summer Reading Responses
Weapons of Mass Deception: How the Seeds of Doubt in Climate Change Were Sown, and the Consequences We’ve Reaped
Is there strong scientific consensus that human activity is changing the climate? The answer is likely to depend on whether you ask the scientific community or the general public. Why the discrepancy? Because the deliberate efforts of a small few have drastically skewed the public’s perceptions about the science of climate change. The methods involved in generating this misperception are certainly not new. In fact, they bear a striking resemblance to those employed by the tobacco industry to deny and downplay the link between lung cancer and smoking. The strategy used in both cases is a simple one: take scientifically valid facts and give the general public reasons to question their validity; and doing so is not hard given the cautious nature of the scientific method, which rigorously questions facts again … Read entire article »
Filed under: Climate Change, Summer Reading Responses
Where’d the Snow Go
As early as the 1930s, the person on the street was discussing how “the weather wasn’t what it used to be.” How is your personal experience with the weather congruent or incongruent with what climate scientists are telling us? Growing up in Massachusetts, I’ve seen a lot of snow. Waking up at 5 in the morning, running downstairs to watch the news to see if school was canceled. As I have gotten older though, it seems the quantities of snow we see each year have dwindled. The storms that come to the area are not as severe and the quantities tend to be less for every storm. So, what happened? It seems that the scientists are on to something. The concept of global climate change is now widely excepted, and from my personal life experiences and observations … Read entire article »
Filed under: Summer Reading Responses, Weather
Weather, Climate Change, and the Necessity of New Thinking
Climate change poses humanity with the sort of problem it has not evolved to handle. This is the result of several factors in our evolutionary history, deriving from the very different world our pre-historic ancestors inhabited. The early days of our species were fraught with immediate physical perils, such as the scarcity of food sources, constant threats from wild animals, the lack of shelter, and so forth. All of these problems require attention in the present; otherwise, one would starve, be eaten, freeze, etc. So harsh was this early human existence that it left little time for thinking about anything else – like the future, the long run. Hence, focusing on the present at the expense of the future provided a survival advantage. And this short-sightedness was relatively harmless, for … Read entire article »
Filed under: Climate Change, Summer Reading Responses, Weather
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