(This review was Published in Ecological Restoration Volume 31, Number 1, March 2013, pp. 99-100) (Copyright by the journal 2013; all rights reserved) Having begun research on possible ecological effects of global warming in 1968 and developing one the first major methods to forecast such effects on forests, I looked forward to reviewing Saving a Million Species, because … [Read more...]
Carbon Dioxide and Temperature: Who Has Led Whom?
As I wrote in my new book, The Moon in the Nautilus Shell, given the scientific complexities, one can only be rather agnostic about the role that human actions have played and are playing in climate change. A new, important paper in the journal Science casts some fascinating light on the question of whether carbon dioxide change precedes temperature change, and therefore is a … [Read more...]
Excerpt for Scientific American: Get Used to Climate Change
The following excerpt from The Moon in the Nautilus Shell: Discordant Harmonies Reconsidered, by Daniel B. Botkin (Oxford University Press, 2012. Copyright © 2012) appeared in Scientific American magazine on December 7, 2012. "Reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." —Physicist Richard Feynman in the final report on the Challenger … [Read more...]
Now Available: The Moon in the Nautilus Shell
The Moon in the Nautilus Shell: Discordant Harmonies Reconsidered From Climate Change to Species Extinction, How Life Persists in an Ever-Changing World Author Daniel Botkin’s “Magisterial and Beautifully Written” Examination of Our Role in Nature in an Age of Ideology [For Immediate Release] In a world constantly confronted by global environmental problems, establishing … [Read more...]
Global Warming and an Odd Bull Moose
What one angry animal taught me about nature and its infinite complexities One pleasant June evening years ago, I took a break from ecological research at Isle Royale National Park and went canoeing in a large inlet named Washington Harbor, hoping to see some of the moose populating that isolated wilderness island in Lake Superior. Upstream, an old cedar arched gracefully over … [Read more...]
Absolute Certainty Is Not Scientific
Global warming alarmists betray their cause when they declare that it is irresponsible to question them. One of the changes among scientists in this century is the increasing number who believe that one can have complete and certain knowledge. For example, Michael J. Mumma, a NASA senior scientist who has led teams searching for evidence of life on Mars, was quoted in the New … [Read more...]
Some Basic Global Warming Questions and Answers
In 1968, I began scientific research on the possible ecological effects of global warming, and published my first scientific paper about this subject in 1973. During the same period, I developed a computer model of forest growth. Called JABOWA, it became one of the major methods in the 1980s and 1990s to forecast possible effects of global warming on forests and some endangered … [Read more...]
Freeman Dyson on Tipping Points
A recent Sunday New York Times article features an interview with Nobel Laureate physicist Freeman Dyson, who expresses concerns about global warming and mentions tipping points. This makes a good companion piece to my post, Tipping Points, Global Warming and the Balance of Nature. … [Read more...]