BaySense

Two very different people give witness to global warming (audio from PopTech 2004)

In many ways, the amateur explorer -- with his self-deprecation and likable story-telling style -- makes a more compelling and believable case for global warming than the fast-talking professor of geoscience, with his facts, figures, ice cores and mathematical models.

The explorer is Ben Saunders:

On his latest expedition in February 2004, Ben Saunders set out from Cape Arktichevsky in Northern Siberia in an attempt to be the first person in the world to make a complete crossing of the frozen Arctic Ocean in a 1,240-mile journey ending in Canada, solo and unsupported.

After experiencing first hand conditions described by NASA and Environment Canada as 'the worst on record', Ben has raised international awareness regarding the extent to which climate change is affecting the Arctic. He noticed conditions that were up to 15 degrees warmer than in 2000, and had to negotiate vast, unprecedented areas of thinning ice and open water.

The scientist is Richard Alley. I suspect that his glibness causes many non-scientists to tune out his arguments.

Richard Alley is a Professor of Geosciences at Pennsylvania State University in State College, Pennsylvania. [...] Richard studies ice cores -- samples of ice that record Earth's past climate. His research focuses on abrupt climate change, glaciers, ice sheet collapse and sea level change. He has participated in ice core drilling projects in Antarctica and Greenland

Audio interviews on environmental topics, available on the web

The IT Conversations site has a few environmental interviews (mixed in with talks on other topics) from the PopTech 2004 conference.

And here are some more from an ongoing series at Berkeley.

Michael Crichton in Parade: "Let's stop scaring ourselves"

He writes about "the truth behind four predictions of doom": Y2K, power lines, killer bees, and saccharine.

After December 13, the articles will be available in the Parade archives, here.

How to find obscure journal articles on environmental science, policy or economics

Try the Google Scholar beta.  Lynne Kiesling seems to like it a lot:

Yee hah! This is a happy day, particularly if you work in an interdisciplinary research field like I do.

Here's a FAQ, which describes how simple it is to find a specific article:

Start with the last name of the article's first author, then add several title words as a phrase in quotes.

Dr. Wolman's book pick: "Water facts for the nation's future"

Gordon "Reds" Wolman gave an excellent talk today at the Maryland Water Monitoring Council's meeting in Linthicum, MD.

He seemed to like this book a lot:

Water facts for the nation's future: Uses and benefits of hydrologic data programs,
by Walter Langbein and William Hoyt, 1959.

Sounds like this might be one of those older books that's still worth reading.

Wikipedia: a great resource for the Chesapeake Bay clean-up effort

Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia on the web. It demonstrates the surprising power of wikis.

Here are some entries in Wikipedia that relate to the Chesapeake Bay:

• Maryland geography and the Chesapeake Bay
• Lawns and organic lawn management
• Ecosystem
• Septic tank and sewage treatment
• Nutrients and the environment and the nitrogen cycle
• Regulation,  trends toward deregulation,  and free market economy
• Water quality and measurement of water quality

Wikis can be amazingly accurate and comprehensive because every reader is also an editor. If you see a mistake, you can edit it instantly, online.

Try Wikipedia. You'll like it.