Meanwhile, at Exxon...

When I learn that we are not actually going to hell in a handbasket, I try to post the cheerful news here:

Of most interest to me is that CEO Rex Tillerson suggests that a reason people don't know this (as well as he does) is science and math illiteracy. I certainly share his concerns over the illiteracy, but it does not quite lead me to his same conclusions.

Posting the +comments page of the story, mostly to mess with your heads. Apologies in advance

If you can find solace in his words, then I'm glad to have helped.

 

Dang, I was not posting video - what a world

Is this link any better>?

I cannot doubt that the story will be re-imagined at the onion, so we can look there later.

Frankly I am still stuck on his name Rex. Not everyone can be the king, but if you can pull it off, man-oh-man.

and demeaning the science literacy of people who actually know the stuff that he does not. Man-oh-man.

 

if all else fails, search at msnbc for Tillerson

What a world...

 

And meanwhile in Washington...
I quote the entire newspiece from today in Science (magazine)
Let 'em sue me. The link is behind the paywall anyway, and I am having poor luck lately putting up links.

"
House Panel Set to Slash Climate, Environmental Research

The U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee appears set this week to approve a 2013 spending bill that would impose deep cuts in climate and ecological research conducted by the Department of the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
A preliminary version of the Interior and Environment Appropriations Bill approved by a subcommittee on 19 June would cut funding for an array of climate research programs by 29%, or $101 million, from current levels. Spending at EPA would fall to $7 billion, or 17% below 2012 levels, while USGS would see a 9% cut to $967 million. The bill also seeks to block the Obama Administration from moving forward with some environmental regulations, including rules aimed at protecting streams and forests. If approved by the full committee, the bill still faces a vote in the full House and would have to be reconciled with a Senate version, which is likely to be very different. Final action is not expected until late this year."

So, the legislating is not over yet, but This House Committee appears to share the first-mentioned perspective on what scientific literacy iz. Ma oh man.

If perchance they defund (or slow-fund) the Argo floats, we would lose most capability to measure ocean heat fluxes. That would peg out the dumb-o-meter. Just one opinion...

 

Another link

Cookies Required

perhaps of interest? I liked the 'trust chart'.

Actually Holden's attempt to simplify a scientific message, together with the comment at bottom of page, demonstrate a vexing point.

You can (knowingly, as Holdren did) oversimplify a scientific matter. The radiation/banana thing. This leaves you exposed to refutation, mostly accurate in this case, that iodine accumulates in the thyroid and strontium accumulates in dem bones. Potassium (and to correct a point, cesium), is pissed away. I will set aside the rest of dosdos' comment

But here's the thing: Holdren knows about bioaccumulation; he's a sciency guy. He is trying to find a level that communicates something useful without glazing over the publics' eyes. This is not simple, and it varies for different audiences with whom one wants to communicate. Aim at the wrong level, and you get dosdos' disdain. And of course, from others as well.

It is correct, but insufficient, to say that science should strive to communicate better. The point is illustrated just as well by the first two things I mentioned in this thread. But, as soon as the science touches upon major matters of policy and economics, one confronts barriers that exist not just because scientists are such poor communicators. People just don't wanna know.

Tricky stuff.

 

Those interested in 'radioactive stuff U can buy' might visit

Radioactive Consumer Products

warning: the list is incomplete

My favorite 'vendor site' for environmental radioactive measurements is

Aware Electronics Corp. Radiation Monitors for PCs

Which I may have posted hereabouts before. I think that Aware Electronics got an uptick of business after Fukushima 'relaxed its containment policy'.

 

As the original topic was scientific literacy, more or less, this might not be viewed as straying off topic.

Depending on local geology where you live and how your house is constructed, your radioactive dose may be dominated by radon. Not nuclear reactors, or bananas, or bags of garden fertilizer containing potassium.

So Holdren missed a teachable moment; probably rather widely. He might have talked about the excellent resources aavailable from the USGS on radon, commercial and personal options for radon testing, and on-site remediation. Some large proportion of people fearful of Fukushima would do much better to channel those concerns towards understanding and managing their own personal environments.

Now that's scientific literacy, and I'd probably do better by emailing him than nattering away here.