Exclusive comments from Prof. Simon Lewis whose official complaint led to this too-rare victory of science over disinformation

“I welcome the Sunday Times‘ apology for failing to accurately report my views and retract the Amazon story. As several experts told them – their story was baseless.  What I find shocking about this whole episode is that an article read out [loud] and agreed with me was then switched at the last minute to one that fit with the Times‘ editorial line that the IPCC contained a number of serious mistakes, but actually ignored the scientific facts.”

That is tropical forest researcher Simon Lewis in an email to me this morning after the Sunday Times finally retracted their bogus story and issued this too-rare apology (emphasis added):

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From the beginning of this disaster, our response was doomed to be inadequate (see 20-year Coast Guard veteran: “With a spill of this magnitude and complexity, there is no such thing as an effective response”). Guest blogger Shirley Siluk Gregory, who lives on Florida’s Gulf coast, shares her thoughts on lessons learned.

While there’s not much most of us can do to stop BP’s Gulf oil gusher or clean the crude from the water, marshes and coasts, there are actions we can take to help avoid similar disasters like this in the future.

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A Father’s Day essay on the world we’re leaving our children

Salon just published my Father’s Day essay.  It’s a sequel of sorts to “Is the global economy a Ponzi scheme?”

As parents, we constantly admonish our children to share with others. The joke is that as adults, we hardly like to share anything at all. Who likes to lend out their car? Or their tools or books? We’re so worried they won’t come back in the same condition — or won’t be returned at all.

But the truth is that the people we like to share the least with are our own children. “We do not inherit the Earth from our parents, we borrow it from our children,” the saying goes. Right now, though, we’ve borrowed the entire Earth, trashed much of it, and don’t plan to give back the rest of it.

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Father’s Day seemed like a good time to post the video of my remarks on the Mall at the huge Earth Day event (see “Over 100,000 rally for climate and clean energy action“):

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WY commission votes to disclose fracking chemicals

The Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission voted unanimously last week to approve new rules that require oil and gas companies in the state to disclose the chemicals they use in hydraulic fracturing of underground formations during drilling. 

The vote is particularly notable in a state where fossil fuels rule, and suggests that even in places where the oil and gas industry is viewed as an ally the catastrophic Gulf of Mexico oil spill may be convincing regulators that tougher oversight is needed.  CAP’s Tom Kenworthy has the story.

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