Off the back of the recent Climate Skeptics vs The Consensus image, we were curious how many scientists might make up ‘The Consensus’.
The Skeptical side claims at least 31,486 dissenters in their ranks, according to the PetitionProject.org. That sounds like a lot. But is it?
Of course, not all 12 million US scientists therefore agree with ‘The Consensus’. But this puts the PetitionProject’s 31,486 signatories in some kind of context.
Earth In Space
Thanks to Steve Haddock for that one. Apparently this map is secreted on Google Earth somewhere. Can anybody find a link for it? Thanks!
A visual map of the arguments for and against human-caused global climate change.
I’m fascinated by climate deniers. How could anyone deny the climate change is happening?
What evidence is there? Surely it’s unambiguous?
Curious, I investigated the key statements made by climate denialists and sought out the counter-views, as presented by climate research scientists. The result is this image.
(This a new and updated version of the spread on Climate Skepticism from my book The Visual Miscellaneum)
I researched this subject in a very particular way. I deliberately chose not speak directly to any climate experts or leading scientists in the field. I used only publicly available web sources.
Why? Because I wanted to simulate what it’s like for people trying to learn about climate change online.
My conclusion is “what a nightmare”. I was generally shocked and appalled by how difficult it was to source counter arguments. The data was often tucked away on extremely ancient or byzantine websites. The key counter arguments I often found, 16 scrolls down, on comment 342 on a far flung realclimate.org post from three years ago. And even when I found an answer, the answers were excessively jargonized or technical.
Most of the info for this image is sourced from Realclimate.org. It’s an amazing blog staffed tirelessly by some of the world’s leading climatologists.
Unfortunately, the majority of the writing on there is so scientific and so technical, it makes the website nigh on useless to the casual, curious reader.
This has got to be one of the reasons why scientists and leaders are struggling to convince sections of the populace that the threat of climate change is real. Because they’re doing such a terrible job explaining it.
(Saying all that, I would like to express my gratitude to Gavin A Schmidt, one of unsung heroes of the web IMHO. His sterling and patient replies to comments, on RealClimate.org in understandable English, have really helped this process.)
This image was a mammoth undertaking, especially for someone like me, unschooled in climate science. So I appreciate your understanding if any errors have crept into the process. If you spot any, please get in touch and I’ll will correct them on the double.
In every case, wherever possible, I went back the original data. (I’ve included a ZIP of all the data I’ve collected plus a spreadsheet of all the sources). And all the graphs in the image are generated from the original temperature records and other data sources. Feel free to rifle through and check everything.
RealClimate.org are (now) keeping an archive of all the data – if you want even more!
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/data-sources/
UPDATE 1 (12th Dec 09): There have been a few complaints about the legibility of the image. So I’ve created a version on white instead of black.
Consensus sources: Realclimate.org, NOAA Satellite and Information Service, Nature.com, Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Centre
Explore the sources In this Google doc
Here’s all the climate change data I used to create the graphs
My latest visual piece for The Guardian, The Billion Pound O Gram, is a British cousin of The Billion Dollar Gram. It reveals the scale of the budget deficit in the centre of the British economy. SPOILER: It’s a big one..
My beautiful book is out. Unfortunately a freak printing error has affected the text on 12 out of the 256 pages. I’m really sorry this has happened.
I’m pretty upset about it. I slaved for a year over every single page. So it’s a particular kind of pain to see mistakes creep in.
So I’ve put together an errata PDF of the affected pages. I’ve chucked in some new images in there as well.
Please email me if you want a copy of it.
UPDATE: Another mistake! Asking people to email me for a copy of the PDF. Doh. I’ve been deluged. Can I suggest this alternative method? Download this Visual Miscellaneum Errata PDF. It’s passworded. The password is the last word in the bottom right hand corner of page 159 of The Visual Miscellaneum. CASE SENSITIVE. Thank you. D
Some frequent questions about the H1N1 Swine Flu vaccine answered as clearly and as visually as I could manage. A few people asked for this so I thought I would oblige.
It was hell on earth to research. There’s a jungle of science around H1N1. Very hard to hack through. You can check all my sources here.
You can check all my sources here.
UPDATE 1: Interesting story here on how the H1N1 vaccine is made
UPDATE 2: Jan 2010: There’s now a Greek version of the H1N1 Swine Flu image. (Thanks to George Papadakis) and a Hebrew version (thanks Matty)
Explore the sources In this Google doc
I took a visual look at the casualty figures coming out of the Afghanistan war for The Guardian. It’s part of my effort to understand what’s going on there. It’s not easy reading. But I think it helps to give some context. See what you think.
You can explore the data and sources in this spreadsheet.
A piece exploring the myths around 2012, Mayan Prophecy, geomagnetic reversal, The Long Count, consciousness shifts, Hunab Ku, galactica alignment, the Precession Of The Equinoxes, rogue planet Nibiru, solar storms, pole shifts, timewave zero, the return of Quetzalcoatl and THE END OF THE WORLD December 21st 2012!
UPDATE 1 (8 Dec 09): There’s now a Portuguese version of 2012 (thanks Ricardo Vieira) and a French version DEUUUUXMIIIILLEDOUUUUZE (thanks to Olivier!)
Believer sources: Timewave Zero, 2012: Dire Gnosis, RealitySandwich.com, 2012:TheBook, Calleman.com, Institute For Human Continuity (fake website for 2012 film).
Explore the sources In this Google doc
I’ve been doing a few interviews to promote my book, The Visual Miscellaneum, and a question keeps coming up. “What makes good information design?”
This is the point where I go a bit glassy. To be honest, I don’t know. I am unschooled in both information (I was a college dropout) and design (I am a self-taught designer). I’ve never really thought about it.
So, I made a nice cup of tea and had a think and came up with this.
To me, these seem like the key components of a good infographic / data visualisation / piece of information design.
You may disagree. I welcome your input. I may not have got it right.
Something surprised me about doing this though.
In information design, it seems, if you have just two elements, you get something tolerable and cool. i.e.
(I’m not entirely sure about these combos)
But if you combine three elements without the fourth, things suddenly FAIL:
What do you think? This is a work in progress. Can you help me shape this a bit? Have I missed anything?
Win Signed Copies of the Visual Miscellaneum!
Thanks to my publishers HarperCollins, I now hold what could be the last five copies of the first edition.
I’d like to sign them and give away to you, lovely readers. Before this site goes all Information Is Beautiful on your ass.
To enter the prize draw, just leave a comment below.
On Saturday 16th January I’ll pick five winners at random and contact them via email.
(BTW Apols for the lack of updates recently. I’ve been working on some cool new stuff to be released v. soon).
UPDATE: Thank you for all your entries and the lovely comments. I have been blushing continuously all week. Comments are closed now. But I’ll be picking winners on Monday 18th.