Science Daily reports:
"People's knowledge of polar regions and issues improved from 2006 to 2010, consistent with hopes that the International Polar Year in 2007 would boost public awareness. Unfortunately, we did not see a companion increase in concern about the environmental changes in these regions, due, in part, to ideological and political divisions," said Lawrence Hamilton, professor of sociology at UNH and a senior fellow at the Carsey Institute.The complete Carsey Institute report about this research is available here.Carsey Institute researchers, with support from the National Science Foundation, conducted the first comparative analysis of queries about the polar regions, which were included on the General Social Survey in 2006 and 2010. The polar questions covered topics such as climate change, melting ice, rising sea levels, and human or ecological impacts from environmental change. The surveys formed bookends to the International Polar Year in 2007-2008, which focused on scientific research along with outreach and education efforts to raise awareness of polar science.
The researchers found that the public's knowledge about the north and south polar regions showed modest gains between 2006 and 2010. The average "polar knowledge score" improved from 53 to 59 percent.
The surveys also carried an 11-question "science literacy" quiz, testing background knowledge about science. Science literacy did not improve from 2006 to 2010, but people with higher science literacy tend to care more about polar environmental change. [...]
Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2010:
The Tea Party movement is given far too much attention. The traditional media, always drawn to a spectacle, has flocked to the many spectacles provided by this movement far out of proportion with their import. Sarah Palin speaking to 600 people who've paid inflated ticket prices to cover her huge fee is treated as major news and given blanket coverage. That's absurd. The screamers bussed in to town halls in August were covered when the many calm, thoughtful participants were not. That's irresponsible.At the same time, the Tea Party movement should be taken seriously, investigated and understood rather than treated as spectacle. That being the case, Ben McGrath's recent New Yorker article The Movement seemed promising going in. It's unfortunate that that promise was so wasted.
McGrath has clearly made a journalistic decision to take the tea partiers or 9/12ers on their own terms, to explain how they see what they're doing. It's worthwhile to go a ways with that. But at some point you have to step back and consider what you've just reported, or you're a stenographer. [...]
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