The Mike Tidwell Dilemma, Part I  Wed, 2007-10-24 11:39Chris
Mooney Chris Mooney's picture  The Mike Tidwell Dilemma, Part I
What responsibility does an environmentalist and science
defender have to criticize one of his or her political allies
for inaccuracy and the incautious treatment of complex
information?  Must we be equal opportunity critics in all cases,
or should we blunt our barbs lest they injure our friends?  The
question arose for me earlier this week as I prepared to
participate in a University of Maryland-College Park panel
discussing Maryland-based climate activist and writer Mike
Tidwell's 2006 book The Ravaging Tide: Strange Weather, Future
Katrinas, and the Coming Death of America's Coastal Cities. The
book has been assigned as the "first year book" for some 4,000
University of Maryland freshmen.  So the panelists--climate
scientists Raghu Murtugudde and Dan Kirk-Davidoff of the
University of Maryland, Dork Sahagian of Lehigh University, and
myself--had the opportunity to comment on Tidwell