Hi Matheus, It's important that, as scientists, we don't trivialize mistakes like the one the Times Atlas made. But rather, we should be quick to identify and correct outrageous claims. Because if we don't set the record straight, these guys will jump at the opportunity: http://crude-oil-prices.net/home/articles/51-crude-controversy/122-the-claim-by-times-comprehensive-atlas-of-the-world-that-greenlands-ice-cover-is-melting-debunked-by-glaciologists.
Thankfully, the error was caught immediately and reported to the Times, and circulated widely throughout the media to avoid another PR disaster like the infamous Himalaya glacier-melt fiasco . The error wasn't due to 'emotional truth' as suggested, but actually cartographers mis-interpreting data about the Greenland ice sheet. You can read more about how glaciologists raced to debunk the myth that the Times started here: http://www.spri.cam.ac.uk/media/pressreleases/timesatlas.html. The response by the scientific community gave a heap of credibility to sound science that has been sorely needed, and the broader lesson is to not concede these issues to the interpretation and spin of media and the skeptics, because it is often either blind to or flatly opposed to the best interest of science. Although a good laugh, it's important to underline the responsibility the scientific community has in the realm of science communication, whether we like it or not. And as a final note, the Maldives and Tuvalu weren't submerged by the atlas--that was a farce, and meant to be nothing else, that was spread by a conservative blog in the UK's Daily Telegraph that went viral: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-15027163. -Armando Lamadrid >-----Original Message----- >From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:ECOLOG- >[email protected]] On Behalf Of Matheus Carvalho >Sent: 17. oktober 2011 21:36 >To: [email protected] >Subject: [ECOLOG-L] The new atlas and the "emotional truth" > >What is going on? Apparently the new Times Comprehensive Atlas of the >World contains some "emotional truth" instead of objective truth (which I >personally thought to be the only truth to exist). It removed 15% of >Greenland ice, the islands of Tuvalu, Maldives, and some parts of Bangladesh. >To know more google "Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World" and >"emotional truth". > >Cheers, > > >Matheus C. Carvalho >Senior Research Associate >Centre for Coastal Biogeochemistry >Southern Cross University >Lismore - Australia >http://www.angelfire.com/pa/ostro
