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David Ropeik
Retired Harvard Instructor, Author
David Ropeik is an award-winning broadcast journalist, a Harvard instructor, and an international consultant in risk communication and risk perception. He’s also the author of How Risky Is It, Really? Why Our Fears Don’t Always Match the Facts.
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More and more often, societies around the world are facing a conflict that puts us all at risk. People reject scientific evidence when it does not fit their worldviews […]
It took a while, but the scientists who study global warming have finally started applying the findings from scientists who study risk communication to the challenge of raising public concern […]
The common definition of risk is ‘the probability of an adverse outcome or event’…in other words, the chance of something bad happening; losing your life, your health, your home, […]
Good LORD the world suddenly seems a threatening unsettling mess, doesn’t it? Wars and plane crashes and disease and environmental catastrophe looming, all at once! It reminds me of Frank […]
There is a frightening, hateful turn of events taking place right now that anyone involved in the GMO issue, or the vaccine issue, or the climate change issue, or […]
A study in the news last week perfectly captures why it’s getting harder and harder to figure out what’s risky. Maybe you heard about it…findings that suggest potential health benefits […]
Regular followers of this blog know that I often write about people who get risk wrong and with their apparent dumbness demonstrate the dangers of the Risk Perception Gap, the […]
Happy Fourth of July weekend, and happy birthday to the United States of America, a wonderful country that, despite its problems, offers so much, including a legal system that insures […]
In the midst of Soccermania Grips America! you may not have heard about that hugely important ruling for the health of the planet, a recent decision by a federal judge […]
It’s interesting that Daniel Patrick Moynihan was not only a U.S Senator and U.N. Ambassador, but a sociologist. Interesting, because Moynihan is usually credited with the pithy sounding observation […]
It rose up out of the sea, a fearsome roaring monster unlike anything humans had ever seen, horrible, primeval, unstoppable, towering, breathing radioactive fire and leaving total destruction in […]
Dear Biosphere, While you are well aware of the physical inputs we humans inject into your system, you may be blind to the human politics and polling and psychology about […]
Proposed U.S government regulations to curtail carbon dioxide emissions from power plants are rightfully being hailed as major progress in the fight against climate change. Major environmental groups are applauding. […]
A few thoughts on your lazy brain. But just a few because, well, you know, the brain likes things nice and easy. The brain normally operates on what […]
Clean energy. GREEN energy. Energy that can solve global warming. Environmentalists are all for it. And as a direct result, no matter what the benefits, conservatives are absolutely against it. […]
The National Climate Assessment released today by the White House is a masterful piece of science and risk communication Susan Joy Hassol, Senior Science Writer, who turned massive contributions […]
Eaten any cheese lately? It was probably made with genetic engineering. Anything with sugar in it? Good chance that was made with genetic engineering too. Anything with ingredients containing […]
Psychologists have known for a long time the emotional truth captured in Joseph Stalin’s chilling (reputed) observation, “One death is a tragedy. One million deaths is a statistic.” This […]
If you’re running a little short on potable water, you might want to take some empty jugs up to Portland Oregon, where for the next few days they will be […]
Toms River, by a friend, Dan Fagin, came out a year ago, to deservedly great reviews. It’s an epic piece of science journalism and a powerful human story, intelligently woven […]