SXSW Eco: Climate Change Panel

South by Southwest (or SXSW as hipsters call it) is a well-known meeting in Austin, Texas, covering a lot of different aspects of culture. Over the years they have added various, more focused meetings centered on different topics, including SXSW Eco, which deals with âthe complex challenges facing civil society, the economy and the natural worldâ [though apparently not the Oxford comma].

One of the topic threads at SXSW Eco is climate change, and Iâll be participating on a panel with other science communicators to talk about how the media is handling this critical topic. Other panelists are Kiera Butler (Mother Jones), Suzanne Goldenberg (The Guardian), John Metcalfe (The Atlantic Cities), and Kate Sheppard (The Huffington Post). My friend and fellow science writer Chris Mooney will be moderating.

Weâll be covering a lot of ground during the panel, and of course Iâll be railing about the climate change deniers and their enablers.

The panel will be today, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2013, at 4:30 p.m. Central time. Itâll be live-streamed for your viewing pleasure at Slate and several other places, including sxsweco.com, motherjones.com, and climatedesk.org. You can read more about the panel at Mooneyâs article on Mother Jones. Watch the livestream here: 

This should be fun, if also a bit aggravating, because even talking about this stuff makes me want to bang my head against the wall. It honestly feels like arguing with people who swear the Earth is flat, and that all those scientists are too stupid or making too much money from Big Sphere to tell you the truth. The science of climate change is pretty much just as conclusive as the Earth being round. Yet here we are.

Iâm looking forward to hearing from the other panelists, though, and learning more about the media aspects of this. I hope folks who read me here will tune in. And if you want background info, here is a list of my previous posts outlining the sort of nonsense we have to deal with over climate change.

• Climate Change: Itâs Real, and Itâs Us
• I Told You So: Congressman Parrots Climate Change Denial Errors
• Why Debunk Climate Change Deniers?
• As Climate Change Report Draws Near, Deniers Raise Voices, Bury Heads Deeper
• The Climate Change Denial Machine Is Going Up to 11
• Another Week, Another Climate Change Denial Article in The Mail (and the followup, UPDATE: Despite Doubling Down, Climate Change Article Still Very Misleading)