David Ropeik
Big Think Contributor, "Risk, Reason & Reality"
I'm an Instructor at Harvard, a consultant in risk perception and risk communication, author of How Risky Is it, Really? Why Our Fears Don't Always Match the Facts, and principal co-author of RISK, A Practical Guide for Deciding What's Really Safe and What's Really Dangerous in the World Around You. I run a program called Improving Media Coverage of Risk. I was the Director of Risk Communication at the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, part of the Harvard School of Public Health, for 4 years, prior to which I was a TV reporter, specializing in environmental issues, for a local station in Boston for 22 years.
Cancerphobia and Radiophobia Are Harming the Children of Fukushima
Radiophobia had the Fukushima region by the throat, so it was decided that all 360,000 or so children and teens would be offered screening for thyroid irregularities.
The Danger of Our Fickle Up and Down Fear of Terrorism
We over-worry about terrorism when the latest attack makes news, and grow complacent when the headlines fade, and both our excessive and insufficient fears create risks all by themselves.
Anti-Vaccine Parents Are Less Dangerous Than Low Flu Vaccination Rates
We are far more worried about the problem of parents not vaccinating their kids than low general vaccination rates for flu, which will sicken and kill way more of us, including WAY more kids.
How Scientists and the Media Magnify Mercury’s Menace
Yet another analysis of the dangers of mercury feeds fears that aren't supported by solid evidence. Fanning false fears hurts people.
Monsanto, Biased Scientists, or the Media: Which One Scares You Most?
Advocates masquerading as scientists to try and establish credibility for biased claims do the public, and science, serious harm. And journalists who fail to call them out and report biased studies as fact compound the damage.
Why Is the Super Bowl Such a Big Deal? It Activates Our Deepest Tribal Instincts.
Which team you support tells others about your background and where your history lies. And the superstitions we obey in support of our team are a classic example of tribal loyalty.
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The Great Zika Freak-Out: A Teaching Moment in the Psychology of Fear
An unfamiliar new threat that harms babies, that we can't protect ourselves from, that experts don't fully understand, and about which the media is blaring loud alarms; Zika virus has several powerful emotional characteristics that make any potential danger feel much more dangerous than it might actually be.
Even the Most ‘Committed’ Fans Distance Themselves from Their Teams after a Loss
Super Bowl season illustrates a deep part of who we are, not just as sports fans.
Did the Maker of SpaghettiOs Just Punk the Anti-GMO Movement?
The Campbell Soup Company says it will go ahead and label foods that contain GMO ingredients, breaking industry ranks on the issue holding up wider adoption of agricultural biotechnology.
Two Letters to President Obama About Gun Control
The battle over gun control is really about fear.
Why Has 2015 Felt Like a Year of Fear, if We’re So Safe?
Living longer, but worrying more. Why?
Is Naomi Oreskes Using the Same Merchant of Doubt Tactics She Criticizes?
There is a lot of hypocrisy in the way Naomi Oreskes attacks four renowned climate scientists.
Is The World Ready to Get Serious About Climate Change? The Paris Agreement Says Non.
Insufficient commitments to carbon cuts, and a process to encourage deeper cuts that is only voluntary, are bad news for our future.
Tribe Trump. How Fear Makes Us Bigots, and Puts Us At Risk
When we're worried, identifying with our in-groups feels safe. Demonizing others feels reassuring.
Gun Rights Activists Say Gun Control Is Unconstitutional. Antonin Scalia Disagrees.
The Second Amendment is “... not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.”
The Paris Climate Talks. COP21, or Cop Out?
Lack of deep personal public concern about climate change limits the politically difficult actions governments are willing to take.
Treating Syrian Refugees Like ‘Mad Dogs’: Fear Readily Trumps Morality and Reason
When we fear, we band together, and more readily treat people in other tribes as the enemy.
Why We Seem to Care More About Paris than Beirut — Never Mind Baghdad
Coming together after a tragedy is equally tribal as causing the tragedy in the first place.
Big Tobacco, Big Oil, and Greenpeace. All Merchants of Doubt That Harm People and the Planet.
Why are we ready to hold big corporations legally liable for lying, but not all the other advocates whose manipulation of the truth does society real harm!?
Are You Deep-in-the-Gut Worried About Climate Change? Take Our Survey.
Climate change doesn't have the emotional characteristics that make it truly deep-in-your-heart scary. Leaders will have to act anyway.
Now that It Causes Cancer, Are You Going to Give Up Your Bacon? How About Your Cellphone? Or Your Pesticides?
Cancer is the scariest disease, but not all causes of cancer frighten us equally.
Can New Breast Cancer Screening Recommendations Help Reduce the Harm of Cancer Phobia?
Research finds that some early screening for breast cancer may do more harm than good. But that’s what the numbers say. How will women feel?
Gun Control Keeps Getting Shot Down. Why Does a Tiny Minority Always Win?
Most Americans want reasonable gun safety laws, and in a democracy, the majority is supposed to win. Why isn't it working that way with gun control?
What’s More Dishonest: Scientists Taking Corporate Cash or Mudslingers Attacking Them?
Personal attacks on a speaker, especially about their funding, are a sign that the attacker can't dispute the facts the speaker is presenting. Beware the attacker too.
Does Living Near a Nuclear Plant Increase Cancer Risk? The NRC Was Right to Cancel a Study to Find Out.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has dropped a study on whether living near a nuclear plant increases the risk of cancer. Criticism of this decision is predictable, but unwarranted. The study would only have found what other research has shown. There is no link
Can People With Different Views Find Ways to Cooperate? Here’s One Hopeful Experience.
Twenty-one strangers with different values and views, thrown together on a Grand Canyon rafting trip, managed to set aside those differences and build community.
Murdered: Cecil the Lion, Blaze the Yellowstone Grizzly
The shooting of two charismatic animals stirred international outrage. But a more important event to the developing world concern with animal welfare was publication of Carl Safina's Beyond Words, What Animals Think and Feel.
Why Is Nagasaki Thriving While Chernobyl Remains Abandoned?
"30 years after, Hiroshima and Nagasaki are bustling cities. 30 years after Chernobyl, abandoned city. What's the difference?"
Hiroshima and Nagasaki: What Survivors Taught Us About the Danger of Excessive Fear of Radiation
Nuclear weapons do horrific widespread damage. Nuclear radiation, even at high doses, does not. But fear of radiation does. We have the survivors of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to thank for these lessons. We should honor their suffering by remembering both.
The EPA Plan to Cut Power Plant Emissions Puts Climate Change Debate Behind Us
There are fair quarrels with the details of the Obama Administration plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. But beyond the details, the fact that such a major step is being taken in the first place is a hopeful sign that our leaders can lead with reason and wisdom, and not just follow public opinion and emotion, as we try to find a more sustainable path to the future.