Wikipedia

User:Wavelength/Other views

< User:Wavelength

This page has information about other views about:

  • what is an environmental topic;
  • what is a meteorology topic; and
  • what is appropriate for inclusion in a glossary of climate change.

Lists of environmental topics

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The following text was copied from Talk:Lists of environmental topics. Here is a permanent link to the version of the page at 05:04, 12 June 2008.

New criteria for the lists of environmental topics

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I have been formulating my comments on the question of what is an environmental topic, and I was expecting (both hoping and anticipating) that participants would reach a consensus on an unambiguous definition before any culling took place. When I noticed that Alan Liefting had begun to cull items from the lists of environmental topics before initiating a discussion, I started to doubt the usefulness of my comments. (I might have preferred the course of a different culler.)


Perhaps to some people an explanation by example is easier than a definition which clearly delineates the boundaries in abstract terms. Maybe they prefer negotiation by haggling rather than by analysis. In this instance, maybe culling is intended to represent an explanation of what constitutes an environmental topic. If I am being invited to choose to revert the changes, perhaps my version is intended to represent my explanation or definition of it. Although I accept that both parts of show and tell have benefits to communication and can be mutually synergistic, the process of acting first and discussing later does not have much appeal for me.


I understand that abstraction in some fields of study tends to be individualistic to some extent, and that sometimes what seems obvious to one person might not be so obvious to another person and yet still be expected to be seen as obvious. Further, I understand that the natural environment, by its nature and by its comprehensiveness, presents an especially challenging task when people try to agree on what is relevant. Therefore, it may be that a consensus on this task is more elusive than it would be for most other tasks involving relevancy. As a result, what ought to be of great importance to all of us who live on this planet--the natural environment--can also be the subject of many diverse views. (Please be aware that a person reluctant to curtail an activity may be unwilling to accept that it has a negative effect on the natural environment.)


I recognize that, for most of the time that this list has existed, most of the items listed have been ones which I contributed, and that, despite my efforts to add unambiguous boundaries to comprehensiveness, there has nevertheless been a measure of uncertainty as to what topics are in harmony with the preamble which I added. On the other hand, I also see some uncertainty about what remaining topics harmonize with the lead sentence which Alan Liefting has provided. Maybe this is a matter which can never be perfectly resolved by any one or combination of us Wikipedians. Also, some of the topics listed before the culling are orphaned topics (that is to say, with no pages or few pages linking to them) and their removal from the list negatively affects their orphaned status.

A new perspective

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I am willing to abandon what I have contributed to this list so that its users can experience a new series of versions from another perspective. At the same time, I am offering to maintainers of the list some questions to ponder:

  • Should the list include: earthquakes? volcanoes? floods? hurricanes? tornadoes? endangered species? toxic chemicals? treaties? NGOs? Quangos? parks? books? films?
  • Should it include: the most important ten members of each of those groups? the top 20? the top 50? the top 100?
  • Can someone adding another topic to the list: be absolutely certain that it fits the stated criteria? and provide a convincing explanation?
  • Can someone removing a topic from the list: be absolutely certain that it does not fit the stated criteria? and provide a convincing explanation?

Other perspectives

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Also, here are some resources which exemplify what others have deemed to be environment(al) topics.





Expanding the lists

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Those same resources can also be used by persons looking for new topics to add to the lists. For the same purpose, additional topics can be found by the use of Wikipedia:Quick_index, and especially by the use of Special:Prefixindex with these character strings. (Early in 2007, I identified these as having large numbers of topics already listed, and therefore as having the most potential for providing new topics for minimal effort.)


aer agr air America animal aqu atm atom Austral auto
bicycl bio bird Brit bus
California Canad car carb cent chem Chin clea clim cloud coal combin commu conserv convention cooperat
deep Department desert diesel disaster dry dust
Earth eco effect electr emergen endem energ engin envir Europe
Federa fire fish flood food forest free fresh fuel fur
garden gas geo giant glaci glob great green ground
habita haz health heat high histor home hous human hurri hybrid hydr
ice industr Institut International iron iso
lake land light liqu low
magn marine mass mechan meteo meth metr micro min mount mud
nano National natur new noise non north nucl
ocean oil organ over oxy
Pacific paleo paper pest petr plant plast polar poll poly popul power public
rain river road
sea south space storm sub super syn syst
tox trans trop
U.S.; United Kingdom; United Nations; United States; University
water wind wood world


Also, where the article on an environmental topic has a list of internal links, that list might include one or more topics which can be added.


-- Wavelength (talk) 08:06, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

List of meteorology topics

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The following text was copied from Talk:List of meteorology topics. Here is a permanent link to the version of the page at 08:36, 16 July 2008.

New criteria for the list of meteorology topics

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This list began at 08:30, 6 June 2005 (UTC). Almost all of the topics which I added were extracted from what was then the multi-page list of environment topics. (In turn, almost all of the topics which I added to the list of environment topics were extracted from Wikipedia:Quick_index.) When I added topics to the list of environment topics:0-9 (sometimes monthly), I usually extracted from the added topics some topics to add to the list of meteorology topics.


My attention to the page lapsed, and my last contribution to it was at 17:58, 15 August 2007 (UTC). Apparently someone decided that it was not being "maintained" and there began to be major changes to it, so I decided to wait and see what would become of it, but those changes appeared to pause. When I saw that Neparis had said "Please hang on" at 18:02, 6 February 2008 (UTC), I waited for either an invitation for comments about the new criteria or a series of changes to the list. Now it appears that that was an invitation by Neparis for comments, according to the comment by Neparis at Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/List_of_meteorology_topics at 23:28, 15 February 2008 (UTC).

A new perspective

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I am willing to abandon what I have contributed to this list so that its users can experience a new series of versions from another perspective. At the same time, I am offering to maintainers of the list some questions to ponder:

  • Should the list include: volcanoes (causing air pollution)? floods (caused by heavy rainfall)? hurricanes? tornadoes? treaties? NGOs? Quangos? books? films? units of measurement? measuring instruments?
  • Should it include: the most important ten members of each of those groups? the top 20? the top 50? the top 100?
  • Can someone adding another topic to the list: be absolutely certain that it fits the stated criteria? [and] provide a convincing explanation?
  • Can someone removing a topic from the list: be absolutely certain that it does not fit the stated criteria? [and] provide a convincing explanation?

Other perspectives

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Here are some resources with examples of what others have deemed to be meteorology topics.







Expanding the list

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Those same resources can also be used by persons looking for new topics to add to the list. Also, where the article on a meteorology topic has a list of internal links, that list might include one or more topics which can be added.

-- Wavelength (talk) 07:13, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Glossary of climate change

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The following text was copied from Talk:Glossary of climate change. Here is a permanent link to the version of the page at 22:26, 7 May 2008.

Other perspectives

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Here are some resources which show what others have deemed to be appropriate items for inclusion in a glossary of climate change.

-- Wavelength (talk) 22:32, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

[end of copied text]

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(multilingual environmental glossary in 28 languages: ar, bg, cs, da, de, el, en, es, et, eu, fi, fr, hu, is, it, lt, lv, mt, nl, no, pl, pt, ro, ru, sk, sl, sv, tr)
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