Genetically-Modified Narrative Writing: A Few Examples of Narrative Writing Covering GMO Issues

A while back in GMO Skepti-Forum, Marc Brazeau asked for quality examples of narrative writing and the contents of that thread is worth sharing with you all. If you all have some more examples, please let me know, and I’ll add them to our library.

Written by: Knigel Holmes
Photo credit: Clement127 | CC

Marc opens with:

In our conversations about science communication, one of the things that everyone seems to agree on is that narrative writing is probably the most persuasive and yet, we continue to bombard people with research papers.

Partly this stems from our emphasis as skeptics on evidence. But it also stems from a dearth of really good narrative writing on the topics we care about.

So lets gather the best examples of narrative writing in one place.

The suggestions:

• The New York Times: A Race to Save the Orange by Altering Its DNA
• Random Rationality: Why I’m Through with Organic Farming
• PBS | Nova Next: GMOs May Feed the World Using Fewer Pesticides
• Grist: Michael Pollan and Amy Harmon dissect a GM controversy
• NPR: Top Five Myths Of Genetically Modified Seeds, Busted
• World Health Organization: Frequently asked questions on genetically modified foods
• The Guardian: After 30 years, is a GM food breakthrough finally here?
• Slate: No, You Shouldn’t Fear GMO Corn | How Elle botched a story about genetically modified food.
• Grist: Genetically engineered food: Allergic to regulations?
• The New Yorker: The Psychology of Distrusting G.M.O.s
• The Washington Post: Genetically modified foods: What is and isn’t true
• Hey Get This: The Myth of Special Data
• SkepEco: The anti-science of the Greens is a political strategy
• Hey Get This: Saints and Science
• Still Drinking: Chipotle Bias
• Real Agriculture: An Organic Farmer Walks Into Monsanto…And This is What Happened
• Buleria: My Tryst with Organic Farming…on the farm.
• Smithsonian: The Toxins That Affected Your Great-Grandparents Could Be In Your Genes | Biologist Michael Skinner has enraged the chemical community and shocked his peers with his breakthrough research
• Quanta: The Secret Language of Plants
• New York Times: A Lonely Quest for Facts on Genetically Modified Crops
• National Review: Women are targeted by anti-GMO activists but deserve to know the truth.
• Independent Women’s Forum: The Cult of Organics
• Technology Review: Some GMO Crops Are on the Same Side as Their Opponents
• Forbes: Metastisizing Misinformation About GMOs And RNA: Ugly Glare On Union Of Concerned Scientists, Consumers Union
• The Fanning Mill: Deconstructing Don Huber – A Tale of Two Talks
• Real Clear Science: We’re Not Biased or Paid Off by Monsanto
• The Dirt: Bees, GMOs and the problem of “narrative”
• The Federalist: The Death Of Expertise
• Timberati: Golden Rice. Golden Opportunity.
• Real Food: My mind is a work in progress
• Wag’n Tales: The hope in technology
• Grist: Nathanael Johnson
• HuntGatherLove: Just Kale Me: How your Kale habit is slowly destroying your health and the world
• Narratively: Lessons From a ‘Local Food’ Scam Artist
• BloombergView: Peter Thiel Is Wrong About the Future
• McSweeney’s: A Small-Scale Organic Farmer Wants You to Know a Few Things.
• The Quiet Branches: From nature to product.
• The Breakthrough: Love Your Monsters | Why We Must Care for Our Technologies As We Do Our Children
• EUObserver: Frankenpolitics: The Left’s defence of GMOs
• My Life as a Feral Autistic: Into the Depths of Anti-Science Hell
• Cami Ryan: Storytelling and Science Communication