Category Archives: Climate Science Watch

“Greedy Lying Bastards” – forthcoming film a “searing indictment” of the fossil fuel industry

“Craig Rosebraugh, a US filmmaker and political activist, has produced a feature-length documentary that demands to be seen,” writes Leo Hickman in the UK Guardian. “If the trailer and impressive roster of interviewees are anything to go by, it's likely … Continue reading

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“Obama Proposal Could Weaken Key Climate Agency”

“The White House proposal that would move the country’s oceans and atmosphere agency — the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) — from its current home in the Commerce Department and fold it into the Interior Department, could severely undermine … Continue reading

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Don’t disrupt NOAA’s climate change activities with Obama’s proposed agency re-shuffle

“How does it help us with the things we need from NOAA?” we said to ClimateWire, questioning the President’s proposal to subsume the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration into the Department of the Interior. “Is it going to help those … Continue reading

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“Inside Story: US 2012” – Are environmental concerns being sacrificed?

“I think we have a situation now where politics are driven by the limits that are set by concentrated corporate power,” CSW director Rick Piltz said as part of a discussion of President Obama’s record on the environment and the … Continue reading

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Does the USGCRP have high-level political buy-in for connecting climate science to society?

The new U.S. Global Change Research Program Strategic Plan is on the right track in seeking to connect scientific research and assessments to policy and societal management, we told ClimateWire, but it's not at all clear that the plan has … Continue reading

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NOAA scientific integrity policy, Part 2: Stronger whistleblower protections still needed

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s new scientific integrity policy issued in December contains important steps in the right direction. But while NOAA states its support for whistleblower protection in very general terms, the agency made no improvements in its … Continue reading

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NOAA scientific integrity policy, Part 1: Scientists’ communication freedom still limited by Commerce Dept restrictions

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s new scientific integrity policy issued in December contains important steps in the right direction, but Commerce Department restrictions on public communications by NOAA scientists, imposed under the Bush Administration, remain in place.

Posted in Climate Science Watch, Obama Administration, Science Communication | 3 Comments

On the Durban climate conference, Part 2: The problem of international distributional equity

US environmental groups and analysts in the movement for a stronger climate policy have focused on energy technologies, carbon pricing, and other technical issues without, for the most part, coming to grips with the elements of the climate change international … Continue reading

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"Smog Rules" -- Obama, scientific integrity, and environmental policy

In his article "Smog Rules" in the current issue of Index on Censorship, CSW director Rick Piltz writes about President Obama, science integrity, and environmental policy. There remain significant questions about the strength and limits of Obama's commitment to scientific integrity, especially … Continue reading

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Public review comment on the USGCRP draft Strategic Plan

The U.S. Global Change Research Program's draft 10-year Strategic Plan envisions a greater role for the social sciences in transitioning to a new era of climate change 'decision support', sustained assessment, and communications.  But what is the role of the social scientist, as … Continue reading

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