ClimateScienceWatch

Promoting integrity in the use of climate science in government

Climate Science Watch is a nonprofit public interest education and advocacy project dedicated to holding public officials accountable for the integrity and effectiveness with which they use climate science and related research in government policymaking, toward the goal of enabling society to respond effectively to the challenges posed by global warming and climate change. See Details

Al Franken: “Net Neutrality is the First Amendment Issue of Our Time”

Posted on Monday, August 02, 2010

We took an excerpt from U.S. Senator Al Franken’s keynote address at the Netroots Nation closing night. In the clip, Franken speaks about net neutrality, corporate power, and democracy. We believe the themes Franken weaves together are of key significance for the mission of Climate Science Watch in holding the governmental and corporate power elite accountable to the public interest.

Part One:

(Please excuse the misalignment of the sound and visual in Part 1, we ran into some trouble with the syncing)

See Details for Part Two

Environmental Conflict and Climate Change: The Grassroots vs ‘Big Green’

Posted on Sunday, August 01, 2010

As the news hit that we won’t be seeing a climate bill in this Congress, a group of panelists at the Netroots Nation annual conference looked at the relationship between grassroots action and the national environmental groups.

Video update: Netroots Nation panelists Jamie Henn of 350.org and Brad Johnson of hillheat.com talk about grassroots vs ‘Big Green’:

‘Merchants of Doubt’ responsible for climate confusion - book review

Posted on Sunday, August 01, 2010

Climate Science Watch readers who have not yet done so are urged to check out the new book Merchants of Doubt, by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway. Accurately called “powerful” by The Economist, Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming tells a compelling and illuminating story that should shake up the views of even some of the global warming skeptics. See Details for review and video interview with Naomi Oreskes.

Video Update: While at Netroots Nation, CSW spoke with Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway about the internet as a tool for climate change education:

EPA denies all petitions for reconsideration of its Endangerment Finding on greenhouse gases

Posted on Thursday, July 29, 2010

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today issued a “Denial of Petitions for Reconsideration of the Endangerment and Cause or Contribute Findings for Greenhouse Gases under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act.” EPA had received 10 petitions challenging its December 2009 finding that climate change caused by emissions of greenhouse gases threatens the public’s health and the environment. These petitions came from fossil fuel interests, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, anti-regulatory ideologue NGOs, and the state governments of Texas and Virginia. EPA flatly rejected every issue raised by petitioners, with detailed responses and a hard-hitting 3-page “Fact Sheet” summary of essential points.

With the collapse of climate change policy in a U.S. Senate that has become profoundly dysfunctional at performing essential governance, the EPA regulatory process becomes increasingly essential, and the protection of EPA’s ability to move forward with aggressive regulation to limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and transportation becomes the new front line of climate policy trench warfare in the Nation’s capital—and a litmus test of the integrity and accountability of the Obama Administration and the Congresssional majority party in translating the science behind the Endangerment Finding into action commensurate with the challenge.

Netroots Nation: On holding the Obama Administration accountable on climate and energy

Posted on Wednesday, July 28, 2010

How can the netroots and progressives most effectively hold the Obama Administration accountable for delivering on climate and energy policy? While at Netroots Nation 2010, Climate Science Watch put the question to Phil Radford, executive director of Greenpeace USA; Jason Miner, managing director of Glover Park Group; and Steve Kretzmann, executive director of Oil Change International.

Climate Science Watch Weekly Update – July 28, 2010

Posted on Wednesday, July 28, 2010

State of the Climate 2009 report; Netroots Nation 2010; ‘Mainstreaming’ federal climate change adaptation

White House Ends Climate Change Gag Order: EPA Whistleblowers Now Free to Speak Out

Posted on Wednesday, July 28, 2010

The Government Accountability Project (GAP), counsel for EPA and climate change whistleblowers Laurie Williams and Allan Zabel, sent a letter to President Obama yesterday thanking the White House for causing the EPA to withdraw its censorship orders that effectively gagged the two enforcement attorneys. CSW director Rick Piltz said: “The culture in federal agencies of inappropriately restricting communication is dug in. It won’t be changed overnight and it won’t change all by itself. It’s going to take sustained, hands-on White House leadership and oversight.”

Netroots Nation Day 2: Separation of oil and state

Posted on Tuesday, July 27, 2010

A panel on day two of the Netroots Nation conference asked the question: is the BP oil disaster the breaking point for communicating about clean energy? Kevin Grandia of Desmogblog.com led panelists in a discussion of whether the myth of cheap, abundant energy has finally been shattered, and how progressives can speak truth to the realities that made this disaster possible in the fight to transform our energy and climate future.

Stephen Schneider: Eulogies and Tributes

Posted on Sunday, July 25, 2010

From multiple sources, a collection of eulogies and tributes to Steve Schneider, whose untimely death at age 65 on July 19 is a profound and tragic loss — by Ben Santer, Peter Gleick, Richard Somerville, Michael Mann, Michael Oppenheimer, Richard Moss, V. Ramanathan, Roger Pielke, Sr., Lee Schipper, Curt Covey, Linda Mearns, Bud Ward, Cristine Russell, Bill Anderegg, and Bill Mckibben.

Supporting Science, Benefiting Society

Posted on Friday, July 23, 2010

Panelists at the Netroots Nation conference talked about how climate change, evolution, and pandemic flu exemplify the problematic relationship between scientific expertise, the public, and the machinations of those who deny and misrepresent scientific understanding.

Stephen Schneider, 1945-2010

Posted on Friday, July 23, 2010

Interview with Stephen Schneider on climate science expert credibility study

Stephen Schneider: Eulogies and Tributes

Stephen Schneider in 1979

Posted on Monday, July 19, 2010

NRC: emissions choices today have implications for global climate on the scale of millennia

Posted on Sunday, July 18, 2010

Climate Stabilization Targets: Emissions, Concentrations, and Impacts Over Decades to Millennia, a new report released by the National Research Council (the operational arm of the National Academy of Sciences) on July 16, starkly highlights the long-term global consequences of present-day choices about anthropogenic carbon emissions. The report concludes that “the world is entering a new geologic epoch, sometimes called the Anthropocene, in which human activities will largely control the evolution of Earth’s environment.”

An exchange on climate and energy legislation: must it include a carbon constraint?

Posted on Saturday, July 17, 2010

Andy Revkin’s concern that battles over emissions restrictions are a losing political game in the Senate climate and clean energy debate, and a distraction from a more immediate need to initiate a ‘sustained energy quest’ (DotEarth blog, New York Times, July 14), prompted us to join an exchange of comments on whether an ‘energy-only’ Senate bill would be an adequate first legislative step.

Climate deniers melt away on Capitol Hill

Posted on Friday, July 16, 2010

On July 15 CSW was on Capitol Hill watching youth coalition Consequence’s ‘Climate Deniers’ sculpture melt away on the Senate lawn. The ice sculpture, intended to symbolize the meltdown of climate denialists’ arguments under record-high global temperatures, served as a backdrop for several dynamic speeches calling on the Senate to take action on constructing a comprehensive and science-based climate bill. Speaking at the event were Dan Lashof, Director of the Climate Center, Natural Resources Defense Council; Brenda Ekwurzel, Union of Concerned Scientists; and Ethan Nuss of Energy Action Coalition. See Details for photos and links.

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