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

Large, consistent majority of Americans believe climate change is happening, want government to act

Posted on Friday, June 11, 2010

We checked out a June 10 briefing held by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, “Have Americans’ Views on Global Warming Changed? A New Look at Public Opinion,” a report by Jon Krosnick on the latest iteration of public opinion polls on climate change. The data strongly suggest that leaders who champion climate policy can reap political gains, and indicate that the ‘climategate’ stolen e-mail and IPCC controversies are having very little impact on public opinion.

New national survey: Public concern about global warming is once again on the rise

Posted on Wednesday, June 09, 2010

77 percent of Americans now favor regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant, including 64 percent of Republicans, according to a new national survey released June 8 by researchers at Yale and George Mason Universities – even as the U.S. Senate prepares to vote on a resolution to block the EPA from doing so. By 61-18 percent a majority believe that global warming is happening, but a plurality are under the impression that “there is a lot of disagreement among scientists” about this.

Climate Science Watch Weekly Update

Posted on Tuesday, June 08, 2010

A brief summary of events we are attending and tuning into this week.

AMS Climate Briefing Series takes on national security implications of climate change

Posted on Tuesday, June 08, 2010

On June 4 CSW was on Capitol Hill attending an American Meteorological Society (AMS) briefing – part of the Climate Briefing Series – on Climate Change and National Security. The event featured Rear Admiral David Titley, Oceanographer and Navigator of the US Navy and Dr. Jeffrey Mazo, Managing Editor of the journal Survival and Research Fellow for Environmental Security and Science Policy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Rear Admiral Titley stressed that we simply cannot wait any longer to take serious action on climate change. A reasonable probability of risk is enough, he said – true to the proactive preparedness approach of those who think in terms of national security. It is not wise to wait for a “perfect knowledge” of how things will play out.

Whistleblower seeking to force shutdown of BP Atlantis oil rig, another potential Gulf disaster

Posted on Sunday, June 06, 2010

Kenneth Abbott, a whistleblower from BP Atlantis, another Gulf of Mexico deepwater oil drilling rig, has been trying to expose critical safety lapses for years, but his efforts seem to have fallen on deaf ears. Food & Water Watch joined Abbott in filing a lawsuit in May seeking to force the federal government to shut down BP Atlantis until its safety is assured. They say this rig could turn into an even worse disaster than the Deepwater Horizon.

NOAA Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook evasive on climate change

Posted on Thursday, June 03, 2010

NOAA’s 2010 Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook, which predicts a likelihood of 8-14 hurricanes and 3-7 major hurricanes, was drafted by the same NOAA meteorologists who presented the notorious Bush-era hurricane season wrap-up in 2005 after Katrina that explicitly denied any link between anthropogenic global warming and increased hurricane intensity and failed to mention research by NOAA scientists on projected future increases that suggested otherwise. This is an active area of research with much uncertainty. But if presenting a high-profile hurricane outlook that completely evades any reference to hurricanes and climate change is NOAA’s idea of how to provide “climate services” to the nation, then there is cause for concern.

Government Whistleblower Protection: the Long Ignored Way to Better Connect the Dots

Posted on Monday, May 31, 2010

“The politicians need to stop stalling in the end game to restore a credible Whistleblower Protection Act,” write Government Accountability Project legal director Tom Devine and former FBI special agent Coleen Rowley. “In the wake of our national security and intelligence agencies’ failures to stop Christmas passenger Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and ‘Times Square Bomber’ Faisal Shahzad from attempting to ignite bombs, will any Congressman recognize why the glaring dots are still not being connected? Bureaucratic breakdowns and needless disasters keep recurring, in huge part, because government whistleblowers have been silenced. They do not even enjoy the simple freedom to communicate within the chain of command and defend themselves against near certain retribution.

Holdren at Adaptation Summit: We’re not serious until we put a price on greenhouse gas emissions

Posted on Friday, May 28, 2010

“If we do not accept that climate change is an enormously important dimension of the energy challenge that we face, and larger environmental challenges that we face, we will not put into the legislation that we need, the key ingredient that we need,” Obama science and technology adviser John Holdren said during the Q&A following his remarks to the National Climate Adaptation Summit on May 27. “The President is well aware of that. I certainly expect that there will be, at some point, going forward…a major speech from the President that puts all this together in a very forceful way. And: “Until the US gets serious nationally about climate change – and we’re not serious until we put a price on greenhouse gas emissions – we’re not going to have the international agreement, we’re not going to have the mitigation that we need, and we’re not going to have the support for adaptation.”

Text of remarks by Obama science adviser John Holdren to the National Climate Adaptation Summit

Posted on Friday, May 28, 2010

“Mitigation alone won’t work, because the climate is already changing, we’re already experiencing impacts….A mitigation only strategy would be insanity,” President Obama’s science and technology adviser John Holdren said in his remarks to the National Climate Adaptation Summit conference in Washington, DC, on May 27. “Changes in climate are already harming human well-being…. The harm is likely to grow to far larger levels if we fail to take aggressive action in this country and in concert with other nations on both mitigation and adaptation.” See Details for full text.

University petitions court to quash Cuccinelli subpoena of climate scientist Michael Mann’s papers

Posted on Friday, May 28, 2010

The University of Virginia has petitioned a state court to “set aside” Attorney General Cuccinelli’s not-so-civil Civil Investigative Demand that it turn over a mass of former UVa Prof. Michael Mann’s documents and e-mail correspondence with 39 other scientists. The university’s action shows some backbone and exemplifies the pushback we should see in responding to political witch hunts aimed at the science community. The petition defends academic freedom and indicates how Cuccinelli’s demands fail to meet the basic requirements of state law. See Details for petition text.

NRC: US should act now to cut emissions, develop a national strategy to adapt to inevitable impacts

Posted on Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Climate Science Watch attended a briefing at the National Academy of Sciences on the release of a set of three new major National Research Council climate change reports, part of the larger America’s Climate Choices study requested by Congress. The three reports examine the state of the science of climate change, the scientific underpinnings of domestic mitigation strategies, and approaches to climate change impacts adaptation. America’s Climate Choices brings together the work of about 90 scientists from different fields, and represents the NRC’s most comprehensive study to date on climate change. The reports “emphasize why the US should act now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and also to develop a national strategy to adapt to the inevitable impacts of climate change that cannot be avoided,” said Dr. Ralph Cicerone, President of the Academy.

National Climate Adaptation Summit, 25-27 May, 2010 – Washington, DC

Posted on Monday, May 24, 2010

The U.S. Global Change Research Program, the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, and other organizations are sponsoring a National Climate Adaptation Summit conference in Washington, DC, this week. The 3-day Summit will bring together government officials, climate information providers, and stakeholders to discuss what is needed for effective climate adaptation and vulnerability assessment and how the United States should be organized to do that. Climate Science Watch director Rick Piltz will be participating in and reporting on the conference, some of which will be webcast.

ABC World News: Climate Scientists Claim ‘McCarthy-Like Threats’

Posted on Sunday, May 23, 2010

ABC-TV World News on May 23 aired a story about how some leading climate scientists are being subjected to a smear campaign by global warming deniers, with hate communications and an attempt to criminalize their activity. Scientists Michael Mann of Penn State and Gavin Schmidt of NASA appeared in the segment, as did arch-denier Sen. James Inhofe and propagandist-provocateur Marc Morano.

Reinstate the Office of Technology Assessment: Letter to Congress from 90 organizations

Posted on Sunday, May 23, 2010

Climate Science Watch and the Government Accountability Project have joined with 88 other organizations to call for the restoration and funding of the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment. OTA produced 750 reports on a wide range of complex scientific and technological issues before it was de-funded in 1995 in the “Contract with America” period of Newt Gingrich’s ascendancy as Speaker of the House.

Climate scientists tell House committee: We know the risk, now it’s up to policymakers to act

Posted on Friday, May 21, 2010

The House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming held a hearing on May 20 to examine the intersection between climate science and the political process. Ralph Cicerone, Mario Molina, Stephen Schneider, Ben Santer, and William Happer testified. The committee also heard testimony about the recent rise in vitriolic attacks on climate science and scientists. The Republican members made opening statements that attacked some more, then walked out on the hearing without even listening to the testimony, or asking a single question. See Details for our report from the hearing.

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