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

A climate scientist in the “reality-based community” finds science advisor Marburger talk “scary”

Posted on Wednesday, December 12, 2007

In his critical review on the RealClimate site of a December 11 talk by White House science advisor John Marburger, Prof. Ray Pierrehumbert sees political slant continuing to trump climate science.

House Oversight Committee report contradicts NOAA Administrator Lautenbacher’s testimony

Posted on Wednesday, December 12, 2007

On 16 February 2006, the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., was asked in a Senate Hearing whether there was White House censorship of communication by NOAA scientists. Lautenbacher responded that he was "not aware that there is any truth to that at all," that he had "never seen anybody to be able to muzzle a scientist," that scientists say "whatever they want to say," and that "we don’t interfere with the ability of our scientists to discuss their peer reviewed science." His statement is contradicted by a report issued on Monday by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

CSW director: White House under Clinton-Gore “was not at war with the mainstream science community”

Posted on Tuesday, December 11, 2007

In an article on the House Oversight Committee majority report on White House political interference with climate change science, released December 10, the Christian Science Monitor reports: “Rick Piltz, director of the climate science watch program at the Government Accountability Project...[says] the White House’s efforts this time were about more than organizing a coherent policy message.” No administration is above criticism, but under the previous administration the White House “was not at war with the mainstream science community.”

House Oversight report on administration political interference with climate change science

Posted on Monday, December 10, 2007

On December 10 the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), released a proposed report on the results of a 16-month investigation of allegations of political interference with government climate change science under the Bush Administration. The report draws on more than 27,000 pages of documents obtained by the Committee from the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and the Commerce Department. The report draws on and validates information we and others brought forward, and includes material that has not previously been published. On the corrupting influence of CEQ, we told Greenwire: “Everybody was complicit. Everybody knew what was going on, although nobody had the full story, because the tentacles of CEQ were out in so many different directions.”

IPCC Chairman Pachauri and Al Gore Nobel lectures: Climate change and government accountability

Posted on Monday, December 10, 2007

R. K. Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and Al Gore accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on December 10. Pachauri: “Will those responsible for decisions in the field of climate change at the global level listen to the voice of science and knowledge, which is now loud and clear?” Gore: “We have everything we need to get started, save perhaps political will, but political will is a renewable resource.” Their Nobel Lectures, and the Presentation Speech by the Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, deserve to be read in full….

2007 Bali Climate Declaration by Scientists

Posted on Thursday, December 06, 2007

A consensus Bali Climate Declaration, signed by more than 200 members of the international climate science community, says that the goal of a new climate treaty regime “must be to limit global warming to no more than 2º C above the pre-industrial temperature,” and lays out targets for achieving this goal. The signers of the Declaration include about 75 U.S. scientists, in both universities and government labs.

States and enviro groups petition EPA to regulate aviation greenhouse emissions

Posted on Wednesday, December 05, 2007

A coalition of California and other states, along with Earthjustice and other environmental groups, is filing formal petitions calling on the the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to exercise its authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from domestic and foreign aircraft departing or landing at American airports. On July 18 Climate Science Watch published a report critical of the administration’s failure to address aviation’s contribution to global warming in the federal aviation planning and development program. We called for aviation emissions to be addressed in U.S. climate change policy and regulation. The action to petition EPA is a significant step forward in advancing the issue of aviation and climate change, which has been neglected for too long in the debate on climate policy.

Presidential Climate Action Project proposes 300-point climate action agenda for the next President

Posted on Wednesday, December 05, 2007

The Presidential Climate Action Project has issued a Presidential Climate Action Plan, proposing an action agenda for the next President with 300 specific changes in federal policies, programs, and statutes. Among the key proposals: Modifications in the federal Climate Change Science Program to restore funding for the Earth sciences and to pay more attention to regional and local impacts of climate change so that states and communities can better prepare.

Climate Change Science Program assessment failures aired at Senate Commerce oversight hearing

Posted on Monday, December 03, 2007

We examine key issues raised in the November 14 Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee hearing on federal climate change science research, set the record straight on a few matters—in particular, on some of White House science advisor John Marburger’s misleading answers to questions from Sen. Kerry, and review testimony by a panel of nongovernmental witnesses that pointed to needed reforms in the Climate Change Science Program.

Marburger vs. Connaughton rhetoric on need for “urgent” action on climate change

Posted on Sunday, December 02, 2007

In his exchange with Sen. John Kerry at a recent hearing on climate change research, White House science advisor John Marburger resisted acknowledging the need for “urgent” action on climate change. Kerry said, “I think you need to resign.” Two days later, White House environmental advisor James Connaughton said climate change “requires urgent action.”

Non-native jellyfish wipe out salmon fishery in Northern Ireland – another warning sign?

Posted on Sunday, December 02, 2007

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, a massive bloom of “mauve stinger” jellyfish, in a dense pack covering 10 square miles 35 feet deep, thousands of miles north of their preferred ocean habitat, feasted on about a half a million pounds of gourmet, organic salmon being raised in pens off the coast of northern Ireland and slated for market during the upcoming holiday season. All indications are that climate change played a key role in the fatal intrusion. The incident raises important questions for the US climate science programs and our overall level of climate change preparedness.

Review of “Everything’s Cool” in the New York Times

Posted on Saturday, November 24, 2007

Stephen Holden of the New York Times reviewed the new global warming documentary, “Everything’s Cool,” which opened in New York and Los Angeles on November 23.

Everything’s Cool global warming film opens for a one-week run in New York and LA Nov. 23-29

Posted on Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Everything’s Cool, a feature-length documentary film about ‘global warming messengers,’ will screen at the Cinema Village in New York City and at the Laemmle Grande 4-Plex in downtown Los Angeles November 23-29. Climate Science Watch director Rick Piltz and the filmmakers will do a Q&A session at the 7 p.m. screening on Friday, November 23, in New York.

Webcast and Written Testimony from Senate Hearing on U.S. Global Change Research Program

Posted on Thursday, November 15, 2007

On November 14, 2007, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation held a hearing on “A Time for Change: Improving the Federal Climate Change Research and Information Program.” We provide links to an archived Webcast and to the written statements of the witnesses; soon we’ll have more to say about this interesting hearing. Stay tuned.

Senate hearing on federal climate research program will hear from OSTP director Marburger

Posted on Tuesday, November 13, 2007

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee will hold a full committee hearing November 14 on “A Time for Change: Improving the Federal Climate Change Research and Information Program.” We have a couple of questions for witness Dr. John Marburger, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

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