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

Obama, Copenhagen, and the need for straight talk on climate

Posted on Saturday, November 28, 2009

Al Jazeera English TV interviewed Climate Science Watch director Rick Piltz on November 23 on what we should expect from President Obama in connection with the upcoming Copenhagen climate conference. We want him to go, we said. He should make a strong policy statement and say that he’ll fight for it. But the U.S. public has never heard any president talk to them with candor about the meaning of the climate change problem, and until that happens public opinion will be soft in how much it’s willing to support.

“A World Without Ice”

Posted on Friday, November 27, 2009

“Ice everywhere is talking to us,” says Henry Pollack, “in a language that we must understand and heed. Ice is a sleeping giant that has been awakened, and if we fail to recognize what has been unleashed, it will be at our peril.” The eminent climate scientist’s new book, A World Without Ice, is a multifaceted narrative of the world of ice and its relationship to humans. It explains in deeply sobering terms how melting ice on a warming planet may well become “the formidable adversary of life on Earth.” Pollack cuts through the denial and evasions of those whom the author refers to as “climate contras” and builds to a powerful conclusion that calls for urgent attention from citizens and government. Reviewed here by Climate Science Watch director Rick Piltz.

Some sources on the controversy over the hacked files from the UK Climatic Research Unit

Posted on Wednesday, November 25, 2009

For those who are following the controversy being spun up over hacked e-mails and files from the Climatic Research Unit directed by climate scientist Phil Jones at the University of East Anglia, here are a few news and commentary sources we have found worth reading. Climate Science Watch earlier posted several items on the challenge to the CRU global temperature data record, including responses by climate scientists Phil Jones, Ben Santer, and Stephen Schneider. See Details.

EPA attempt to limit free speech by agency lawyers Laurie Williams and Allan Zabel violates the law

Posted on Wednesday, November 25, 2009

EPA’s attempt to limit freedom of speech by two agency lawyers, Laurie Willaims and Allan Zabel, who have spoken out in opposition to proposed cap and trade climate legislation, violates the law, says Louis Clark, President of the Government Accountability Project. EPA must be required to abandon the legacy of Bush-era restrictions on free speech for government workers — we would say, especially those addressing climate change. By accepting government employment, federal employees are not legally required to give up their First Amendment freedoms, their safeguards under whistleblower protection laws, their freedom to communicate with Congress, or their rights under anti-gag legislation that protect them from government officials who abuse their authority.

President Obama will travel to Copenhagen on Dec. 9 to participate in the UN climate conference

Posted on Wednesday, November 25, 2009

The White House announced today that President Obama will travel to Copenhagen on December 9 to participate in the United Nations Climate Change Conference. The White House press release says: “Based on the President’s work on climate change over the past 10 months—in the Major Economies Forum, the G20, bilateral discussions and multilateral consultations—and based on progress made in recent, constructive discussions with China and India’s Leaders, the President believes it is possible to reach a meaningful agreement in Copenhagen.” See Details for full text.

Obama 2008: “Time for delay is over. This is a matter of urgency.” US 2009: No climate policy

Posted on Sunday, November 22, 2009

Bill McKibben in the November 22 Washington Post: “Imagine an American president who would take the press corps to Glacier National Park so they could hike the dwindling ice fields, then fly them above the millions of acres of dead lodgepole pines covering much of the West, and then take them to stand on the levees in New Orleans. These are the kinds of stunts Obama knew how to pull off when he was running for president; they seem to be the kind of things he forgot about once he got the office.”

Federal court: “Monumental negligence” at Army Corps further endangered Katrina victims

Posted on Thursday, November 19, 2009

Another powerful argument for a coordinated high-profile federal mission to raise preparedness for climate change impacts came last night with a federal district court decision holding the US Army Corps of Engineers liable for “monumental negligence” in its duties to maintain a key ship channel, leading to devastating flooding in some New Orleans neighborhoods. These failures amounted to a “man-made disaster” on top of a “natural disaster” (Hurricane Katrina) that resulted in the destruction of or significant damage to nearly every home in the Lower 9th Ward and St. Bernard Parish. Judge Stanwood R. Duval’s finding of misfeasance by the Corps, finding for several victim-plaintiffs, opens the door for billions of dollars in future civil claims against the government. Rather than appealing the decision, the Obama administration should: 1) promptly make good on its promise to provide billions more in aid to Katrina victims, and 2) actively engage the federal government in examining and elevating the nation’s overall level of preparedness for future extreme weather-related disasters and other climate impacts—- and in the process, limit tremendous future liability.

UN report identifies women in poor countries as among the most vulnerable to climate change impacts

Posted on Wednesday, November 18, 2009

A report released today by the UN Population Fund identifies gender inequities in vulnerability to global climate disruption. The report looks at the nexus of population dynamics, the welfare of women worldwide, and climate change impacts and adaptation and concludes that successful and lasting adaptation strategies must address these factors.

The economic costs of climate adaptation escalate with inaction, says bipartisan energy group

Posted on Tuesday, November 17, 2009

“Pay now, or pay more later” is the increasingly substantiated wisdom of addressing—and failing to address—the threat of global climate disruption. The bipartisan National Commission on Energy Policy (NCEP) pulled together the findings of seven climate change impacts studies conducted around the country, and recently issued what amounts to yet another fair warning. Climate change impacts are wide-ranging and affect key resources Americans care about; the greater the warming, the greater the economic costs will be to society; but—we can avoid the worst impacts by ratcheting down heat-trapping pollution and planning for unavoidable impacts. Planning, preparing for, and building resilience against climate impacts is not getting the public policy attention it deserves. Today we cross-post from Nick Sundt at the World Wildlife Fund’s climate blog.

Climate change: Kids get it, Rush Limbaugh and other denialists don’t

Posted on Thursday, November 12, 2009

In a new video from the World Wildlife Fund, the children of WWF staff talk about the consequences of climate change, the importance of taking action and the need for U.S. leadership in reaching an international agreement at the upcoming climate summit in Copenhagen, Denmark. Rush Limbaugh responded to the video with predictable denialist vitriol.

Lou Dobbs and global warming: Two stories

Posted on Thursday, November 12, 2009

On the occasion of Lou Dobbs abruptly quitting his anchor-commentator program on CNN, we recall two occasions on which he ran a climate change story. In one, he didn’t appear able to distinguish the relative merit of the views of a distinguished climate scientist and IPCC author and someone who views global warming as “the greatest scam in history.” In the other, covering a story on Bush White House political editing of climate science program reports, he did manage to note that “putting an oil industry lobbyist at the head of a council on the environment, that is curious, to say the least.”

US Global Change Research Program: Budget reporting impedes meaningful oversight

Posted on Wednesday, November 11, 2009

The US Global Change Research Program is in serious need of an overhaul if it is to meet today’s data and information needs associated with preparing for, mitigating, and building resilience to a troubling set of climate change consequences. Just under $2 billion in federal funding goes to support climate and global change research in the agencies and departments participating in the USGCRP. The National Academy of Sciences has put forth thoughtful recommendations for updating the program’s research elements and priorities, but, as far as we can tell, the program has not begun to substantially re-direct its research agenda and budget. Moreover, an examination of available budget materials, especially the annual report to Congress, Our Changing Planet, reveals reporting practices so unclear and inconsistent as to defy meaningful oversight. This first post in a new CSW investigative series about the USGCRP begins to diagnose the obstacles to reform, and makes recommendations for improving government accountability.

EPA sends endangerment finding on greenhouse gases to White House for final approval

Posted on Monday, November 09, 2009

The US Environmental Protection Agency has sent its scientific finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare to the White House for final review, the next step in moving toward regulation of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. Global warming denialist attempts to derail the process, which were countered here by leading climate scientists, were deservedly brushed aside. Now White House regulatory office head Cass Sunstein must not interfere with EPA’s finding.

PEER: EPA orders employees to remove YouTube video critical of cap-and-trade climate policy

Posted on Monday, November 09, 2009

The US Environmental Protection Agency has ordered two of its attorneys to remove a video they posted on YouTube about problems with climate change legislation backed by the Obama administration or face “disciplinary action,” according to documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). “EPA is abusing ethics rules to gag two conscientious employees who have every right to speak out as citizens,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, who has re-posted the original video and its script (see Details).

Report from a conference on Climate Change, State Resilience and Global Security

Posted on Sunday, November 08, 2009

Climate Science Watch attended a November 4 conference on Climate Change, State Resilience and Global Security, held at the Center for Naval Analysis in Alexandria, Virginia. At the conference a group of distinguished national security professionals provided perspective and engaged audience members in a type of “war game” scenario that imagined the roles of political and military leaders in a climate-disrupted future. The approach outlined by national security experts at the conference provided a sharp contrast with the current effort in Congress to enact sweeping climate and energy policy reforms.

Page 1 of 2 pages 1 2 >