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 |
Censorship of Government Scientists
The ability of our society and public officials to make good decisions about climate change depends on uncensored and unimpeded communication about the findings of scientific research and scientifically based assessments of key issues.
Notes on Conrad Lautenbacher’s troubled legacy on science and politics at NOAA (Part 2)
Posted on Friday, September 26, 2008
Any assessment of the tenure of Conrad Lautenbacher, who has resigned as NOAA Administrator effective October 31, will have to consider the problems of political interference with climate science communication and the mismanagement of the NPOESS satellite global climate monitoring project that happened on his watch. See Details for our earlier posts on these problems.
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As Hurricane Ike careens toward Texas, we are reminded of a warning the White House silenced
Posted on Thursday, September 11, 2008
On March 12, 2008 the US government quietly released a report, Impacts of Climate Variability and Change on Transportation and Infrastructure—Gulf Coast Study. The study, one of 21 being produced by the US Climate Change Science Program, was silenced by the Bush admninistration’s political apparatus, another victim of systematic suppression of climate science communication presumably meant to keep the American people in the dark about the ties between our heavy reliance on fossil fuels and climatic disruption, ranging from the mild to the severe. On the day of the stealth release, reporters were kept from interviewing the lead author with the Department of Transportation, an expert on the vulnerability of transportation systems to severe weather and other risks.
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Jason Burnett confirms that Cheney’s office and CEQ censored CDC director Gerberding’s testimony
Posted on Tuesday, July 08, 2008
The Associated Press reported on July 8 that former EPA deputy associate administrator Jason Burnett has confirmed something we had suggested earlier: that the White House Council on Environmental Quality, acting as an agent of Vice President Cheney, directed the censorship of the October 2007 testimony of Centers for Disease Control director Julie Gerberding linking climate change to adverse public health impacts. This was a case of the ongoing White House collusion with the global warming disinformation campaign to play down adverse impacts of climate change on public health and welfare, in order to continue to block regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.
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Dr. James Hansen calls for fossil industry disinformants to be tried for “high crimes”
Posted on Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Twenty years after delivering his landmark testimony to the US Senate declaring a detectable fingerprint for global warming, Dr. Hansen appeared June 23, 2008 before the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming chaired by Rep. Ed Markey. In his briefing (here [PDF], and here [MS Powerpoint]), Hansen pleaded for a rapid transition away from carbon-based fuels to avoid total climate catastrophe, and harshly castigated those in the fossil fuel industries responsible for deliberately and methodically spreading untruths and purposely misleading society, thus dangerously delaying an effective response and actions to avert global climatic disruption. The CEOs behind this massive disinformation campaign of the last several decades, he claims, “should be tried for high crimes against humanity and nature.”
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“A Climate Hero: An Outspoken Truth”
Posted on Friday, June 20, 2008
The Worldwatch Institute and Grist have posted a three-part series (part 3 here and here) commemorating the 20-year anniversary of NASA scientist James Hansen’s groundbreaking testimony on global climate change next week. We spoke with the reporter for part 3: “Jim did a great deal to help unmask the Bush administration’s collusion with the global warming disinformation campaign. He’s a bit like a lone wolf. Nobody can tell him what to say or what to do. They made a mistake when they tried to mess with him.”
NASA internal investigation of climate science political interference let higher-ups off the hook
Posted on Monday, June 16, 2008
An investigative report by the NASA Inspector General released June 2 validates charges that White House political appointees in the NASA Public Affairs office were engaged in censoring climate science communication, but whitewashes the complicity of higher-ups at NASA Headquarters in the attempt to censor James Hansen. We told Climate Wire the report also gave top NASA officials too much credit for their response to the censorship claims after the fact. But we give the report, which took 20 months to produce, credit for documenting and validating the conclusion “that during the fall of 2004 through early 2006, the NASA Headquarters Office of Public Affairs managed the topic of climate change in a manner that reduced, marginalized or mischaracterized climate change science made available to the general public.”
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Have things changed? What reforms are needed? Remarks at Whistleblower Week in Washington
Posted on Thursday, May 15, 2008
Climate Science Watch director Rick Piltz spoke at a Whistleblower Week in Washington event May 12, on a panel on “Scientific Freedom and the Public Good.” In addition to comments in response to questions about his own experience, he talked about the current situation with the Bush administration and the future direction of the federal climate research program and its relationship to society. See Details for full text.
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Union of Concerned Scientists study: Hundreds of EPA scientists report political interference
Posted on Monday, April 28, 2008
An investigation of the Environmental Protection Agency released April 23 found that 889 of nearly 1,600 staff scientists reported that they experienced political interference in their work over the last five years. Hundreds of scientists reported being unable to openly express concerns about EPA’s work without fear of retaliation. A majority of respondents said EPA policies do not let scientists talk freely with the news media about their findings. The next President, Congress, and EPA administrator should act to ensure integrity in the treatment of scientific research and end practices that impede communication between agency scientists and the public. Scientists should be able to express concerns about inappropriate political interference and push back when necessary, without fear of retaliation.
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GAP press release on stealth release of climate change transportation impacts report
Posted on Friday, March 14, 2008
A March 14 news release by the Government Accountability Project leads with: “This past Wednesday, March 12, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the U.S. Climate Change Science Program quietly released a major assessment report on the likely impacts of global climate disruption on a wide range of transportation infrastructure in the Gulf Coast region. This report release was buried by the DOT, and officials have been blocking journalists from speaking with the report’s lead author.”
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Stealth release of major federal study of Gulf Coast climate change transportation impacts
Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2008
On March 12 the U.S. government released a major assessment report on the likely impacts of global climate disruption on a wide range of transportation systems and infrastructure in the U.S. Gulf Coast region. The report was released in a way that was clearly intended to minimize public attention to it, and our media sources say the Department of Transportation is blocking journalists from talking with the lead author at the agency about the findings in the report. Why? Read on....
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AAAS honors climate scientists James Hansen and Robert Watson
Posted on Sunday, February 17, 2008
On February 16, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, at its annual meeting in Boston, honored Jim Hansen of NASA with the AAAS Award for Scientific Freedom and Responsibility, and former IPCC chairman Bob Watson with the AAAS International Scientific Cooperation Award. Both have been targets of the Bush administration’s politicization of climate science.
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“Scientific Freedom and the Public Good” – Statement to the next president
Posted on Friday, February 15, 2008
On February 14 a group of prominent scientists, organized by the Union of Concerned Scientists, released a statement – “Scientific Freedom and the Public Good”—calling for the next president to put an end to political interference in science and create changes that would allow federal science to flourish. We support the UCS Restoring Scientific Integrity Network.
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New Harper government policy muzzles communication by Environment Canada government scientists
Posted on Wednesday, February 13, 2008
"The concept of free speech is non-existent at Environment Canada,” says Canadian university climate scientist Andrew Weaver. The National Post (Canada) reported that Environment Canada recently instituted media message control rules for government scientists in an action that appears worthy of some of what was documented earlier under the Bush-Cheney administration. The Post reports that the policy of requiring that the content of all responses to media inquiries be controlled through public relations officials in Ottawa is infuriating scientists, who had long been encouraged to discuss their work with the media and the public.
CBS News to re-air “Rewriting the Science” and other 60 Minutes climate change stories on Jan. 20
Posted on Thursday, January 17, 2008
On Sunday, January 20, CBS News Presents will re-air three climate change stories that were done by 60 Minutes during the past two years. These include a segment on the warming trend in the Arctic region, another on Antarctica, and a third, “Rewriting the Science,” on administration political interference with climate change communication. The latter includes interviews with Jim Hansen of NASA and CSW Director Rick Piltz.
Coming Dec. 27: “Censoring Science: Inside the Political Attack on Dr. James Hansen”
Posted on Saturday, December 22, 2007
Here’s something we’ve pre-ordered for New Year’s reading: Censoring Science: Inside the Political Attack on Dr. James Hansen and the Truth of Global Warming, by climate science author Mark Bowen, “tells a chilling story of deliberate efforts by senior NASA managers, acting in concert with the Bush White House, to play up uncertainties and minimize dangers regarding global warming....A must-read not just for environmentalists but for all politically conscientious readers.” (Kirkus Reviews) The book, published by Dutton, is scheduled for release on December 27.
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