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

Climate Change Preparedness

America’s Climate Choices – Webinar on Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change

Posted on Thursday, August 26, 2010

This May, CSW attended the National Academy of Science’s (NAS) release of the first three reports from the America’s Climate Choices suite of studies: Advancing the Science of Climate Change, Limiting the Magnitude of Future Climate Change, and Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change.

Since then, the NAS has released a fourth report, Informing Effective Decisions and Actions Related to Climate Change, and the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) has hosted webinars on three of the four reports.

On August 23 we tuned into the the final UCS webinar, a discussion of the Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change report - a report focused largely on drawing our attention to the importance of adapting to irreversible climate change.

Sec. of State Clinton attributes Pakistan flooding, other extreme events in part to climate change

Posted on Saturday, August 21, 2010

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in an interview on Pakistan TV, said “there is a linkage” between the recent spate of deadly natural disasters and climate change… “We are changing the climate of the world.” Notwithstanding the scientific complexities of attribution of patterns of meterological events to ongoing global climatic disruption, and how this relationship can be most appropriately framed in public communication, this is an interesting high-level Obama Administration statement. To what extent does Secretary Clinton’s statement suggest a commitment by the President to substantial follow-on policy responses, both to immediate events and to developing adaptive preparedness for anticipated consequences of climatic change over time?

Climate change preparedness - what about the risks that may come with adaptation and mitigation?

Posted on Wednesday, June 16, 2010

On June 10 CSW was at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, attending a roundtable discussion titled The Conflict Potential of Climate Mitigation and Adaptation. Discussion of climate change policy thus far has focused on what climate change impacts will look like (globally and regionally), and how we can prevent impacts from becoming severe through emissions cuts (mitigation) and seek to prepare for impacts we cannot avoid (adaptation). We haven’t yet started seriously assessing the associated security risks and conflict potential that may arise from adopting and implementing mitigation and adaptation plans. Taking this next step was the main focus of this roundtable discussion.

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.

China is developing a national adaptive preparedness strategy for impacts of climate disruption

Posted on Friday, April 02, 2010

China is starting to ramp up its preparedness for drought, floods, typhoons, dust storms, heat waves and other extreme weather events as part of a 10-year national plan for responding to potential impacts of climate change, the London Guardian reported March 31. New regulations will establish a legal framework for disaster response, risk assessment, evacuation measures, and public education. As China moves forward to take a leading position with clean energy technology, will it also take the lead in adaptive preparedness strategy? They don’t appear to be following the advice of those who would de-couple clean energy advocacy from a focus on climate science and climate change impacts.

Tom Karl discusses plans for NOAA Climate Service

Posted on Saturday, March 27, 2010

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is developing its capability to play a leading role in providing data and information services in support of climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts nationwide. This is one potentially valuable element of an overall U.S. climate change response strategy. On March 25, Climate Science Watch participated in a briefing on the proposed NOAA Climate Service.

Federal Climate Change Adaptation Task Force progress report shows early steps on a long road

Posted on Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Obama Administration officials have released a progress report of a federal interagency task force that was charged by the President in October 2009 with developing and implementing a national strategy for adapting to the impacts of global climate change. Much work has been initiated at the level of federal program managers in about 20 departments, agencies, and offices, to scope a wide range of climate change impacts issues and begin the process of determining the needs and capabilities of federal agencies to address them. We have called repeatedly for the development of a U.S. national climate change adaptive preparednesss strategy linking all levels of government, and applaud this current effort—while noting how far it still must travel before the nation’s need for climate change preparedness has been met.

Commerce Department proposes NOAA Climate Service

Posted on Tuesday, February 09, 2010

On February 8, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) unveiled a major new proposal for the establishment of a NOAA Climate Service, a new office tasked with serving the nation’s increasing climate information needs. We support this initiative as a significant step in the right direction, while noting that it appears to leave aside, for now, the question of how the Climate Service office will ultimately coordinate with the full suite of federal activities relevant to climate change adaptation and preparedness planning.

Two whistleblowers who exposed misconduct further endangering Katrina victims are honored today

Posted on Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Two courageous individuals will each receive meritorious awards today for blowing the whistle on two separate instances of misconduct that put Hurricane Katrina victims in unnecessary jeopardy, reports Government Accountability Project colleague Jess Radack on the Daily Kos today. Maria Garzino, a mechanical/civil engineer and team leader with the US Army Corps of Engineers, will receive the Public Servant of the Year award from the U.S. Office of Special Counsel for exposing the intentional installation of faulty pumps in flood-prone areas of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. Dr. Ivor van Heerden will receive an award for civic courage for speaking out against systematic incompetence and negligence in planning and preparing for Gulf coast hurricanes, despite resistance from his former employer, Louisiana State University. Click on details for the crosspost.

California’s Adaptation Strategy shows leadership that Senate climate bill should follow

Posted on Friday, December 11, 2009

The final version of the 2009 California Climate Adaptation Strategy released last week puts forth a set of wide-ranging recommendations for managing and adapting to a set of difficult climate change impacts throughout the state. Meanwhile, a recent framework for climate legislation put forth by Sens. John Kerry, Lindsey Graham, and Joe Lieberman does not address dealing with impacts at all. The US will put itself in a perilous position if California’s advice is not heeded: “To effectively address the challenges that a changing climate will bring, climate adaptation and mitigation…policies must complement each other, and efforts within and across sectors must be coordinated.”

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.

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.

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.

GAO report makes case for national strategic plan to deal with climate impacts

Posted on Wednesday, November 04, 2009

The US needs “a national strategic plan that will guide the nation’s efforts to adapt to a changing climate,” says the Government Accountability Office, finding “a general lack of strategic coordination across agencies” in their efforts to adapt to climate change impacts, characterized as “preliminary.” We’ve been saying this all along, recognizing the serious shortcomings of a set of laudable but disparate and disconnected attempts by various government entities to deal with the myriad cross-cutting issues associated with climate disruption in the absence of an overarching, integrating framework. Federal agencies, states, and local communities generally lack the guidance, information, tools, resources, and opportunities for sharing lessons learned, GAO discovered, all essential for planning and preparing adequately for unprecedented weather and climate conditions. Both the Obama White House and Congress have so far failed to make sector-wide climate change adaptation preparedness a national priority. The time to remedy that is now.

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