| About | Contact | Subscribe | Calendar | Publish | Donate |
|---|
International | Environment & Forest DefenseUS Climate Science Reduced to a 'Pack o Lies'
by Don Beck Administration's interference with scientific reports and information getting
out to the public. Dr. Hansen stated "In my more than three decades in government, I have never seen anything approaching the degree to which information flow from scientists to the public has been screened and controlled as it has now." He also said "The effect of the filtering of climate change science during the current Administration has been to make the reality of climate change less certain than the facts indicate and to reduce concern about the relation of climate change to human-made greenhouse gas emissions." (1) In his testimony he told of how these non-scientist appointees would meet with him personally to discuss changes in his speeches, testimony, and press releases, so that there would be no paper or email trail of the suppression. The scientific facts that Dr. Hansen was referring to are data that show that the scientist's predictions and projections all have proven to be too low, and the scientists are very worried. ....the change "is happening so extremely fast, much much faster than we have seen in thousands and thousands of years" says Rasmus Hansson of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).(2) "...the climate system is changing as fast or even faster than expected by past IPCCs" said David Parker at the Hadley Centre for Climate Change Research in Exeter.(3) [For 23 more quotes of research scientists from around the world with links to the reports, please see reference (4). Just read the titles of these reports if nothing else. They are a collection of scientific facts that you are not hearing in US media.] It is the many reports like these from the people gathering the data, not modeling, that brought about such an emphatic and dire report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). New restrictions on scientific material - Apparently the oversight committee has done little to solve this horrific situation of keeping the truth from the public, because on March 29, 2007 the Commerce Department posted a new administrative order governing “Public Communications." as reported by the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), a government watch-dog organization.(5) Ocean and climate scientists working for the US Government cannot write or speak to the press or the public about their research.......not even on their own time as citizens..... without getting approval if the subject is deemed 'of official interest'. Global warming, climate change, the Kyoto Protocol are all on the list. "It seems more like Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union than the United States," Dr. Hansen said last year of the interference the scientists were encountering up to that time.(6) We must wonder what his feelings are now, about the new suppression. But then, I would guess that this issue is probably 'of official interest'. PEER broke the story of the new rules on their website April 3, 2007. “This ridiculous gag order ignores the First Amendment and disrespects the world-renowned professionals who work within Commerce agencies,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. “Under this policy, National Weather Service scientists can only give out name, rank, serial number and the temperature.” (4) A survey of climate scientists conducted by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) found that 150 federal climate scientists said they had encountered interference by political appointees in 435 separate instances.(7) Think of this as many, many details or facts about what is happening in the atmosphere and oceans that you don't know about, but should. Astonishingly, these appointees have even changed the Mission Statement of NASA. It used to be "to understand and protect our home planet". It now reads "to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research."(8) Here is actually the way the Pentagon now feels about climate change: "Even the pentagon, instrument of Bush's destruction, is worried, telling Bush that climate change will destroy us. In a secret report they have warned Bush of ensuing rioting and nuclear war, stating that Britain will be as cold as Siberia in less than 20 years. The Pentagon document predicts that abrupt climate change could bring the planet to the edge of anarchy as countries use nuclear weapons to defend and secure dwindling food, water, and energy supplies. The threat to global stability vastly eclipses that of terrorism, say the few experts privy to the report's contents."(9) Besides the truth about our climate being held back from the public by our own government, there is also a cadre of skeptics in organizations such as the American Enterprise Institute who are writing and making films about human induced global warming being a lie ......all the while being funded by oil companies and energy giants like ExxonMobile. ExxonMobile alone has given over $15 million to 43 organizations with names like: Annapolis Center for Science-Based Public Policy Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow These groups are made up of non-scientific, non-believers in man-made global climate change, of course. They spew out fraudulent and misleading articles designed to make the public question the real science.(10) These 'contrarians' have been very successful in making the public question science of any kind. You may have noticed that a report of a scientific study is published, and a few weeks later another report, of another study, is published that says just the opposite. I have seen it dozens and dozens of times. This has had the effect that any scientific material is now questioned by the public, and it was begun by the tobacco industry back in the '50s when they were confronted with mounting evidence that smoking caused cancer. This is what they had to do. Americans are not even at the point of considering whether they will purchase a green car of some sort. They have not noticed much of a change in climate at all. They don't understand that the CO2 will be increasing, and it remains in the atmosphere for hundreds of years. The worst effect we have seen that is unquestionably a result of the warming is the melting of the glaciers and the polar caps. Along with the likely increase in hurricane strength and a 50% reduction of the coral reefs in the Cayman Islands, it still sounds very far off in the future. And that is devastating, facing the fact that if the world does not act by 2015 to reduce CO2, we will likely hit a point of no return where very powerful feedback systems kick in that will make it impossible to stop very dramatic climate change. Even PBS? Even the Public Broadcasting System is stifling scientific news. They are keeping the science show "The Eyes of Nye" out of prime time.......WAY out of prime time. It airs here at 4 AM. 'Bill Nye the Science Guy' has been reporting on the effects of global warming and the dangers of nuclear power plants. Now that the fox (oily Bush Admin. officials) is guarding the hen house, and the press is holding back on distributing news reports about climate change (4), it will be a while before anything substantial is done to slow global warming because the American people are not demanding it..........since they don't know how dire the situation is. Those who know that the effects will be steadily accelerating for at least a century, and this planet's climate and oceans will change greatly, wonder how these people can be so cold, and go to such great lengths to keep the public un-informed. But of course, they are extremely worried about the possibility of litigation. They need to be able to create enough doubt about the causes of climate change to keep a judge from ordering them to change and spend some of their mega-profits on alternative energy. Since India and China are not willing to change their development plans as yet, the energy giants don't feel a need to do anything drastic. This is truly a nightmarish situation of monstrous proportion. Europeans are much more knowledgeable about global warming, and it is essential that the American public becomes aware of the truth. Please help by sending or posting this everywhere you can. No rights reserved ***************** References: 1) Testimony by James Hansen: Political Interference with Government Climate Change Science March 19, 2007, Source: House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=23642 2) Arctic Region As Global Warming Barometer, AFP http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Arctic_Region_As_Global_Warming_Barometer_999.html 3) World's sea levels rising at accelerating rate, The Guardian http://www.environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,2004718,00.html 4) Why the recent Climate Report was so Harsh, New York City Indymedia, 4/7/07 http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2007/04/85020.shtml 5) CLIMATE AND OCEAN SCIENTISTS PUT UNDER NEW SPEECH RESTRAINTS Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=841 6) NOAA Scientist Barred from Mentioning ‘Kyoto’ and 'Climate Change' Rocky Mountain News, 12/11/06 http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5205550,00.html 7) UCS Written Testimony to Committee on Oversight and Gov't Reform, 1/30/07 http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20070130113153-55829.pdf 8) Earth dropped from NASA mission statement, 7/24/06 http://www.physorg.com/news72971590.html 9) The People's Voice, Mission Statement, http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/index.php/Mission 10) Scientists' Report Documents ExxonMobil’s Tobacco-like Disinformation Campaign on Global Warming Science, 1/3/07 http://www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release/ExxonMobil-GlobalWarming-tobacco.html
Add Your Comments
|