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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 |
4th National Integrity in Science Conference on Rejuvenating Public Sector Science - July 11, 2008
Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008
Register now for the 4th National Integrity in Science Conference in Washington, DC, July 11, 2008. Meet with activists, scientists, and academics in our nation’s capital to discuss the diminished budgets, political interference, and declining morale that plague regulatory science. Brainstorm ways to shore up public sector science and revivify the environmental and public health protections that rely on a strong scientific foundation. Climate Science Watch is a co-sponsor of this event and CSW Director Rick Piltz will participate on a panel on “Tackling the Climate Crisis: Unleashing Government Research.”
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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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Michael Gerson’s strange and evasive spinning on the Republican war on science
Posted on Thursday, May 15, 2008
In how he dismissed the conclusion that there has been a Republican war on science, Michael Gerson, former speechwriter and senior policy advisor to President Bush, struck an ethical pose in his May 7 Washington Post op-ed column but showed that he is still a spin doctor covering up for his former boss .
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Administration refusal to protect polar bear from greenhouse emissions “won’t hold up in court”
Posted on Wednesday, May 14, 2008
The May 14 decision to list the polar bear as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act “is a watershed event,” said Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity. But “The administration’s attempts to reduce protection to the polar bear from greenhouse gas emissions are illegal and won’t hold up in court.”
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How will the Interior Dept implement protection of polar bear as a threatened species?
Posted on Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne today announced that he is accepting the recommendation of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dale Hall to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The listing is based on the best available science, which shows that loss of sea ice threatens and will likely continue to threaten polar bear habitat. In making the announcement, Kempthorne said, “I am also announcing that this listing decision will be accompanied by administrative guidance and a rule that defines the scope of impact my decision will have...to make certain the ESA isn’t abused to make global warming policies.” What does this mean, and what devil is in the details of how this decision will be implemented?
Use law on environmental impact statements to assess global warming implications of federal actions
Posted on Friday, May 09, 2008
A new report by the Center for American Progress proposes that the next President issue an Executive Order requiring climate change to be included as a consideration under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). “Government responsibilities are jeopardized by the lack of information about the consequences of federal actions for the emission of greenhouse gases and adaptation to changing climatic conditions,” the report says. Existing federal and state environmental laws and regulations—especially NEPA, the Clean Air Act, and the Endangered Species Act— provide the requisite legal authority to begin to mitigate and adapt to climate change. “It is not necessary to wait for new legislation to take action.”
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Whistleblower Week in Washington DC panel May 12 on Scientific Freedom and the Public Good
Posted on Thursday, May 08, 2008
Scientific censorship on a range of issues including climate change will be the subject of a panel as Government Accountability Project Whistleblower Week in Washington DC events kick off on May 12. Panelists will include Celia Wexler and Tim Donaghy of the Union of Concerned Scientists, FDA drug safety whistleblower David Ross, and Climate Science Watch director Rick Piltz.
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Unreleased aviation report projects more than doubling of CO2 emissions from 2000-2025
Posted on Thursday, May 08, 2008
Greenhouse gas emissions from aviation are projected to trend sharply upwards, according to a suppressed report based on information contained in U.S., European, and UK government databases maintained by regulatory agencies (Environment News Service, May 7). The U.S. needs a strategic plan to limit aviation emissions associated with climate change.
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Questions for Climate Change Science Program Director William J. Brennan nomination hearing
Posted on Thursday, May 01, 2008
Here are some questions that members of the Senate Commerce Committee should have asked of William J. Brennan, acting director of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, at his May 1 nomination hearing to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere.
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Rockefellers call for change in ExxonMobil leadership
Posted on Wednesday, April 30, 2008
The UK Guardian reported on April 30: “The founding family behind ExxonMobil has embarrassed the board by joining critics of the world’s largest publicly-quoted oil company and called for a management shake-up which could change its attitude towards climate change. The Rockefeller family—which started Exxon’s predecessor, Standard Oil—are taking the unprecedented step of holding a press conference today at a hotel in New York where they will call for Rex Tillerson to hand over part of his responsibilities as both chairman and chief executive.” See Details for more on ExxonMobil and the global warming disinformation campaign.
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Judge orders Bush administration to stop delaying polar bear protection
Posted on Tuesday, April 29, 2008
A federal judge has found the Bush administration guilty of violating the Endangered Species Act and ordered the administration to issue a final listing decision for the polar bear by May 15, 2008. The administration is well beyond the legal deadline for a listing decision. The polar bear is threatened because global warming is causing its Arctic sea ice habitat to disappear. The Endangered Species Act requires the decision to be based solely on science. In September 2007 the U.S. Geological Survey predicted that two-thirds of the world’s polar bear population would likely be extinct by 2050, including all polar bears within the United States.
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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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“Hot Politics” re-aired—PBS FRONTLINE program on global warming politics and online interviews
Posted on Sunday, April 27, 2008
The full PBS FRONTLINE hour-long program on global warming, “Hot Politics,” which first aired on April 24, 2007, and re-aired on April 22, 2008, can be viewed in its entirety online. We are in segment #6—Censorship, discussing the Bush administration’s treatment of the National Assessment of Climate Change Impacts. Extended text from a number of the interviews is also posted, including interviews with Jim Hansen of NASA and CSW Director Rick Piltz. FRONTLINE and the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) “go behind the scenes to explore how bi-partisan political and economic forces prevented the U.S. government from confronting what may be one of the most serious problems facing humanity today.”
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Ross Gelbspan review of new book on capitalism and the environmental crisis by Gus Speth
Posted on Sunday, April 27, 2008
“Contemporary capitalism and a habitable planet cannot coexist. That is the core message of The Bridge at the Edge of the World, by J. ‘Gus’ Speth, a prominent environmentalist who, in this book, has turned sharply critical of the U.S. environmental movement,” says Ross Gelbspan, writing in the April 27 Washington Post Book World.
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Interior Dept. announces further delay of months in decision on listing of polar bear as threatened
Posted on Wednesday, April 23, 2008
The Department of the Interior has told a federal court that it needs until June 30 to complete its Endangered Species Act listing decision on the polar bear, which is already more than three months overdue. What will it take to get the administration to abide by federal legal deadlines and court rulings, and act on scientific evidence about the harmful impacts of climate change?
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