Scientists prove susceptible to corruption, like everyone else
- From: "Ðö¢ Vön Rö¢K" <digitaleargasm@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2006 17:46:31 -0500
http://www.buffalobeast.com/92/Mad%20Science.htm
On Sunday, January 30th, the New York Times carried a front-page story
titled "Climate Expert Says NASA Tried to Silence Him." The Oregonian ran
two articles, one on the 23rd of January and another on the 30th, about an
effort by professors at Oregon State University (OSU) to block publication
of a research study by one of their own graduate students. The study
concluded that logging after wildfires is harmful to forest growth (OSU
receives about 10 percent of its funding from a tax on logging).
These are only two examples of a troubling trend. Will science survive its
own politicization, or will it be destroyed by a new breed of administrators
who seem to silence scientists for sport, invoking primal fear and causing
them to turn against each other?
James E. Hansen directs efforts to simulate the global climate on computers
at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, of which he is director. He
reported to NYT writer Andrew Revkin that, after giving a lecture in
December which included a call for prompt reduction of greenhouse gas
emissions, NASA administrators have been monitoring all public media
interaction he has, including postings on the Goddard website. Why this made
him feel singled out given the Bush administration's recently exposed spy
program is a bit uncertain. (They're spying on all of us, okay? You're not
special Dr. Hansen.)
Hansen issued a similar public complaint in October 2004, after giving a
lecture at the University of Iowa. Yes, Iowa not only has a university, but
offers the Distinguished Public Lecture Series at the Department of Physics
and Astronomy. The lecture's title, "Dangerous Anthropogenic Interference: A
Discussion of Humanity's Faustian Climate Bargain and the Payments Coming
Due," reveals Dr. Hansen's strong opinion about this phenomenon.
Dr. Hansen feels that informing the pubic about the dangers of global
warming is an absolute obligation for him as a federal scientist, and doubly
so as part of an organization whose mission statement includes "to protect
our home planet." The current administration's policy is to voluntarily slow
increases in greenhouse gas emissions. "Volunteer emissions reducers" will
probably be about as effective as the average volunteer fire department, and
without all the good food and picnics. Anyway, after Hansen's speech, the
Times reports, officials at NASA received multiple phone calls from pubic
affairs officers. They warned of "dire consequences" should such statements
continue.
.
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