Sunday, February 04, 2007
Back to Africa
Because of my interest in the humanitarian efforts currently being focused in Africa, I find myself paying more attention to the political and economic news that emerges from this part of the world. Somewhere in this news must be some sort of solution to some of the woes these countries are experiencing. Unfortunately, Africa's resources have long been used for the benefit of other parts of the world leaving its land raped and barren. The political structures have been for the benefit of a few. Wikepedia once again offers some good general information, but it is the news stories about the emerging relationship between China and Africa that I find especially interesting. The Christian Science Monitor also offers insight. Will the history of pillage repeat itself or will China be able to provide an economic solution to the human needs? In the meantime, we need to be the hands of Christ to the hungry, the sick and the imprisoned of Africa.
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I clicked on the link to Christian Science Monitor and, lo and behold, I found the following under most read stories. The article will certainly lead to more research. If you click on the link, scroll down til you see Most Read etc. then click on the blue highlighted title,
Has the White House interfered on global warming reports? (01/31/07)
The alarm clock has been ringing for a long til sleepy heads. Maybe somebody took your clapper. Get up and look.
In case you don't see the article, here is part of it.It is not so much the temporary effects of slight global warming that I am so adamant about, but the certain long term ice age that it will usher in by shutting off the Gulf Stream with melted ice cap water.
Has the White House interfered on global warming reports?
A new report claims that the Bush administration has suppressed scientists' climate-change work.
By Peter N. Spotts | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Page 1 of 2
More than 120 scientists across seven federal agencies say they have been pressured to remove references to "climate change" and "global warming" from a range of documents, including press releases and communications with Congress. Roughly the same number say appointees altered the meaning of scientific findings on climate contained in communications related to their research.
These findings, part of a new report compiled by two watchdog groups, shed new light on complaints by a scattering of scientists over the past year who have publicly complained that Bush administration appointees have tried to mute or muzzle what researchers have to say about global warming.
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02/05/07
Climate report calls for unity
02/01/07
A clearer forecast
01/31/07
White House interference on reports?
01/30/07
What US can learn from Europe
Poll: What's your stance?
Your views: What can be done?
Commentary
02/02/07
Global cooling the hot way
02/01/07
Telecommuting as energy saver
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"We are beyond the anecdotal," says Francesca Grifo, director of the scientific integrity program at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), one of the two groups, referring to press reports of a dozen instances of interference that have emerged over the past 12 months. "We now have evidence to support the view that this problem goes deeper than just these few high-profile cases."
Global-warming science must be accurately represented to enable lawmakers to craft adequate policies to control the problem and adapt to climate change, Dr. Grifo says. Scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and other agencies working on climate-related issues are doing excellent work. "But it's under threat, and they are struggling to get their results out" to the general public, she says.
Grifo described some of the report's findings during hearings Tuesday before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and during a press briefing afterward. The two groups say they will release additional material next week, when the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation holds similar hearings.
On the eve of 'consensus' report
The hearings and the new report come as climate scientists from around the world have gathered in Paris to put the finishing touches on a comprehensive "state of the science" report on global warming. The volume is a "consensus" document that summarizes the past five years of peer-reviewed research on the subject and is set for release Friday.
Meanwhile, Congress is considering several pieces of legislation that would impose controls on industrial carbon-dioxide emissions – blamed for trapping heat in the atmosphere and contributing to the noticeable warming effect on the earth's climate.
The question is not so much about federal scientists' ability to publish their results in specialized journals that few but their colleagues read, the report's authors say. Instead, the trouble arises when agencies translate "journalese" into language the general public or lawmakers can grasp for use in official government reports or media releases.
The UCS is an environmental group with a longstanding interest in the politicization of science. The other watchdog group behind the report, the Government Accountability Project (GAP), supports strong protections for whistleblowers.
Their report combines a written survey the UCS gave to 1,600 scientists (of which 279 responded) with in-depth interviews GAP held with some 40 scientists and officials, such as agency press officers. GAP also pored over thousands of pages of documents gathered via the Freedom of Information Act, says Tarek Maassari, a staff attorney with the group.
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