Explore Our Planet

Stephen Harper, Canada’s 22nd Prime Minister, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and payed once by the petroleum industry made the flip-flop:

And, more than anything else, Canadians want us to continue moving forward on practical, realistic and achievable strategies for protecting the environment.

Last week’s rollout of our ecoEnergy Initiatives demonstrated our unequivocal commitment to improving air quality, lowering greenhouse gas emissions and living better by consuming smarter.

Prime Minister marks the one-year anniversary of the election - 23 January 2007

Policy should be based on sound science; results of science should not be diluted or . . . adjusted to justify policy.

This particular Administration has gone beyond reasonable boundaries, on this issue.

To be in denial on climate change is a crime against the Nation.

A scientist at the USDA

According to a report of Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and Government Accountability Project (GAP) it looks like the current administration of the US acted as a censor on scientific results. To restore scientific integrity the union demands “a right of last review on agency communications”, “the free exchange of scientific information in all venues” and “whistleblower protection”.

Press release, executive summary, full report.

Update - even more:
NYTimes: 2007-01-31, Scientists Criticize White House Stance on Climate Change Findings

Latest report from the Union of Concerned Scientists offers the most comprehensive documentation of how ExxonMobil [ NYSE:XOM ] has adopted the tobacco industry’s disinformation tactics, as well as some of the same organizations and personnel, to cloud the scientific understanding of climate change and delay action on the issue.

According to the report, ExxonMobil has funneled nearly $16 million between 1998 and 2005 to a network of 43 advocacy organizations that seek to confuse the public on global warming science.

The report names groups, individuals and scientific spokespeople along with funding amount affiliated with ExxonMobile and/or provide disinformation on Global Warming.

In recent years, scientists who work for and advise the federal government have seen their work manipulated, suppressed, distorted, while agencies have systematically limited public and policy maker access to critical scientific information. (more…)

Interesting reading in Washington Post from Laurie David on why the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) refuses to accept an offer of 50,000 copies of “An Inconvenient Truth”.

Accepting the DVDs, they wrote, would place “unnecessary risk upon the [NSTA] capital campaign, especially certain targeted supporters.” One of those supporters, it turns out, is the Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM).

washingtonpost.com: Science a la Joe Camel

via: climatesciencewatch.org

Update: NSTA Statement on the Distribution of “An Inconvenient Truth”

Produced by Morris Karp and Gil Shochat “The Denial Machine” will be aired at 10pm ET/PT today (Nov 18th) at CBC Newsworld.

The 40min documentation asks how scientific facts, which many believe determine the very future of the planet, become a political battleground, pitting left versus right, environmentalist versus climate change sceptic?

The Denial Machine investigates the roots of the campaign to negate the science and the threat of global warming. It tracks the activities of a group of scientists, some of whom previously consulted for for Big Tobacco, and who are now receiving donations from major coal and oil companies.

The feature also explores how the arguments supported by oil companies were adopted by policy makers in both Canada and the U.S. and helped form government policy.

Info + Video: The Denial Machine, Video Link (wvx, wmedia needed, 500kb)

Via: ClimateScienceWatch.org

Jeffrey D. Sachs is not comfortable with the editorial board of Wall Street’s Journal as he writes in the Scientific American October 2006 issue.

Another summer of record-breaking temperatures brought power failures, heat waves, droughts and tropical storms throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia. Only one place seemed to remain cool: the air-conditioned offices of the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal.

As New York City wilted beneath them, they sat insouciant and comfortable, hurling editorials of stunning misdirection at their readers, continuing their irresponsible drumbeat that global warming is junk science. (more…)

Excluding pollution from market calculations is quite profitable. The Fortune Global 500 lists five oil companies and four automobile manufacturers under the top ten. With profits of $36,130,000,000 ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) is the most profitable and by revenue the largest company in the world.

ExxonMobil has the highest market value of any publicly traded company in the world and makes a revenue per employee of more than $4mill, where for example Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) averages at $640,000.

Founded 1660 the Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge is Britain’s top scientific institution. The History of the society is linked with popular scientists like Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Ernest Rutherford, Albert Einstein, James Watson and Stephen Hawking.

The world’s oldest scientific academy in continuous existence sees empirical evidence as the basis of knowledge about the natural world.

September 4th, 2006: Senior Manager Bob Ward of the Royal Society writes an open letter to Director Nick Thomas of Esso UK about a misleading passage in the Corporate Citizenship Report: (more…)

US President Bush, who leaves office in January 2009, is facing elections for the Senate and House in November 2006. Latest opinon polls state that about 70% of US citizens feel that global warming is happening.

So, is it time for an u-turn?

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released the Climate Change Technology Program (CCTP) Strategic Plan 20th Sep, 2006 and addresses “not just climate change, but energy security, air pollution, and other pressing needs”. (more…)

2.56min, youtube, Veredictum, uploaded August 5, 2006

A video stultifying Al Gore and Global Warming was released on YouTube.com not by an existing person, instead the DCI Group, Washington, D.C., lobbying for Exxon Mobil was found behind.

Read: wsj.com Where Did That Video Spoofing Gore’s Film Come From?