integrityofscience | January 16, 2007Two brief entries following last weeks' revelation that the Federal Way (Washington) School Board placed a moratorium on the showing of "An Inconvenient Truth" in its classrooms.
On Friday, the Seattle Post Intelligencer editorial board took the school board to task. In "Climate Change: Teach the science" they write,
Any classroom teacher worth his salt is going to let students know about debates on the science of global warming. But equating the consensus on mankind's role in causing the problem (which even the Bush White House now acknowledges, for crying out loud) with the voices of doubt…
integrityofscience | January 11, 2007We checked The Onion, and this doesn't appear to be a joke.
The Federal Way (Washington) School Board has placed a moratorium on the showing of "An Inconvenient Truth" in its classrooms. The documentary of Al Gore's climate change campaign has dubiously joined Sex Ed and evolution in the list of topics banned in the classroom. What was the impetus, you wonder? You're not going to believe it:
"Condoms don't belong in school, and neither does Al Gore. He's not a schoolteacher," said Frosty Hardison, a parent of seven who also said that he believes the Earth is 14,000 years old. "The information…
integrityofscience | January 11, 2007Earlier this week, a special report in the Oregonian uncovered the recent efforts by the White House and Pentagon to stymie the Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to recommend safe levels of perchlorate (a component in solid rocket fuel) for water. Alex Pulaski reports in "Pentagon pressured EPA on perchlorate" (part 2 of a 3 part series) that industry, financial, and political interests trumped the EPA's analysis (hat-tip to Joe DiGangi).
Under pressure from the U.S. Defense Department and contractors facing potential cleanup costs in the billions of dollars, the Bush administration…
integrityofscience | January 5, 2007It's almost quittin' time, but here are a few stories we felt got the short shrift among New Year's excitement, inaugurations, and such ...
On Wednesday, the Union of Concerned Scientists released "Smoke, Mirrors & Hot Air: How ExxonMobil Uses Big Tobacco's Tactics to "Manufacture Uncertainty" on Climate Change." Now, we're assuming this is not a jaw-dropping revelation to anyone out there, but we're looking forward to reading it and hope to report back on it. Check it out here
UCS has also recently released a periodic table of political interference in science. The color-coded "A to Z…
integrityofscience | December 29, 2006We're catching up on the stories we missed while away from our computer. Here are a couple of standouts:
Tim Ball and Tom Harris of Canada's Natural Resources Stewardship Project are holding Canada's "Female Athlete of the Century" up as inadvertent spokesperson for the policy of let's-wait-and-see-what-happens on climate change. The article, titled declaratively "Climate change debate muddied," includes more straw men than a Wizard of Oz convention. We particularly liked the use of the term "fundamentalist environmentalism," an irksome term that, it turns out, they did not coin. Our Google…
integrityofscience | December 20, 2006Four of the five presentations from last week's American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting panel discussion, "Defining and Protecting the Integrity of Science: New Challenges for the 21st Century," are now online.
Peter Gleick President, Pacific Institute (presiding);
“The Integrity of Science: Identifying Logical Fallacies, Deceitful Tactics, and Abuse of the Public Trust” (PDF)
Judith Curry Professor and Chair of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology
“Falling out of the Ivory Tower: a Case Study of Mixing Hurricane Science, Politics, and the…
integrityofscience | December 18, 2006We're playing catch-up from last week's meeting and getting ready for the holidays, so no commentary today, just links to some interesting stories.
More from AGU:Al Gore Urges Scientists to Speak Out on Climate Change Live ScienceGore Tells Scientists to be Vocal About Climate Change DailyTech
Stories about science integrity:On a swift boat to a warmer world (Daniel Schrag op-ed) Boston GlobeUK noble to senators: Apologize to Exxon or resign Raw StoryWhen science is not science, blame politics Pocono RecordThe Hockey Stick is broken Gristmill
integrityofscience | December 18, 2006There was one particularly good talk we weren't able to blog on Thursday. Between media magnets Jim Hansen and Vice President Al Gore, we caught a terrific talk from Dr. Naomi Oreskes entitled "Deflecting Disinformation about Climate Change." More science, Oreskes finds, has only a limited effect of erasing Americans' doubts about climate change. Knowing the true nature of the problem - namely an organized two-decade-plus misinformation campaign - will lead scientists and advocates in the right direction.
A TIME magazine/ABC News/Stanford University poll finds that while 85% of Americans…
integrityofscience | December 15, 2006This week's American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting is quickly coming to a close. We've attended our last panel, an interesting couple hours on educating the public including folks from RealClimate.org, the Knight Science Journalism Tracker, BBC, and more. This will be the first of two posts that will serve as a bit of an epilogue to the week.
It was exciting to be able to cover Al Gore's talk yesterday, and it has been more exciting to see the breadth of coverage the talk received -- shining quite a light on the issue of political tampering of science. Here's a sampling of stories we've seen…
integrityofscience | December 14, 2006Earlier today at the 2006 American Geophysical Union's Fall Meeting in San Francisco, the former Vice President introduced himself, "I am Al Gore. I used to be the next President of the United States." Those who have seen "An Inconvenient Truth" will know the line, which predictably drew laughs. However, today's lecture, Climate Change: The Role of Science and the Media in Policymaking was stripped down and refocused. There were no PowerPoint slides, no Macintosh computer, no cherry pickers, just a man in a dark blue suit, a podium, and literally thousands of scientists hanging on his every…
integrityofscience | December 14, 2006No need for coffee this morning, as the energy in the 8 a.m. session on communicating science (particularly global warming science) has a palpable stimulating effect all its own. The star of the loaded panel was certainly Dr. Jim Hansen of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the Columbia University Earth Institute. After all, he's the national poster boy (or punching bag, depending where you stand) on the subject of federal interference in climate science.
"I speak today as myself and not as a spokesman for NASA," Hansen opened to clapping and a few chuckles. The implication, not…
integrityofscience | December 13, 2006At what point is the science certain enough on an issue?
Is there a line of policy involvement that scientists shouldn't cross?
What will the new Congress mean for science and scientists?
These were some of the questions aired at science integrity-related events at the American Geophysical Union's Fall Meeting on Tuesday. At the morning discussion "Defining and Protecting the Integrity of Science: New Challenges for the 21st Century," panelists tackled the personal, the political, and much in between. Later in the day, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) sponsored a workshop for…
integrityofscience | December 11, 2006The annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union is taking place this week, and your friendly neighborhood Integrity of Science Blog will be in attendance. The Pacific Institute and the Union of Concerned Scientists will be presiding over the Tuesday morning session "Defining and Protecting the Integrity of Science: New Challenges for the 21st Century." The panel promises to be interesting, and includes AGU President Timothy Killeen, Science Editor-in-Chief Don Kennedy, and atmospheric scientist and political attackee Judith Curry. For more details on the session (Tuesday, 8 a.m., MCS 308…
integrityofscience | December 8, 2006The "Green Room," a BBC News environmental opinion series, threw the gauntlet down to skeptics last week. In his column "Skeptics: Cards on the table please!" Richard Black issued a challenge to skeptics claiming that science is biased in favor of research confirming man-made climate change:
If you have evidence of research grants turned down because of a clash with the prevailing consensus, of instances where journals or conference organisers or consensus bodies have rejected "inconvenient" findings, please send it to us; my email address is at the bottom of this article.
With the…
integrityofscience | December 7, 2006Welcome to the Integrity of Science Blog, a project of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security.
The Pacific Institute's Integrity of Science Initiative responds to and counters the assault on science and scientific integrity in the public policy arena, especially on issues related to water, climate change, and security.
This blog will be used to feature commentary and criticism, highlight news stories, and allow readers to provide their own experiences and insight into this trend. We will pay particular attention to changes in attitude and practice in…