Posted on 06/29/2011 9:11:22 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Threats could have chilling effect on climate research, science group says By Andrew Restuccia - 06/29/11 10:39 AM ET
Personal attacks — including legal challenges and even death threats — on climate scientists have created a “hostile environment” that could result in a “chilling effect” on much-needed research, one of the country’s leading scientific organizations said this week.
The board of directors of the American Association for the Advancement of Science issued a rare statement Tuesday underscoring that it “vigorously opposes” personal attacks on climate scientists. It's the organization's strongest rebuke of efforts by conservative groups to criticize climate scientists.
“Reports of harassment, death threats, and legal challenges have created a hostile environment that inhibits the free exchange of scientific findings and ideas and makes it difficult for factual information and scientific analyses to reach policymakers and the public,” the statement says. “This both impedes the progress of science and interferes with the application of science to the solution of global problems.”
The statement comes a week after a conservative group sued NASA for records related to the outside advocacy and compensation of Dr. James Hansen, a prominent advocate for reducing the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. The same group, the American Tradition Institute, has also sought documents from the University of Virginia related to Michael Mann, another prominent climate scientist.
“The sharing of research data is vastly different from unreasonable, excessive Freedom of Information Act requests for personal information and voluminous data that are then used to harass and intimidate scientists,” AAAS, which bills itself as the world's largest scientific society, says. “The latter serve only as a distraction and make no constructive contribution to the public discourse.”
More broadly, the AAAS statement comes at a time when Republicans and some Democrats in Congress are working to block Environmental Protection Agency climate regulations, with some lawmakers raising questions about validity of climate science.
AAAS, which publishes the journal “Science,” warns that personal attacks on climate scientists could have a “chilling effect” on scientific research.
“[W]e are concerned that establishing a practice of aggressive inquiry into the professional histories of scientists whose findings may bear on policy in ways that some find unpalatable could well have a chilling effect on the willingness of scientists to conduct research that intersects with policy-relevant scientific questions,” the statement says.
It’s the second time the AAAS board has weighed in on personal attacks on climate scientists, according to the organization’s spokesman. The board issued a statement in May 2010 criticizing Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli’s investigation into Mann’s climate research. But Tuesday’s statement was written in much stronger language.
I wonder how big of an act of fraud Mann would have to commit to lose the "prominent climate scientist" title. It seems his latest 'research' wasn't egregious enough fot The Hill.
:)
he problem is the lying media tyhat accepts their press releases, prints them, and never investigates anything the p.r. says.
I agree 100%.
Just for fun, I did a quick search on their site and checked the names of the Board of Directors and “other members” at OpenSecrets for donations.
Alice Huang, Chair of the AAAS Board - Hilary Clinton (D), 80/20 Pac, Emily’s list
Knowlton, Nancy - Smithsonian - Bill Foster (D), Barack Obama (D)
Inder Verma - Salk Institute - Hillary Clinton (D)
Thomas A Woolsey - Washinton University - DNC Services Corp (D)
Most of the others listed came up with no records found, somewhat of a plus for them I guess.
Also, the Wikipedia entry for the AAAS states:
“In December 2006, the AAAS adopted an official statement on climate change in which they stated, “The scientific evidence is clear: global climate change caused by human activities is occurring now, and it is a growing threat to society....The pace of change and the evidence of harm have increased markedly over the last five years. The time to control greenhouse gas emissions is now.”
You may correctly surmise that at no time was I surprised doing this little tidbit of research.
LOL. After ass clowns like Jim Hensen call for the imprisonment of people who dare to disagree with them they are now bitching that citizens want to check his taxpayer funded books.
Total hustlers! It's time to end this scam.
All publicly funded research DATA should be published as it is collected, WITHOUT any need for FOIA requests. There should be as little publicly funded “Science” as possible, as it is a corrupting influence. And, true science is done based upon facts and data, NOT CONSENSUS! Read “Caught Green-Handed” by Lord Monckton, available at http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/originals/climategate.html
The most important thing is, a Hypothesis is either supported by the DATA or it isn’t. When Consensus is used and the DATA is CORRUPTED and MANIPULATED like in the Climategate scandal, we are in BIG BIG TROUBLE! The Scientific method, begun by Sir Francis Bacon hundreds of years ago, it is the objective to try to DISPROVE your own Hypothesis... if it stands up it MIGHT get upgraded to a THEORY ... but even theories are later DISPROVEN. Then, true Progress is made! You NEVER look for SUPPORTING DATA alone! That is NOT Science.
An old liberal trick is to send hate mail to your own group and blame it on conservatives. You’ve seen them at Tea Parties - liberals pretending to be conservatives... You’ve heard them call Rush’s program. I’m sure liberals send these so called scientists fake letters too... It’s a liberal MO
Welcome to Sarah Palin's world, except that the folks doing it to her are looking to destroy her PERSONALLY.
The hostile environment was created years ago by the lefty crowd pushing this stuff.
Pushing back is merely a response to the hostile evironment you created.
Now they want to cry about it.
I just can’t relate to communists, going so far out of their way to make up lies. Resorting to the typical Marxist tactic where they accuse their opponent of committing the crimes they’re guilty of.
How is it possible to do this day in and day out, and not feel like a piece of garbage?
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