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vox_mundi

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #450 on: November 22, 2018, 06:18:59 AM »
Buried? Feds To Release Major Climate Report Day After Thanksgiving
https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/2080298002



The federal government will release a major climate change report – Volume II of the National Climate Assessment – on Black Friday, typically one of the slowest news days of the year.

Volume II is expected to detail a range of current and future climate change impacts and again warn that the Earth is warming, humans are the cause, and the already serious impacts – such as the current California wildfires – are only going to get worse, Climate Central said.

It's unclear why the date was moved up. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced the Friday afternoon release on Wednesday -- the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Quote
... “It’s an absolute disgrace to bury the truth about climate impacts in a year that saw hundreds of Americans die during devastating climate-fueled megafires, hurricanes, floods, and algal blooms"  ...

... President Donald Trump, a repeated skeptic of climate change, took to Twitter on Wednesday night to again express his doubts, using the especially cold Thanksgiving [weather] forecast as an example.

Quote
"Brutal and Extended Cold Blast could shatter ALL RECORDS - Whatever happened to Global Warming?" the president tweeted.



... Meteorologist Angela Fritz with the Capital Weather Gang asked: "Is there any way it could be buried more? How about New Years Eve at 9 pm, guys?" 

NOAA research meteorologist Harold Brooks also chimed in, tweeting, "Other than Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve, could there be a worse day of the year to release it?"


Another possible reason for releasing a report about global warming this Friday could be because the weather will be near-record cold in the heavily populated and media-saturated northeastern U.S.

Even after the Black Friday release was announced, the report's website said the "expected final publication" for the report is "December 2018."

The previous assessment, in 2014, was released by President Barack Obama with a huge rollout at the White House


White House pool reporters showed Trump arriving to his nearby exclusive golf club Wednesday morning just down the road from Mar-a-Lago, Trump International Golf Club, where he’ll be presumably hitting the links for a round of golf in South Florida’s 75-degree weather. The president did not have any public events scheduled for Thanksgiving day.
« Last Edit: November 22, 2018, 01:19:18 PM by vox_mundi »
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

Pmt111500

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #451 on: November 22, 2018, 09:00:04 AM »
Re:vox_mundi , oh, the conspiracy theories this change in publication date might induce!

vox_mundi

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #452 on: November 23, 2018, 11:46:22 PM »
This is what he wanted to hide ...
https://nca2018.globalchange.gov

Climate Change Will Shrink US Economy and Kill Thousands, Government Report Warns
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/11/23/health/climate-change-report-bn/index.html

A new US government report delivers a dire warning about climate change and its devastating impacts, saying the economy could lose hundreds of billions of dollars -- or, in the worst-case scenario, more than 10% of its GDP -- by the end of the century.

The federally mandated study was supposed to come out in December but was released by the Trump administration on Friday, at a time when many Americans are on a long holiday weekend, distracted by family and shopping

Coming from the US Global Change Research Program, a team of 13 federal agencies, the Fourth National Climate Assessment Vol II was put together with the help of 1,000 people, including 300 leading scientists, roughly half from outside the government.

The report's findings run counter to President Donald Trump's consistent message that climate change is a hoax. 
Quote
... The costs of climate change could reach hundreds of billions of dollars annually, according to the report. The Southeast alone will probably lose over a half a billion labor hours by 2100 due to extreme heat.

Farmers will face extremely tough times. The quality and quantity of their crops will decline across the country due to higher temperatures, drought and flooding. In parts of the Midwest, farms will be able to produce less than 75% of the corn they produce today, and the southern part of the region could lose more than 25% of its soybean yield.

...Wildfire seasons -- already longer and more destructive than before -- could burn up to six times more forest area annually by 2050 in parts of the United States. Burned areas in Southwestern California alone could double by 2050.

 Along the US coasts, public infrastructure and $1 trillion in national wealth held in real estate are threatened by rising sea levels, flooding and storm surges.

Energy systems will be taxed, meaning more blackouts and power failures, and the potential loss in some sectors could reach hundreds of billions of dollars per year by the end of the century, the report said.

The number of days over 100 degrees Fahrenheit will multiply; Chicago, where these days are rare, could start to resemble Phoenix or Las Vegas, with up to two months worth of these scorching-hot days.

By midcentury, it's likely that the Arctic will lose all sea ice in late summer, and that could lead to more permafrost thaw, according to the report. As the permafrost thaws, more carbon dioxide and methane would be released, amplifying human-induced warming, "possibly significantly."
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

dnem

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #453 on: November 24, 2018, 03:30:34 PM »
This is what he wanted to hide ...
https://nca2018.globalchange.gov

A new US government report delivers a dire warning about climate change and its devastating impacts, saying the economy could lose hundreds of billions of dollars -- or, in the worst-case scenario, more than 10% of its GDP -- by the end of the century.

What an absolute joke! "Worst-case scenario"????? The worst-case scenario is total systemic collapse and mass casualties and mass migration.  And it is not an unlikely scenario without dramatic, unprecedented changes in almost everything we do.  This sort of soft-selling our existential dilemma is criminal.

Shared Humanity

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #454 on: November 24, 2018, 04:22:55 PM »
This is what he wanted to hide ...
https://nca2018.globalchange.gov

A new US government report delivers a dire warning about climate change and its devastating impacts, saying the economy could lose hundreds of billions of dollars -- or, in the worst-case scenario, more than 10% of its GDP -- by the end of the century.

What an absolute joke! "Worst-case scenario"????? The worst-case scenario is total systemic collapse and mass casualties and mass migration.  And it is not an unlikely scenario without dramatic, unprecedented changes in almost everything we do.  This sort of soft-selling our existential dilemma is criminal.

yes

vox_mundi

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #455 on: December 05, 2018, 06:23:04 PM »
Trump to Lift Carbon-Capture Mandate for New Coal Plants
https://phys.org/news/2018-12-trump-carbon-capture-mandate-coal-source.html

Quote


The Trump administration will propose scrapping an Obama-era mandate that new coal-fired power plants use carbon-capture technology, removing a major barrier to constructing the facilities, according to a person familiar with the plans

The Environmental Protection Agency is slated to unveil the measure on Thursday, during an event at its headquarters in Washington

The EPA is set to assert that the requirement for carbon capture and storage technology fell short of a legal standard that it be "adequately demonstrated," mirroring an objection raised by power companies, coal miner Murray Energy Corp. and industry associations that have challenged the mandate in federal court.

The proposed replacement would raise allowable carbon dioxide emissions from new and modified coal power plants.

The move dovetails with the EPA's separate effort to dramatically weaken an Obama administration regulation limiting carbon dioxide emissions from existing coal-fired power plants. President Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to bring back coal jobs and lift regulations he said were throttling the U.S. economy.

Yet the effort is unlikely to bring about a coal power renaissance in the U.S., as utilities increasingly shift to cheap, cleaner burning natural gas and zero-emission renewables. Since 2010, power plant owners have either retired or announced plans to retire at least 630 coal plants in 43 states—nearly 40 percent of the U.S. coal fleet, according to data by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity.

“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

Sigmetnow

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #456 on: December 29, 2018, 07:42:20 PM »
EPA staff morale hits rock bottom as Trump’s anti-science agenda takes hold
Quote
Employee morale at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not improved since the departure of former administrator Scott Pruitt in July and, in fact, is worsening as President Donald Trump’s political appointees grow more entrenched inside the agency, EPA employees tell ThinkProgress.

In the first year of the Trump administration, rumors swirled about massive employee layoffs and the possible closure of regional offices. President Donald Trump’s dismissive attitude toward the use of science in developing rules and regulations contributed to fears among career employees about the agency veering away from its core mission.

...

Contributing to the anxiety are concerns about the EPA’s implementation of a major reorganization plan. Career employees are worried the changes will lead to their transfers into new divisions. At the agency-wide level, they are concerned it will allow political appointees in Washington to exert tighter control over their work.

The employees are also stressed about their own job security after seeing so many of their colleagues leave since Trump took office. Furthermore, the Trump administration’s constant attacks on the value of science for fighting climate change and pollution have contributed to the rock-bottom morale. ...
https://thinkprogress.org/epa-employee-morale-trump-pruitt-wheeler-ff197297efd0/
People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.

Pmt111500

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #457 on: January 11, 2019, 08:41:39 AM »
Current partial shutdown of governent offices is because of senate republicans, particularly by Mitch McConnell who wants to keep 800000 government workers without pay. This has unfortunately lead to decrease of available data sources here too.

vox_mundi

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #458 on: January 16, 2019, 12:15:48 PM »
EPA at a 30-Year Low for Referring Pollution Cases for Criminal Prosecution
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/01/epa-at-a-30-year-low-for-referring-pollution-cases-for-criminal-prosecution/

Quote
Polluters likely had a good year in 2018. According to numbers from advocacy group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), the number of criminal pollution cases that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) referred to the Department of Justice for potential prosecution was lower in 2018 than it had been in 30 year

That's probably not because industry in America is becoming more environmentally conscious. PEER suggests the reason for the low number of referrals is that the EPA is only employing between 130 and 140 special agents in the agency's Criminal Investigation Division, less than the minimum 200 agents specified by the US Pollution Prevention Act of 1990. The EPA only referred 166 cases to the Justice Department in 2018. According to numbers from the Associated Press, referrals peaked in 1998, with 592 cases referred for prosecution. Throughout the George W. Bush presidency, referrals ranged somewhere between 300 and 450. Referrals dipped during the Obama presidency to a range between 200 and just over 400. Referrals have been on a downward trend since 2012.

Convictions on pollution-related grounds were also at a record low. Only 62 polluters were convicted in 2018, the lowest since 1992. Convictions numbers tend to follow referrals numbers.


On Tuesday, The Hill reported that the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) was also looking into low enforcement numbers at the EPA, specifically concerning abnormally low settlements made with polluters in 2017. In 2017, the EPA only collected $1.6 billion in penalties, down from $5.7 billion the prior year. 
Thank You Mr. Coal Industry Lobbyist ...
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/01/15/opinions/andrew-wheeler-bad-choice-epa-kimmell/index.html

Best Government Money Can Buy: Koch Brothers
https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Koch_Brothers

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/12/17/who-is-behind-the-trump-war-on-fuel-economy-standards-the-new-york-times-says-it-knows/
« Last Edit: January 16, 2019, 12:23:12 PM by vox_mundi »
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

kassy

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #459 on: January 19, 2019, 05:12:48 PM »
Shutdown imperils NASA’s decadelong ice-measuring campaign

IceBridge, a decadelong NASA aerial campaign meant to secure a seamless record of ice loss, has had to sacrifice at least half of what was supposed to be its final spring deployment, its scientists say. The shortened mission threatens a crucial plan to collect overlapping data with a new ice-monitoring satellite called the Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat)-2.

This year’s 8-week Arctic campaign was set to start 4 March from Thule Air Base in Greenland. But the shutdown has delayed maintenance and outfitting of the aircraft NASA uses—a low-flying P-3 Orion—forcing a later start date.

Researchers are crestfallen. The measurements are among IceBridge’s most important because they will be simultaneous with those made by ICESat-2, which launched in September 2018. That will help ensure the satellite’s accuracy and calibrate its results with past records. “We expected to be in an ideal position this spring,” Sonntag says. (He can talk to the media, he noted, because he is a NASA contractor who is still getting paid. Many NASA employees on his team are furloughed.)

and more:
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/01/shutdown-imperils-nasa-s-decadelong-ice-measuring-campaign
Þetta minnismerki er til vitnis um að við vitum hvað er að gerast og hvað þarf að gera. Aðeins þú veist hvort við gerðum eitthvað.

vox_mundi

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #460 on: January 19, 2019, 05:45:26 PM »
As Shutdown Drags On, Scientists Scramble to Keep Insects, Plants and Microbes Alive 
https://m.phys.org/news/2019-01-shutdown-scientists-scramble-insects-microbes.html

Quote
As the standoff marches through its fourth week, government researchers who study living things face mounting challenges.

On top of the missed paychecks, the canceled trips to scientific conferences and the deadlines that loom despite the forced time off, scientists at the USDA and other federal agencies have plants, animals, insects and microbes to worry about.

"When the government shuts down, it's not a case of, 'Well, you just turn the lights off and lock the door,' " said Bob Peterson, an entomologist at Montana State University and president of the Entomological Society of America. "You can't do that with living organisms."

Across the country, millions of fish are treading water in hatcheries run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. At one location, essential staff have scrambled to collect data on behalf of furloughed scientists who are in the midst of a multiyear experiment 

Charts: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/1/11/18177101/government-shutdown-longest-workers-agencies-charts

Trump Shutdown Hits Science With Stalled Research, Missed Conferences
https://www.axios.com/trump-government-shutdown-science-conferences-nasa-3dd8a89a-b3aa-4e52-8f07-06f635f3c5c0.html

Quote
... Why it matters: The U.S. faces increasing pressure from abroad, particularly from China, to maintain its leadership edge in innovation. The shutdown is hitting numerous science-focused agencies, including the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Standards and Technology, NOAA, NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey.

Between the lines: This week, there are two annual scientific conferences taking place in the U.S. that typically draw top federal science experts: The American Meteorological Society's annual meeting, and the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society.

The impact on the weather conference in particular is notable: Out of about 4,000 participants, 700 federal experts were forced to cancel their trips at the last minute due to lack of funding, resulting in about 800 canceled presentations.
Quote
Weather forecasts for the U.S. are less accurate because of the shutdown. At NOAA's Environmental Modeling Center, the hub of weather modeling within the sprawling agency, model upgrades scheduled for February are delayed, and models aren't being fixed in the meantime.

The U.S. is widely viewed as having fallen behind other nations, particularly the E.U., when it comes to the accuracy of its main forecast model, known as the GFS.

The GFS' accuracy has been running particularly poorly during the shutdown, and no one is on duty to fix whatever is going wrong.

I noticed our local weather man was using the EURO model instead of GFS

FDA Suspends Routine Inspections of Food Supply Due to Shutdown
https://www.axios.com/fda-suspended-food-inspections-government-shutdown-911a826d-34cc-4abb-b63a-77a9c44b1ea7.html

Quote
... Why it matters: The FDA inspects 80% of the U.S. food supply, meaning the food most Americans eat could potentially be less safe and cause an increase in foodborne illnesses. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb told the Post that he's working on a plan to bring back furloughed inspectors at "high-risk facilities, which handle foods such as soft cheese or seafood," as soon as next week.
« Last Edit: January 19, 2019, 05:50:53 PM by vox_mundi »
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

Shared Humanity

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #461 on: January 21, 2019, 04:03:45 PM »
Trump tweets ignorant statement about winter weather in the U.S.

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/946531657229701120?lang=en

And my response to most of what he says...



« Last Edit: January 21, 2019, 04:18:33 PM by Shared Humanity »

Juan C. García

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #462 on: January 29, 2019, 05:40:42 PM »
Current partial shutdown of governent offices is because of senate republicans, particularly by Mitch McConnell who wants to keep 800000 government workers without pay. This has unfortunately lead to decrease of available data sources here too.

We are ending the month. The message is still there.
Which is the best answer to Sep-2012 ASI lost (compared to 1979-2000)?
50% [NSIDC Extent] or
73% [PIOMAS Volume]

Volume is harder to measure than extent, but 3-dimensional space is real, 2D's hide ~50% thickness gone.
-> IPCC/NSIDC trends [based on extent] underestimate the real speed of ASI lost.

gerontocrat

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #463 on: January 29, 2019, 09:23:23 PM »
A major report that passed the Trump Administration by.. first quoted by Klondike Kat on the weird weather thread. Loads of stuff, not just about the USA.

It is a 2017 report, but still pretty super.
Quote
Citation
USGCRP, 2017: Climate Science Special Report: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume I [Wuebbles, D.J., D.W. Fahey, K.A. Hibbard, D.J. Dokken, B.C. Stewart, and T.K. Maycock (eds.)]. U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, DC, USA, 470 pp.
https://science2017.globalchange.gov/downloads/CSSR2017_FullReport.pdf
Quote
As a key part of the Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4), the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) oversaw the production of this stand-alone report of the state of science relating to climate change and its physical impacts.

The Climate Science Special Report (CSSR) is designed to be an authoritative assessment of the science of climate change, with a focus on the United States, to serve as the foundation for efforts to assess climate-related risks and inform decision-making about responses. In accordance with this purpose, it does not include an assessment of literature on climate change mitigation, adaptation, economic valuation, or societal responses, nor does it include policy recommendations.

As Volume I of NCA4, CSSR serves several purposes, including providing 1) an updated detailed analysis of the findings of how climate change is affecting weather and climate across the United States; 2) an executive summary and other CSSR materials that provide the basis for the discussion of climate science found in the second volume of the NCA4; and 3) foundational information and projections for climate change, including extremes, to improve “end-to-end” consistency in sectoral, regional, and resilience analyses within the second volume. CSSR integrates and evaluates the findings on climate science and discusses the uncertainties associated with these findings. It analyzes current trends in climate change, both human-induced and natural, and projects major trends to the end of this century. As an assessment and analysis of the science, this report provides important input to the development of other parts of NCA4, and their primary focus on the human welfare, societal, economic, and environmental elements of climate change.
"Para a Causa do Povo a Luta Continua!"
"And that's all I'm going to say about that". Forrest Gump
"Damn, I wanted to see what happened next" (Epitaph)

vox_mundi

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #464 on: January 29, 2019, 10:21:10 PM »
NOAA Posts Cartoon Which Appears to Challenge Trump’s Climate Change Skepticism   
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/noaa-responds-to-trumps-climate-change-skepticism-with-a-cartoon/

Quote
The day after President Trump posted a tweet suggesting that extreme cold temperatures in the Midwest cast doubt on the existence of global warming, the climate service for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tweeted a cartoon explaining that warming oceans result in more extreme winter weather.

Quote
Winter storms don't prove that global warming isn't happening. 
(link: https://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-qa/are-record-snowstorms-proof-global-warming-isn%E2%80%99t-happening) climate.gov/news-features/…
 


 https://mobile.twitter.com/NOAAClimate/status/1090263390503596032 

elsewhere...

“World hunger isn’t real because I had breakfast this morning”

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5c4fdf3de4b00906b26c9a2b/amp
« Last Edit: January 30, 2019, 04:49:37 PM by vox_mundi »
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

vox_mundi

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #465 on: January 30, 2019, 04:49:05 PM »
Something else that slipped by Trump ...

Intel Chiefs Challenge Trump's National Security Claims
https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/2019-ATA-SFR---SSCI.pdf

Quote


... Environment and Climate Change (pg 23)

Global environmental and ecological degradation, as well as climate change, are likely to fuel competition for resources, economic distress, and social discontent through 2019 and beyond.
Climate hazards such as extreme weather, higher temperatures, droughts, floods, wildfires, storms, sea level rise, soil degradation, and acidifying oceans are intensifying, threatening infrastructure, health, and water and food security. Irreversible damage to ecosystems and habitats will undermine the economic benefits they provide, worsened by air, soil, water, and marine pollution.

- Extreme weather events, many worsened by accelerating sea level rise, will particularly affect urban coastal areas in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Western Hemisphere. Damage to communication, energy, and transportation infrastructure could affect low-lying military bases, inflict economic costs, and cause human displacement and loss of life.

- Changes in the frequency and variability of heat waves, droughts, and floods—combined with poor governance practices—are increasing water and food insecurity around the world, increasing the risk of social unrest, migration, and interstate tension in countries such as Egypt, Ethiopia, Iraq, and Jordan.

- Diminishing Arctic sea ice may increase competition—particularly with Russia and China—over access to sea routes and natural resources. Nonetheless, Arctic states have maintained mostly positive cooperation in the region through the Arctic Council and other multilateral mechanisms, a trend we do not expect to change in the near term. Warmer temperatures and diminishing sea ice are reducing the high cost and risks of some commercial activities and are attracting new players to the resource-rich region. In 2018, the minimum sea ice extent in the Arctic was 25 percent below the 30-year average from 1980 to 2010.

....

- Migration is likely to continue to fuel social and interstate tensions globally, while drugs and transnational organized crime take a toll on US public health and safety. Political turbulence is rising in many regions as governance erodes and states confront growing public health and environmental threats.

Coats told lawmakers his opening remarks were intended "to provide you an overview of the national security threats facing our nation." He was the only one to give opening remarks, as he was speaking on behalf of those seated beside him: CIA Director Gina Haspel, FBI Director Christopher Wray, National Security Agency Director Gen. Paul Nakasone, Defense Intelligence Agency Director Gen. Robert Ashley and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Director Robert Cardillo.

"In many respects, it is a rebuke to the political rhetoric from the administration," John Cohen, a senior Homeland Security official focusing on threat-related intelligence under the Obama administration, and an ABC News contributor, said. "[It's] striking in some respects." ... "what is striking about this detailed assessment is what it doesn't say. ... The report does not reinforce or support recent claims by the administration of a national security crisis at the southern border,"

----------------------------------

Trump chastises intel chiefs after they contradict him on Iran and claims of foreign policy success
https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/30/politics/trump-intel-chiefs-foreign-policy-iran-isis-north-korea/index.html 

Quote
... Trump made no mention of Russia, which was specifically mentioned by Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats on Tuesday as likely to target 2020 elections. Also left unmentioned was a response to intelligence officials' warnings about the threat of climate change.
« Last Edit: January 30, 2019, 05:45:52 PM by vox_mundi »
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

TerryM

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #466 on: January 30, 2019, 08:18:40 PM »
Interesting that the CIA issues warnings of the menace of "drugs and transnational organized crime ".
Will this be followed by Adelson issuing a warning about the influence of unlimited political contributions, then Peabody Coal lecturing us on the dangers of GHG?

Terry

gerontocrat

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #467 on: February 01, 2019, 05:07:16 PM »
The EPA Board goes a bit more "Flat-Earth"

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/427941-epa-puts-climate-skeptic-conservative-think-tank-scholar-on-science
EPA puts climate change skeptic, conservative think tank scholar on science board
Quote
The new members include John Christy, an atmospheric science professor at the University of Alabama - Huntsville who is an outspoken climate skeptic and often cited by pundits and politicians opposing climate policies. Christy’s work includes arguing that the climate is less sensitive to greenhouse gas emissions than the scientific consensus has found, including the United Nations’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He argues, therefore, that human activity has a very small impact on the climate.

Another new member is Richard Williams, a scholar at the Mercatus Center, a conservative think tank affiliated with George Mason University. It counts billionaire Republican donor Charles Koch as a board member and has received funding from him and his brother, David.

The board will now also include Brant Ulsh, a health physicist at M.H. Chew and Associates. Ulsh’s research focuses on low-dose radiation. He has argued against the federal government’s current model for studying the impact of low-dose radiation on humans and said that it is improper to assume that even small radiation levels can be harmful.

Skeptical Science has a page devoted to de-bunking John Christy, while acknowledging his technical achievements.
https://www.skepticalscience.com/skeptic_John_Christy.htm
"Para a Causa do Povo a Luta Continua!"
"And that's all I'm going to say about that". Forrest Gump
"Damn, I wanted to see what happened next" (Epitaph)

Archimid

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #468 on: February 02, 2019, 10:24:18 AM »
Quote
John Christy

 There are few people that I consider worse than Christy. In some way he is worst than Trump, because his lies have been working for far longer. He has had a much greater impact on the human response to climate change than Trump. Thus he is responsible for many more climate related deaths than trump.

 His science is irrelevant because it clearly shows warming, despite his best attempts to disguise it and keep a hint of scientific integrity.

 The harm he is causing mankind is worse than many because he goes into back rooms where scientists gather and inserts fear and uncertainty. Scientists are humans too. They must be terrified about the possible consequences of climate change like the rest of us. But they have careers and reputations to maintain. They don't want to be terrified. Christy helps them ease their fears with lies.

Of course things are changing. Climate change is making itself evident. By the time it is evident to everyone it will be too late. But scientist now have much more confidence due to the predictions about warming coming to pass AND many of them have already been hit by climate change.

Let's see how this goes.
I am an energy reservoir seemingly intent on lowering entropy for self preservation.

vox_mundi

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #469 on: February 08, 2019, 06:35:20 PM »
Lawmakers Tell Pentagon: Revise and Resubmit Your Climate-Change Report
https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2019/02/lawmakers-tell-pentagon-revise-and-resubmit-your-climate-change-report/154657/

The Pentagon’s latest climate-change report was so bad that it didn’t even meet legal requirements, say House lawmakers who on Wednesday ordered the military to redo the document by April 1.

The report “lacks key deliverables,” according to the Jan. 25 letter from House Armed Services Chairman Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., and Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif. released last week.

The Pentagon’s 2019 climate report opens with the line: “The effects of a changing climate are a national security issue with potential impacts to Department of Defense missions, operational plans, and installations.”

But the report goes downhill from there, said David Titley, the Navy meteorologist-turned-Penn State professor.

The report, “Report on Effects of a Changing Climate to the Department of Defense,” released four weeks late on Jan. 16, was required by the Langevin Amendment, part of the 2018 Defense Authorization Act.

Spearheaded by Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., the bill ordered the Pentagon to list the top 10 military installations most vulnerable to climate change, mitigations needed to maintain resiliency, and the potential effects on DOD missions.

“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

Ktb

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #470 on: February 19, 2019, 08:09:36 PM »
Quote
Calabrese is a proselytizer of hormesis, the idea that dangerous chemicals and radiation are beneficial at low doses. He says they have a stimulating effect.

“It is good what you have but you need a little more,” wrote Calabrese, who then suggested a line, which he altered twice, in email exchanges with Woods, before settling on this: “EPA shall also incorporate the concept of model uncertainty when needed as a default to optimize low dose risk estimation based on the major competing models (LNT, Threshold, and Hormesis).”

In other words, if the EPA is uncertain about a particular chemical’s impacts at low doses, it would abandon linear no-threshold as a default, and try other models instead, including hormesis.

https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-secret-science-20190219-story.html


Soon we will have billboards promoting spas that douse you in "mild" pollution for the supposed beneficial results.
And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered, they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now.
- Ishmael

vox_mundi

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #471 on: February 20, 2019, 07:25:32 PM »
We should get a fair hearing from this fellow ... /sarc

White House Creating Panel to Question Intelligence Agencies’ Finding That Climate Change Threatens National Security
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/white-house-readies-panel-to-assess-if-climate-change-poses-a-national-security-threat/2019/02/19/ccc8b29e-3396-11e9-af5b-b51b7ff322e9_story.html



The White House is working to assemble a panel to assess whether climate change poses a national security threat, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post, a conclusion that federal intelligence agencies have affirmed several times since President Trump took office.

The proposed Presidential Committee on Climate Security, which would be established by executive order, is being spearheaded by William Happer, a National Security Council senior director.

Happer, an emeritus professor of physics at Princeton University, has said that carbon emissions linked to climate change should be viewed as an asset rather than a pollutant.


The initiative represents the Trump administration’s most recent attempt to question the findings of federal scientists and experts on climate change and comes less than three weeks after Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats delivered a worldwide threat assessment that identified it as a significant security risk.

https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2017/02/16/william-happer-trump-science-advisor/

---------------------------

Greenpeace Exposes Sceptics Hired to Cast Doubt on Climate Science
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/08/greenpeace-exposes-sceptics-cast-doubt-climate-science

Sting operation uncovers two prominent climate sceptics available for hire by the hour to write reports on the benefits of rising CO2 levels and coal



---------------------------

https://www.desmogblog.com/william-happer

Quote
In a 2015 undercover investigation by Greenpeace, Happer told Greenpeace reporters that he would be willing to produce research promoting the benefits of carbon dioxide for $250 per hour, while the funding sources could be similarly concealed by routing them through the CO2 Coalition. [8]
https://www.ecowatch.com/busted-academics-for-hire-exposed-for-failing-to-disclose-fossil-fuel--1882129109.html
Sold Your Soul? Oh dear! Did We Forget to Read the Contract Thoroughly?

In March 2018, Happer—among other , was asked by a judge to disclose any ties he had to fossil fuel companies in a case between cities and fossil fuel companies. Happer disclosed $1,000 he had received for a speech on climate change at the Heritage Foundation in 2017. The response to the request for information also revealed that Happer had received “around $10,000 to $15,000 though he does not recall the precise number” (emphasis added) from Peabody Coal, which was donated to the CO2 coalition on his behalf “earned in connection with testimony given in a Proceeding of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission in September 2015.” [100], [101]

----------------------------------

Princeton Professor William Happer laid out details of an unofficial peer review process run by the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), a UK climate skeptic think tank and said he could ask to put an oil funded report through a similar review process, after admitting that it would struggle to be published in an academic journal.

https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2015/12/08/exposed-academics-for-hire/



------------------------------------

From the US to the Netherlands, Military Leaders are Speaking Up On Climate Change
https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/climate-change-military-security-us-netherlands-hague-global-warming-a8788531.html

When Tom Middendorp – then the highest ranking military official in the Dutch armed forces – declared climate change a threat to the world’s security in 2016, he was mocked in the press and among colleagues.

... Less three years later, the security threats posed by climate change are no longer fringe notions.


This week, Mr Middendorp launched a global network of senior military leaders to drive policy on the security implications of climate change.

The International Military Council on Climate and Security, chaired by Mr Middendorp, includes former US Deputy Undersecretary of Defence Sherri Goodman, former US Navy Captain Steve Brock, former Royal Netherlands Army officer Michel Rademaker, and several researchers affiliated with US and European think tanks.

Senior military officials said they were preparing for ever more dire security crises as climate change, rising sea levels, and worsening storms impacted their forces, bases and missions.

Climate-related water, energy and food insecurity are on the rise in Europe’s neighbourhood, and this needs to be included in risk analysis, foresight, preparations for missions and during military operations

Mr Middendorp, speaking to an audience at The Hague conference, said that the impact of climatic or environmental change was already being felt on the ground by soldiers. He recalled a hard-won battle to take over territory controlled by the Taliban during a stint in Afghanistan. The US-led coalition forces won, only to watch the territory taken back by the Taliban soon thereafter.

Quote
“It took us a year to figure out what the problem was – a fight between groups over water,” he said. “We brought water engineers and solved the problem. And the Taliban left.”
« Last Edit: February 26, 2019, 07:32:27 AM by vox_mundi »
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

vox_mundi

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #472 on: February 22, 2019, 04:11:50 PM »
Montana Legislator Introduces Bills to Give His State Its Own Science   
https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/02/montana-legislator-introduces-bills-to-give-his-state-its-own-science/

Two bills instruct the state to ignore the greenhouse effect and the federal government
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

Archimid

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #473 on: February 23, 2019, 04:50:37 PM »
Quote
Happer, an emeritus professor of physics at Princeton University, has said that carbon emissions linked to climate change should be viewed as an asset rather than a pollutant
.

The premise that CO2 is good because it's plant food is ridiculous. Feces are plant food. Guess what happen if we spray millions of tons of it up in the air? Plants will probably love it, humans and other animals, not so much.

This man Happer is a man of science, how can he possibly think  that CO2 will be good? That is not how the natural world works. When the environment changes dominant species of that environment lose their edge.  When chaotic dynamic systems get disturbed they often change states to very different states.  Extinctions are part of nature. Humans are part of nature regardless of our books and infrastructure.

Why should the changes humanity is exerting over the world should be favorable for humanity if they are unplanned and random? It would require extraordinary luck for the changes to be favorable to humanity.

No way this guy is using logic and science to reach his crazy conclusions. He is terrified of climate change and this is a panic reaction. Maybe if he can convince himself and others that climate change will be good it will be good, his panicked little brain tells him.

All I wish is for him to live long enough to witness the damage he is causing on his own children and loved ones.  But who am I kidding. He'll probably tell himself he had nothing to do with it, just like te tells himself CO2 is good.

Cowards will always be cowards.
I am an energy reservoir seemingly intent on lowering entropy for self preservation.

kassy

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #474 on: February 23, 2019, 05:49:59 PM »
Happer is born in 1939 so he probably won´t.

Quote
From 1991 to 1993, Happer served as director of the Department of Energy's Office of Science as part of the George HW Bush administration.

He was in a ´think-tank´ doing defense and then environment since the 80ies which is just another legit-looking lobbying effort. Some group pays them to advise.

What he says about climate change is clearly not scientific. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Happer#Climate_change for some examples.

For him this is just a way to earn some extra dollars.

A true man of science would be more interested in the actual science but clearly he is not.
So not every emeritus professor of physics is a man of science.
Þetta minnismerki er til vitnis um að við vitum hvað er að gerast og hvað þarf að gera. Aðeins þú veist hvort við gerðum eitthvað.

gerontocrat

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #475 on: February 23, 2019, 06:31:46 PM »
Quote
Happer, an emeritus professor of physics at Princeton University, has said that carbon emissions linked to climate change should be viewed as an asset rather than a pollutant
.
What an advert for Princeton.

Apparently he is a denier gun for hire. Not sure if he wants 30 pieces of silver or a mess of pottage per article.
"Para a Causa do Povo a Luta Continua!"
"And that's all I'm going to say about that". Forrest Gump
"Damn, I wanted to see what happened next" (Epitaph)

vox_mundi

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #476 on: February 24, 2019, 12:00:20 AM »
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

vox_mundi

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #477 on: February 25, 2019, 07:55:50 PM »
Meet Ed Calabrese, Who Says a Little Pollution Can Be Good For You
https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2018/10/the-epas-bold-new-idea-massive-implications-public-health/

In early 2018, a deputy assistant administrator in the EPA, Clint Woods, reached out to a Massachusetts toxicologist best known for pushing a public health standard suggesting that low levels of toxic chemicals and radiation are good for people.

"I wanted to check to see if you might have some time in the next couple of days for a quick call to discuss a couple items," Woods wrote to Ed Calabrese.

Less than two weeks later, Calabrese's suggestions on how the Environmental Protection Agency should assess toxic chemicals and radiation were introduced, nearly word for word, in the U.S. government's official journal, the Federal Register.

... It signified the major shift the EPA has taken under the Trump administration. More than any before it, this White House has actively sought out advice from industry lobbyists and the scientists they commission in setting pollution rules.

Calabrese's role illustrates a different side of this shift: the potential removal of long-standing public health practices and the incorporation of industry-backed and disputed science into federal environmental policy.

This view—that pollution and radiation can be beneficial—has many experts worried. The fact that such a position may become EPA policy, they say, portends a future in which corporate desires outweigh public and environmental health.


... If the EPA ultimately adopts Calabrese's proposed new regulations, researchers say it could change decades of standards and guidelines on clean air, water and toxic waste. It could also fundamentally alter the way the government assesses new chemicals and pesticides entering the marketplace.

"This is industry's holy grail," ...




And where has Calabrese’s funding come from? Do I even have to tell you? ...

Between 1990 and 2013, Calabrese received more than $8 million from companies and institutions, including R.J. Reynolds, Exxon Mobil, Dow Chemical, General Electric, the Department of Energy and the U.S. Air Force, to conduct research on hormesis.

https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2019/02/meet-ed-calabrese-who-says-a-little-pollution-can-be-good-for-you/ 
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

vox_mundi

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #478 on: February 26, 2019, 06:32:52 AM »
Trump Climate Advisory Panel Structured to Avoid Public Records
https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/02/trump-climate-advisory-panel-structured-to-avoid-public-records/



... The group will be structured so that it can do its work off the record. The Post notes that a formal Federal Advisory Committee would include having meetings in public and creating extensive public records of its deliberations. As a result, the new plan is to create an ad-hoc working group instead, which avoids the need for any public disclosure.

Normally, these sorts of working groups would be expected to include members of the government. As noted above, however, the National Climate Assessment was firmly within mainstream scientific thought; the planned "adversarial peer review" will therefore require recruiting people outside of science's mainstream. Conveniently, William Happer, who had been promoting this review to former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt, is well connected to the far-from-mainstream when it comes to climate science. Happer is supposedly organizing this working group with Steve Koonin, an NYU physics professor who frequently writes anti-climate-science op-eds for the Wall Street Journal.

Beyond those two people, E&E News reports the planned working group composition reads like a "who's who" of people who have been invited to testify before the US House Science Committee while it was under the leadership of Lamar Smith and had an antagonistic approach to many areas of research. Proposed members include people like Judith Curry, who thinks current warming may be part of a natural cycle but hasn't identified what in particular may be cycling. John Christy is also on the list, and his previous testimony has been criticized for relying on graphs that have offset baselines and no error bars.

Also supposedly on tap is Richard Lindzen, a retired MIT scientist who has been on the payroll of a libertarian think tank in recent years. Collectively, this is precisely the group you would name if you wanted people to disagree with the conclusions of most climate scientists while providing a veneer of academic respectability. The fact that it's difficult to think of more than two or three additional US scientists that could serve the same purpose, however, provides a sense of how far outside the mainstream this group would be.

« Last Edit: February 26, 2019, 07:28:27 AM by vox_mundi »
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

Juan C. García

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #479 on: February 28, 2019, 08:34:26 PM »
Quote
The Senate on Thursday approved former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler to head the Environmental Protection Agency by a vote of 52 to 47, elevating a veteran of Washington political and industry circles who has advanced President Trump’s push to rollback Obama-era environmental regulations.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/02/28/andrew-wheeler-former-energy-lobbyist-confirmed-nations-top-environmental-official/?utm_term=.e71226bdb283&wpisrc=nl_green&wpmm=1
Which is the best answer to Sep-2012 ASI lost (compared to 1979-2000)?
50% [NSIDC Extent] or
73% [PIOMAS Volume]

Volume is harder to measure than extent, but 3-dimensional space is real, 2D's hide ~50% thickness gone.
-> IPCC/NSIDC trends [based on extent] underestimate the real speed of ASI lost.

vox_mundi

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #480 on: March 06, 2019, 05:37:11 PM »
Post-Hurricane Harvey, NASA Tried To Fly a Pollution-Spotting Plane over Houston… Trump's EPA Said No!
https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-nasa-jet-epa-hurricane-harvey-20190305-story.html

In the weeks after Hurricane Harvey's catastrophic sweep through the Houston area—which resulted in chemical spills, fires, flooded storage tanks and damaged industrial plants—rescue crews and residents complained of burning throats, nausea and dizziness.

Fifteen hundred miles west in the high desert city of Palmdale, Calif., NASA scientists were preparing to fly a DC-8, equipped with the world's most sophisticated air samplers over the hurricane zone to monitor pollution levels.

The mission never got off the ground. Both the state of Texas and the EPA told the scientists —  stay away.




According to emails obtained by the Los Angeles Times via a public records request and interviews with dozens of scientists and officials familiar with the situation, EPA and state officials argued that NASA's data would cause "confusion" and might "overlap" with their own analysis—which was showing only a few, isolated spots of concern.

"At this time, we don't think your data would be useful," Michael Honeycutt, Texas' director of toxicology, wrote to NASA officials, adding that low-flying helicopters equipped with infra-red cameras, contracted by his agency, would be sufficient.

EPA deferred to Honeycutt, a controversial toxicologist who has suggested air pollution may be beneficial to human health.

NASA scientists say that, had the DC-8 been deployed, it would have provided the most comprehensive and detailed analysis of air quality in the region, allowing for a more thorough understanding of the situation.

... Smokestacks, pipelines and generators had been damaged or destroyed. Storage tanks filled with toxic chemicals were battered and leaking. Superfund sites were flooded, spilling hazardous waste into nearby rivers, streams and neighborhoods.

Officials from the EPA and the state environmental agency —  which had shut down their stationary air monitors to avoid storm damage —  maintained the air quality was fine. In addition to using ground technology, they flew in a single-engine prop plane that took photos and used infrared technology to detect chemical plumes in the area.

Despite EPA claims that pollutants were "well below levels of health concern," residents and rescuers complained of the fumes. Clouds of benzene and other cancer-causing chemicals floated over the city, according to analyses by environmental groups and news reports.

... The key decision-maker was Honeycutt, known for his energy industry-friendly views on toxic chemicals and pollutants. Six weeks later, Trump's EPA would appoint Honeycutt chairman of the agency's Scientific Advisory Board, an independent panel of scientists charged with providing advice to the agency's administrator.

On Sept. 11, Honeycutt wrote in an email to NASA and EPA officials that state data showed no sign for concern, and "we don't think your data would be useful for source identification while industry continues to restart their operations."



---------------------------

Texas Toxicologist Who Rejects Basic Science Appointed to EPA Science Board
https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-toxicologist-rejects-basic-science-appointed-epa-science-board/

For years Texas’ chief toxicologist, Michael Honeycutt, has accused the EPA of scaring the public about the health risks of toxic chemicals. The EPA, he has said, “ignores good science which demonstrates that a chemical is not as toxic as they think it is,” uses “‘chicken little’ toxicity values” and doesn’t “do common-sense groundtruthing.” Honeycutt has repeatedly put himself outside the scientific mainstream by arguing that pollutants are not nearly as harmful as the evidence suggests.

Mercury? EPA is “overstating” the risks of exposure and ignoring the fact that the Japanese eat 10 times as much fish as Americans.

Arsenic? It couldn’t be unsafe because we’re not seeing increases in cancer rates that would be true if EPA’s assessment is “realistic.”

Ozone? EPA’s ozone rules are unnecessary because “Americans likely spend at least 90 percent of their time indoors.”


In announcing his appointment on Tuesday, EPA administrator Scott Pruitt called Honeycutt a “wonderful scientist” and said he had been chosen out of 130 applicants.



-----------------------------

From the same Republican-led EPA that said Air Quality post 9/11 was 'right as rain' ...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/10/epa-head-wrong-911-air-safe-new-york-christine-todd-whitman

Quote
... More than 37,000 people registered with the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP), a federal organisation set up in 2011 to oversee those affected by exposure to the toxins released at Ground Zero, have been declared sick. Many have chronic respiratory illnesses or cancer.

More than 1,100 people covered by the WTCHP have died. That number includes first responders who were at Ground Zero and people who lived and worked in the surrounding area.
« Last Edit: March 06, 2019, 07:38:04 PM by vox_mundi »
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

vox_mundi

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #481 on: March 10, 2019, 01:02:02 AM »
Trump to Propose Massive Renewable Energy Cuts, Something Republicans Don’t Even Want   
https://thinkprogress.org/trump-renewable-energy-budget-cuts-3382dc457f20/amp/

... Trump’s proposal will slash the budget for DOE’s Office of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (EERE) from $2.3 billion to $700 million — a roughly 70 percent cut — Bloomberg reported this week, citing a department official familiar with the plan. The full budget request is expected to be released Monday.
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

vox_mundi

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #482 on: March 11, 2019, 07:18:38 PM »
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

Susan Anderson

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vox_mundi

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #484 on: March 11, 2019, 11:51:33 PM »
Trump Once Again Requests Deep Cuts in U.S. Science Spending
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/03/trump-once-again-requests-deep-cuts-us-science-spending

For the third year in a row, President Donald Trump’s administration has unveiled a budget request to Congress that calls for deep spending cuts at many federal science agencies, including a 13% cut for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and a 12% cut for the National Science Foundation (NSF), while providing hefty increases for the military.

----------------------

Trump's New Science Adviser Says It's Not His Job to Correct the President on Climate Change 
https://news.vice.com/amp/en_us/article/zma8qe/trumps-new-science-adviser-says-its-not-his-job-to-correct-the-president-on-climate-change

https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/scientists-put-trump-on-a-turd-and-twitter-freaked-out-620c76772140
« Last Edit: March 12, 2019, 12:12:44 AM by vox_mundi »
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

vox_mundi

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #485 on: March 14, 2019, 12:26:39 AM »
EPA Staffers Destroyed Files While Under Audit   
https://qz.com/1570528/epa-staffers-destroyed-files-while-under-audit/

Employees at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) destroyed records they knew were being audited, a new memo posted to a government database reveals.

According to the memo written by the agency’s inspector general (IG), the staffers worked for the EPA’s chief financial officer, Donald Trump appointee Holly Greaves.

Per her official bio, the mission of Greaves’ team is “to ensure the effective management and financial integrity of EPA’s resources and annual budget, which was $8.8 billion in fiscal year 2018.”

EPA personnel within the CFO’s office claimed they destroyed the records because they had signed non-disclosure agreements prohibiting them from sharing official documents with outside third parties. Inspectors general, however, are entitled by law to access all agency information.

Jonathan Gant of international anti-corruption watchdog Global Witness said he had never encountered an instance of federal employees destroying official documents while under audit.  By general auditing standards, as well as the government’s own rules, he said “such an act would be wrong or illegal ...“It seems like it would anger even the most casual reader that officials are heading to the shredder when the inspector comes calling,”   .

Before he became president, Trump’s companies routinely destroyed records “in defiance of court orders,” Newsweek reported in 2016. His penchant for opacity informs his governing style.   
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

vox_mundi

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #486 on: March 15, 2019, 12:58:12 AM »
US Official Reveals Atlantic Drilling Plan while hailing Trump’s Ability to Distract Public 
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/14/offshore-drilling-trump-official-reveals-plan-and-distractions-delight

Revealed: Interior department official says he is ‘thrilled’ by Trump’s ‘knack for keeping the attention of the media and public focused somewhere else

A top US official told a group of fossil fuel industry leaders that the Trump administration will soon issue a proposal making large portions of the Atlantic available for oil and gas development, and said that it is easier to work on such priorities because Donald Trump is skilled at sowing “absolutely thrilling” distractions, according to records of a meeting obtained by the Guardian.

Joe Balash, the assistant secretary for land and minerals management, was speaking to companies in the oil exploration business at a meeting of the International Association of Geophysical Contractors, or IAGC, last month.

“One of the things that I have found absolutely thrilling in working for this administration,” said Balash,“is the president has a knack for keeping the attention of the media and the public focused somewhere else while we do all the work that needs to be done on behalf of the American people.” ....



Public records obtained by the Guardian show that the Trump administration has been in regular communication with key players in the offshore industry, while conservationists and coastal communities say their voices have been ignored.
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

b_lumenkraft

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #487 on: March 15, 2019, 12:25:46 PM »
Journey to Antarctica: What Scientists Think of Trump’s Latest Climate Tweet

“You like carbon dioxide so much?” one researcher mused. “Try putting a plastic bag over your head and see how that works out.”

Link >> https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-climate-change-tweet-808208/

vox_mundi

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #488 on: March 18, 2019, 10:37:41 PM »
EPA Proposes Antibiotic Spraying of Citrus Crops
https://advocacy.consumerreports.org/press_release/epa-proposal-to-allow-streptomycin-to-treat-citrus-disease-poses-unacceptable-risk-to-human-health-and-the-environment/

... The EPA proposal would allow streptomycin to be sprayed on all citrus trees in the United States up to three times a year. Based on current commercial citrus acreage, the amount allowed to be sprayed would total more than 942,000 lb, according to Consumer Reports. The group noted that other federal agencies have taken steps to reduce overuse of antibiotics in agriculture and human medicine

The move would lead to "a 26-fold increase in the use of streptomycin in plant agriculture and could trigger antibiotic resistance that would reduce the drug's effectiveness in treating diseases in people," the consumer group warned in a news release.

The EPA’s proposal comes at a time when medical experts have warned that growing antibiotic resistance poses one of the most serious threats to public health 


What next? Bring back DDT

« Last Edit: March 18, 2019, 10:44:09 PM by vox_mundi »
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vox_mundi

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #489 on: March 20, 2019, 06:08:24 PM »
Donald Trump is Using Stalinist Tactics to Discredit Climate Science   
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/mar/20/donald-trump-stalinist-techniques-climate-science

The Trump administration has already purged information about climate change from government websites, gagged federal experts and attempted to end funding for climate change programmes.

Now a group of hardcore climate change deniers and contrarians linked to the administration is organising a petition in support of a new panel being set up by the National Security Council to promote an alternative official explanation for climate change.

The petition is being circulated for signature by Myron Ebell of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a lobby group for “free market” fanatics which has become infamous for championing climate change denial. It does not disclose its sources of funding, but is known to have received money from ExxonMobil and conservative billionaires such as the Koch brothers.


Mr Ebell, who has no expertise whatsoever in climate science – or any kind of science for that matter – was a member of Donald Trump’s presidential transition team and diverted the focus of the Environmental Protection Agency towards weakening and removing policies that limit pollution by companies, including President Obama’s Clean Power Plan.



The creation of the new panel of climate change deniers, and the recruitment of supporters to provide it with a veneer of legitimacy, echoes the campaign by Joseph Stalin’s regime to discredit the work of geneticists who disagreed with the disastrous pseudo-scientific theories of Trofim Lysenko.

Lysenko wrongly believed that acquired traits could be passed on by parents to their offspring. Stalin embraced lysenkoism as the basis for Soviet agricultural policy, while also denouncing and persecuting Lysenko’s scientific critics.

The Trump administration’s “climate lysenkoism” is being led by William Happer, a retired professor from Princeton University who was hired by the National Security Council in September 2018 as deputy assistant to the president and senior director for emerging technologies.

Media reports suggest that Professor Happer and his fellow propagandists will target the Fourth National Climate Assessment, which was prepared by leading researchers in the United States, and concluded last November: “The impacts of climate change are already being felt in communities across the country.”...

« Last Edit: March 20, 2019, 06:45:26 PM by vox_mundi »
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Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

vox_mundi

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #490 on: March 22, 2019, 06:34:59 PM »
Trump EPA Science Advisers Push Doubt About Air Pollution Health Risks
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/15032019/air-pollution-trump-epa-science-advisers-health-risk-fossil-fuel-chemical-tobacco-industry

The new advisers include industry allies and consultants with ties to the fossil fuel, tobacco and chemical industries.

For two years, the Trump administration has been planting seeds of change in the Environmental Protection Agency—installing allies of regulated industries onto its elite panels of science advisers. That effort now has borne fruit in dramatic fashion.

The EPA's new science advisers, sweeping aside decades of research on the grave health risks of fine particle air pollution, have launched a drive to force the agency to give greater weight to a handful of contrarian studies that dispute the harmful effects of soot.

The latest scientific dispute centers around the EPA's draft assessment of the science on particulate matter (PM), a comprehensive review that the agency is required by law to conduct every few years to update the state of the science on several key pollutants. EPA released its draft review last fall.

For the first time, the EPA concluded that the evidence was strong enough to show a "likely" causal relationship between long-term PM2.5 exposure and cancer, as well as nervous system effects. The EPA concluded, as it has in the past, that there is evidence of health risks even at extremely low levels of PM exposure.

Now, in a harshly worded draft review, the Trump administration's science advisors are blasting those findings as based on "unverifiable opinions" and lacking in scientific support.

... The CASAC, now chaired by Louis Anthony "Tony" Cox, Jr., a Denver-based consultant, offers a few examples of the studies it wants to see the EPA give more weight to. Among them are studies that are authored, in fact, by Cox himself—whose clients have included the American Petroleum Institute, the tobacco industry and the chemical industry.

Other studies mentioned by the CASAC are by S. Stanley Young, a former pharmaceutical industry statistician based in Raleigh, N.C., who is an adviser to the Heartland Institute, a conservative think tank that has led a years-long campaign to discredit climate science. Young is now also an EPA science adviser.

The CASAC also pointed to the work of James Enstrom, a Los Angeles epidemiologist who for years has questioned the health risks of particulate matter. A former tobacco industry researcher, Enstrom was a plaintiff in a 2016 lawsuit brought by the fossil fuel industry-funded Energy and Environment Legal Institute that challenged the makeup of the previous CASAC.


... "The statement is ironic given that the CASAC itself lacks necessary expertise"

In fact, the CASAC recommended that it be given access to additional technical expertise in order to complete its review of EPA science on particulate matter.




-----------------------------------------------

EPA Adviser is Promoting Harmful Ideas, Scientists Say
https://phys.org/news/2019-03-epa-ideas-scientists.html

The Trump administration's reliance on industry-funded environmental specialists is again coming under fire, this time by researchers who say that Louis Anthony "Tony" Cox Jr., who leads a key Environmental Protection Agency advisory board on air pollution, is a "fringe" scientist and ideologue pushing policies detrimental to public health.

In a paper published Thursday in the journal Science, two air pollution scientists say that Cox is ignoring consensus viewpoints on the effects of smog and particulate pollution.

... Since Trump took office, his EPA has repeatedly relied upon industry-funded scientists to set policy—including allowing a University of Massachusetts professor who believes low doses of radiation and toxic chemicals are good for people to write proposed rulings.

Some say Cox is part of that pattern.

Open Access: Gretchen T. Goldman et al. Don't abandon evidence and process on air pollution policy, Science (2019)
« Last Edit: March 22, 2019, 08:47:06 PM by vox_mundi »
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

J Cartmill

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #491 on: March 23, 2019, 12:16:02 PM »
Even the dismal science is under attack.

From the Huffington Post:

Donald Trump Just Picked A Laughingstock For A Huge Federal Reserve Job
Stephen Moore is a joke in the economics profession.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/stephen-moore-federal-reserve-trump_n_5c953977e4b01ebeef0f13e8

gerontocrat

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #492 on: March 23, 2019, 12:26:42 PM »
Even the dismal science is under attack.

From the Huffington Post:

Donald Trump Just Picked A Laughingstock For A Huge Federal Reserve Job
Stephen Moore is a joke in the economics profession.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/stephen-moore-federal-reserve-trump_n_5c953977e4b01ebeef0f13e8
The dismal science is not amused..

https://www.economist.com/democracy-in-america/2019/03/22/why-stephen-moore-is-unfit-for-the-fed

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-03-22/stephen-moore-is-the-wrong-person-for-the-fed-board
Stephen Moore Is the Wrong Person for the Fed Board
A partisan operative has no business making policy at an independent central bank.
"Para a Causa do Povo a Luta Continua!"
"And that's all I'm going to say about that". Forrest Gump
"Damn, I wanted to see what happened next" (Epitaph)

Archimid

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #493 on: March 23, 2019, 03:14:00 PM »
Quote
A partisan operative has no business making policy at an independent central bank.


I'm sure he already has plenty of business lined up.
I am an energy reservoir seemingly intent on lowering entropy for self preservation.

vox_mundi

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #494 on: March 23, 2019, 04:12:18 PM »
Trump's Plan To Destroy NASA Science Laid Bare In FY2020 Budget
https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2019/03/12/trumps-plan-to-destroy-nasa-science-laid-bare-in-fy2020-budget/#35385a0d5818



In 2018, the Trump administration's proposed FY2019 budget was a disaster for science, with deep cuts for NASA, the Department of Education, the Chemical Safety Board, the National Science Foundation and many more. It was plainly an anti-science budget, which would be disastrous for not only America, but for practically every state across the board. Congress was able to restore much of the funding that was proposed to be eliminated, and the budget passed.

This year's proposed FY2020 budget has now been announced, and it's as equally disastrous for science as last year's proposal, but this time it's more insidious. By emphasizing space exploration and increasing funding for the lunar gateway project — which is arguably a good project on its own merits — it obscures the fact that it gets its funding by destroying many of our most important and scientifically valuable programs.

A single year of missed funding or underfunding can kill a project that took decades to plan and enact.



Here are the biggest changes over what we're presently doing:

- The science budget is being cut across the board by 8.7% ($603 million): the largest single-year decrease in history.
- The James Webb Space Telescope budget is being split off from the NASA astrophysics budget while Wide Field InfraRed Space Tellescope (WFIRST) is killed entirely: this signals the end of the flagship mission program that makes NASA, well, NASA, according to Science Mission Directorate head Thomas Zurbuchen.
- Last year, acting administrator Robert Lightfoot's statement acknowledged the deep cuts that would harm science; this year's statement by Jim Bridenstine lauds the new initiatives but doesn't even mention that these cuts are occurring.
- Emphasizes small-mission funding and continuation for existing missions at the expense of long-term and future missions.
- Reduces planetary science, Earth science, and heliophysics funding, as well as astrophysics funding.
- Eliminates the office of STEM outreach, along with its portfolio of grants and cooperative agreements.

“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

vox_mundi

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #495 on: March 27, 2019, 10:35:22 AM »
Interior Nominee Intervened to Block Report on Endangered Species   
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2019/03/26/us/politics/endangered-species-david-bernhardt.amp.html

... Fish and Wildlife Service analysis found that two of the pesticides, malathion and chlorpyrifos, were so toxic that they “jeopardize the continued existence” of more than 1,200 endangered birds, fish and other animals and plants, a conclusion that could lead to tighter restrictions on use of the chemicals.

But just before the team planned to make its findings public in November 2017, something unexpected happened: Top political appointees of the Interior Department, which oversees the Fish and Wildlife Service, blocked the release and set in motion a new process intended to apply a much narrower standard to determine the risks from the pesticides.

Leading that intervention was David Bernhardt, then the deputy secretary of the interior and a former lobbyist and oil-industry lawyer. In October 2017, he abruptly summoned staff members to the first of a rapid series of meetings in which the Fish and Wildlife Service was directed to take the new approach, one that pesticide makers and users had lobbied intensively to promote.

Mr. Bernhardt is now President Trump’s nominee to become interior secretary. The Senate is scheduled to hold a hearing on his confirmation Thursday.

... A Dow spokesman said the shift in policy was unrelated to the $1 million contribution to Trump’s inauguration committee. 
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

Juan C. García

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #496 on: April 04, 2019, 06:31:59 PM »
Something funny for a change.   ;)
But be careful with the last comment on the video, it is completely true!!!  :(  ;D

Quote
As The Washington Post’s Philip Bump pointed out, Trump’s hatred of wind turbines goes back nearly 10 years to when he strongly opposed their construction near his golf course in Scotland. Since then, the president has highlighted numerous faults with the renewable energy source, disparaging it as “ugly” and “noisy,” and holding it responsible for countless bird deaths.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/04/04/course-windmills-cause-cancer-thats-why-everyone-holland-is-dead-trump-mocked-his-wind-energy-attack/?utm_term=.7b9b3e6e0e40
Which is the best answer to Sep-2012 ASI lost (compared to 1979-2000)?
50% [NSIDC Extent] or
73% [PIOMAS Volume]

Volume is harder to measure than extent, but 3-dimensional space is real, 2D's hide ~50% thickness gone.
-> IPCC/NSIDC trends [based on extent] underestimate the real speed of ASI lost.

vox_mundi

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #497 on: April 08, 2019, 09:20:03 AM »


Climate Change Group Scrapped by Trump Reassembles to Issue Warning 
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/04/climate-change-trump-advisory-group-report-warning-global-warming

Panel was disbanded after a Trump official voiced concerns that it did not have enough members ‘from industry

A U.S. government climate change advisory group scrapped by Donald Trump has reassembled independently to call for better adaptation to the floods, wildfires, and other threats that increasingly loom over American communities.


The advisory group has since been resurrected, however, following an invitation from New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, and has been financially supported by Columbia University and the American Meteorological Society. It now has 20 expert members.

The panel is now known as the Science to Climate Action Network (Scan) and has now completed work it would have finished for the federal government, releasing a report on Thursday warning that Americans are being put at risk from the impacts of a warming planet due to a muddled response to climate science. 

... We’re only just starting to see the effects of climate change, it’s only going to get much worse. But we haven’t yet rearranged our daily affairs to adapt to science we have,” he added.

... In its new report, the Science to Climate Action Network recommends the creation of a “civil-society-based climate assessment consortium” that would combine private and public interests to provide more localized help for communities menaced by floods, wildfires, or other perils. ...
« Last Edit: April 08, 2019, 09:51:14 AM by vox_mundi »
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vox_mundi

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #498 on: April 09, 2019, 01:52:30 AM »
Trump Administration Sabotages Major Conservation Effort, Defying Congress 
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/08/trump-administration-sabotages-major-conservation-effort-defying-congress

Scientists and officials around the US have told the Guardian that the Trump administration has withdrawn funding for a large, successful conservation program – in direct contradiction of instructions from Congress.

Unique in scale and ambition, the program comprises 22 research centers that tackle big-picture issues affecting huge swaths of the US, such as climate change, flooding and species extinction. They are known as Landscape Conservation Cooperatives – or were, because 16 of them are now on indefinite hiatus or have dissolved.

... Donald Trump made it clear from the beginning that the LCCs – and science funding in general – were not a priority for his administration. His first budget proposal as president eliminated funds for the LCCs, and for other applied research programs run through the interior department. Ensuing budget requests followed the same pattern.   

But Congress decides the federal budget, and it can disregard a president’s proposals. It has consistently rejected these cuts. ... Even so, in 2017 LCCs across the country began to receive the news that they would no longer receive federal support.

“With this administration, very few things come out on email or on paper. There’s very little paper trail. It’s just, this is the way it’s going to be,” said another Fish and Wildlife Service scientist who worked for one of the LCCs. 

Quote
... “I’d say there could be five to six years [of work] down the drain.”

The scientist said that federal support for the LCC program appeared to dry up after the start of an unprecedented political review of scientific research at the interior department, of which the Fish and Wildlife Service is a part. It was led by Steve Howke, a high school friend of the former interior secretary Ryan Zinke. When this review began, said the Fish and Wildlife Service scientist, “it was known that nothing associated with LCCs, would be funded” and they “basically had to kind of wind everything down”
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late

vox_mundi

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Re: Trump Administration Assaults on Science and the Environment
« Reply #499 on: April 12, 2019, 01:01:57 AM »
'A Walking Conflict of Interest': Ex-Oil Lobbyist Confirmed to Lead US Interior Department 
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/apr/11/david-bernhart-interior-department-senate-confirmation

Senators voted 56-41 to approve David Bernhardt’s nomination to oversee more than 500m acres of public lands and other resources, including national parks, monuments and wildlife refuges, as secretary of the embattled interior department. 

... Before joining the administration, Bernhardt worked at a Washington law and lobbying firm on behalf of mining companies, oil and gas giants, a politically powerful western water agency and other groups that have business before the interior department.

“David Bernhardt is a walking conflict of interest who is selling out our public lands to his former clients in the fossil fuel industry,” said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club.

“Like Ryan Zinke before him, Bernhardt is clearly more interested in doing favors for his corporate polluting friends than in responsibly managing our shared public spaces.

« Last Edit: April 12, 2019, 01:18:53 AM by vox_mundi »
“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.” ― anonymous

Insensible before the wave so soon released by callous fate. Affected most, they understand the least, and understanding, when it comes, invariably arrives too late