Keep the Blinders On – Until ‘We’ Know Enough on Climate Change

On June 11, 2001, President Bush Discussed Global Climate Change. He began, “Good morning. I’ve just met with senior members of my administration who are working to develop an effective and science-based approach to addressing the important issues of global climate change.” He went on to say,

“The working group asked the highly-respected National Academy of Sciences to provide us the most up-to-date information about what is known and about what is not known on the science of climate change.

Yet, the Academy’s report tells us that we do not know how much effect natural fluctuations in climate may have had on warming. We do not know how much our climate could, or will change in the future. We do not know how fast change will occur, or even how some of our actions could impact it.”

Maybe we don’t know enough, because information is being suppressed?

In an article from MSNBC, “James Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said that officials at the space agency’s headquarters had ordered the public affairs staff to review his lectures, papers, postings on the Goddard Web site and requests for interviews from journalists.”

The article included the following:

NEW YORK – NASA’s top climate scientist said the Bush administration has tried to stop him from speaking out since he gave a lecture in December calling for prompt reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases, The New York Times said Saturday.

It said he fell out of favor with the White House in 2004 after a University of Iowa speech ahead of the presidential election in which he complained that government climate scientists were being muzzled, adding that he planned to vote for Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry.

Hansen said the recent efforts to quiet him began after a lecture he gave on Dec. 6 at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco in which he said that significant emission cuts could be achieved with existing technologies, particularly in the case of motor vehicles.

Hansen said that NASA headquarters officials repeatedly phoned public affairs officers, who warned Hansen of “dire consequences” if such statements continued. The officers confirmed the warning to the Times.

So, until we do know enough, let’s keep the lid on new climate change findings.