NASA Scientist Threatened with “Dire Consequences” for Speaking of Global

[Time for change]

Warming:


Climate Expert Says NASA Tried to Silence Him
by Andrew C. Revkin - New York Times - January 29, 2006

The top climate scientist at NASA says the Bush administration has tried to stop him from speaking out since he gave a lecture last month calling for prompt reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases linked to global warming.

Dr. Hansen believes that the leadership and participation of the United States in efforts to reduce global warming is needed in order to prevent permanent damage to our planet:

The fresh efforts to quiet him, Dr. Hansen said, began in a series of calls after a lecture he gave on Dec. 6 at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. In the talk, he said that significant emission cuts could be achieved with existing technologies, particularly in the case of motor vehicles, and that without leadership by the United States, climate change would eventually leave the earth "a different planet."

He believes that efforts to silence him are wrong because:

Communicating with the public seems to be essential because public concern is probably the only thing capable of overcoming the special interests that have obfuscated the topic.

Much of the article deals with statements by the Bush administration claiming that Dr. Hansen is mistaken about his opinion that they are trying to silence him, as illustrated by this:

Dean Acosta, deputy assistant administrator for public affairs at the space agency, said there was no effort to silence Dr. Hansen. "That's not the way we operate here at NASA," Mr. Acosta said. "We promote openness and we speak with the facts."

Dr. Hanson’s supervisor seems to agree with the Bush administration when he says that there has been no “official” order to silence Dr. Hansen. But as Dr. Hansen explains:

The directives had come through telephone conversations and not through formal channels, leaving no significant trails of documents.

And public affairs officers support Dr. Hansen’s claims – Following Dr. Hansen’s latest speech and release of data

showing that 2005 was probably the warmest year in at least a century, officials at the headquarters of the space agency repeatedly phoned public affairs officers, who relayed the warning to Dr. Hansen that there would be "dire consequences" if such statements continued, those officers and Dr. Hansen said in interviews.

Sorry, I can't make the link available

[crikkett]

1. can you give us the title of the document?

:shrug: or the name of the publication that ran it?

[McKenzie]

2. this might be it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/29/science/earth/29climate.html?_r=1&hp&ex=1138510800&en=0a858f5230677507&ei=5094&partner=homepage&oref=slogin

[Time for change]

6. Yes, that's it - thank you

[understandinglife]

3. In addition to the NYTimes, NPR had this segment on Dr Hansen:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5177273

The Union of Concerned Scientists is organizing various letter writing campaigns to highlight Dr. Hansen. Here is a link to something they published in June 2005:

http://www.ucsusa.org/scientific_integrity/interference/climate-change.html

And, here is something from RealClimate on "Hansen in the New York Times":

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php?p=243


Peace.

[Time for change]

5. Thank you ul -- that's great great information n/t

[Time for change]

4. Thank you for reminding me

I edited it to include that information.

[Deja Q]

7. Oh, they'll just invade China and then nuke us.

Global warming and oil waste problems resolved.