I scribbled this out on BART on my way home from AGU (the American Geophysical Union) and I am sick as a dog. So please forgive me if this diary is less than it could be. However, I wanted to share some impressions with all of you about Al Gore's talk he presented today entitled:
Climate Change: The Role of Science and Media in Policy Making.
and also about James Hansen's talk.
I am not sure how long I will stick around in the comments, because it appears that the drugs are wearing off, and my sinuses anre starting to dominate me.
I travelled from my home in Napa to SF, a two hour ride using my car, Bay Area Rapid Transit and, of course, my dogs to see the one-two punch of James Hansen (Climate Change Expert at NASA-Goddard who blew the whistle of scientific muzzling at last year's AGU) and of the Honorable Al Gore. I was (and am) sick as a dog so I popped some cold pills and bucked it up to see these presentations.
James Hansen's talk detailed the past year in science censorship for NASA. There was a heavy-handed response by NASA to his 2005 AGU talk. He started his talk with these words:
I speak today for myself, not as a spokesman for NASA
He began by reiterating his most important points about the severity of the climate crisis, then began to tackle some of the breadth of censorship in the scientific comunity, then specifically discussed his own experiences, saying explicitly it has never been so egregious than in the Bush White House and that the past year has been the worst:
The unbridled arrogance of Public Affairs political appointees reached a new height after my "Keeling" talk at last year’s AGU meeting and our release of data on record 2005 global temperature. Public Affairs was furious about the media attention. Their consternation, expressed during Headquarters-Greenbelt-New York telecons, was described by a participant as a "shit-storm". Their anger was sparked by a call from the White House complaining about news stories based on our temperature analysis. In multiple calls, Public Affairs defined new constraints on me, including requirement that any media interviews be approved beforehand and
that Headquarters have the "right of first refusal" on all interviews, that I provide my calendar of all talks and meetings, and that I get prior approval for every posting on the GISS web site.
These orders were delivered orally, of course, as was a threat of "dire consequences" if I did not comply. However, a new young political appointee at Public Affairs, who said "my job is to make the President look good", was not well-schooled in the rules and he left a paper trail, including a description of the process by which Public Affairs barred me from speaking to NPR,offering the Associate Administrator instead. These indiscretions, I believe, were the real reason behind his departure, rather than the fact that his resume failed to show that he was one course
short of the university degree that he claimed. But he was not acting on his own. He was a bit player. His paper trail showed that the problem starts at the top of Public Affairs, the decision to bar me from speaking with NPR being made "on the ninth floor" of Headquarters.
You can read the whole talk and more (including last year's AGU talk) on Hansen's webpage.
Next I went to Al Gore's talk. Of course I went 2 hours early and it was still packed with people waiting to get in. When they opened the doors at Salon 8 at the Mariott Hotel, I got a great seat in the 8th row aisle, two rows behind the VIP section. Then Al Gore entered and was introduced in traditional style...the reading of the biography of the speaker. Al got two standing ovations here: one when he entered, one after the introduction. We were a warm audience, this guy is our man!
Gore's message this time wasn't about the science of global warming: after all, WE are DOING that science. We have entire sessions on that science. He was here to discuss our role, as scientists in the dissemination of information. He began with a few funny stories and a few jokes (some of which I have heard before-they are part of his gig). But since he was talking to a scientific crowd, he was very low-key and talked about why it was taking SO long for this message to get into people's brains and affect their behavior.
He spoke of the portions of the brain that affect understanding and behavior and about how one affects the other. He spoke of how the method of dissemination of information shapes public perception. He spoke of this in a historical way: how the printing press popularized reading and writing and allowed for the age of enlightenment. An age affected by the fact that we can read information ourselves for opinions and give feedback. Then he discussed how we get information NOW from television; and how only a few people control that message and we have no vehicle for feedback. (He did mention a possible change coming, a return to enlightenment due to the internet).
He was in his element: an egghead talking history and brain anatomy to a bunch of scientists. He was totally comfortable.
Then came the inspiration. I detected a minute bit of growling in his voice. We scientists don't like much growling, but a little is nice.
Al Gore wanted to know where was the outrage when the EPA purged their websites of data. He wanted to know where the outrage was when USGS scientists has to get White House approval prior to dissemination of results. He gave credit to the response of the CUnion of Concerned Scientists on these issues. [I must say, I agree they have been great]. He said it's time for scientists to defend our data and communicate our results to the public in the way we want (or someone else will provide an interpretation that we may not like).
He addressed the fact that societal knowledge grows very slowly until it reaches a tipping point, then there is action, and people begin to "disenthrall" themselves from comfortable misinformation. He said we need to keep talking, because if we wait until the undeniable and extreme effects of global global warming to be the tipping point, it will be too late.
He closed by saying:
The time to act is now.
We have everything [all the data] we need.
All we need now is political will.
And in America, political will is a renewable resource
Update/Action Alert: courtesy of NuevoLiberal:
Al Gore has a new site AlGore.com continuing his work on raising political will to address the climate crisis.
An Inconvenient Truth House Parties
When: Saturday, December 16th, 7pm ET
Where: Your House
What: Spreading the word about global warming.
Letter Writing Campaign
"Sign a note to your representatives, so that Al can take our messages to Washington next year and present them to the new Congress. It only takes a minute to add your voice. Just click here"
Go on over to the site and signup for one or both of these campaigns!
AlGore.com
Thanks NuevoLiberal for classing up my diary!
Update #2: HollyGreeenDem has a great summary of her own on the speech in the comments.