Over the past week, biologists and wildlife officials received a cover note and two sample memorandums to be used as a guide in preparing travel requests. Under the heading "Foreign Travel — New Requirement — Please Review and Comply, Importance: High," the cover note said:
"Please be advised that all foreign travel requests (SF 1175 requests) and any future travel requests involving or potentially involving climate change, sea ice and/or polar bears will also require a memorandum from the regional director to the director indicating who’ll be the official spokesman on the trip and the one responding to questions on these issues, particularly polar bears."
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Electronic copies of the memorandums and cover note were forwarded to The New York Times by Deborah Williams, an environmental campaigner in Alaska and a former Interior Department official in the Clinton administration. "This sure sounds like a Soviet-style directive to me," Ms. Williams said.
As the article notes, the Bush administration already has a terrible record of muzzling scientists and preventing discussions on global warming. Now we see that all of the "concern" from George Bush over climate change and the polar bears was nothing but a bunch of hot air.
Update: Just to refresh our memories, the Bush administration was trying to be the good guys on Polar Bears just two months ago. From an LA Times Op-ed:
ON DEC. 27, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced a proposal to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act because of the loss of its sea ice habitat from global warming. This proposal marks the first legally binding admission by the Bush administration of the reality of global warming. The significance of the polar bear decision has not been missed by those who stand to benefit from a continuation of the administration's head-in-the-sand approach to global warming. Once protection for the polar bear is finalized, federal agencies and other large greenhouse gas emitters will be required by law to ensure that their emissions do not jeopardize the species. And the only way to avoid jeopardizing the polar bear is to reduce emissions.
Predictably, opponents of emissions cuts are doing what they have always done: claim a scientific dispute where none exists and urge that no action be taken until the science is "conclusive." Singing this tired tune, an editorial in the Wall Street Journal last week called the proposal to protect polar bears a "triumph of politics over science," arguing that polar bears are "overly abundant" and that the species cannot be considered threatened until its population has further declined.
So, when push comes to shove, big oil and big energy win out once again, despite the early optimism. I, for one, was never convinced any particular corner had been turned.
I don't think it's a real guess to say that the sudden decision to begin muzzling scientists means that we can expect no further meaningful action from the administration to protect vunerable species from climate change, including homo sapiens.
Update 2: Per Shaniriver's comment below, consider donating to the Natural Resources Defense Council so that they can air a nationwide ad about global warming.
Update 3: Per kmiddle's comment below, the Inuit have begun attempting to use human rights law to stop global warming. The article notes that, for the first time ever, air conditioners are being used in the arctic during the summertime. Kmiddle also notes that the conditions this spring may be particularly dire because of the lack of sea ice from the warm winter.
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