Hey, remember that time the GOP and climate deniers made a huge stink over an ex-EPA administrator using a private email address? Or all those times deniers sued for climate scientists’ emails? Or the time the GOP made a massive fuss over a presidential candidate’s emails?
They, apparently, do not. Because despite explicitly telling the Senate during his confirmation hearing that he never used a personal email account for state business, the Oklahoma attorney’s general office has confirmed that Scott Pruitt... used a personal email account to conduct state business.
We eagerly await the months of investigations, hearings and op-eds to discuss this circumvention of transparency laws and abuse of process.
Just kidding! Obviously, that’s not going to happen, because as we all know those “concerns” were pretense for pointed political attacks.
And those political attacks aren’t slowing down anytime soon. Take, for example, the list of 300 so-called “experts” who called on Trump to pull out of the UNFCCC. John Abraham took a quick look at the signatories, and, surprise surprise, there are not many actual climate scientists on the list. The few who are nominally credible on climate (like Richard Lindzen) are far from consistently correct on the issue.
On the other hand, actual scientists across the country are gearing up for the March for Science in DC at the end of April. With major groups like AAAS coming on board, there seems to be a growing acceptance of the fact that scientists are feeling more comfortable speaking up about politics.
For those who oppose the effort and claim that it’s a bad idea that will damage the credibility of science, well, science says you’re wrong. A new study found that climate scientists can speak out on social media about recent findings, the risks and impacts of climate change, policy options available, broad actions and specific co2 reduction policies without losing any credibility with a Facebook audience. The only message that resulted in a dip in trustworthiness was a proposal to build more nuclear power.
So all you scientists wondering if joining the march is going to cost you, fear not! You’re safe to engage with the public. Just maybe don’t talk about nuclear power!
Or send too many emails…
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