NAS Report on Climate Change: Where is the Outrage? – In the News

“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.’

Abraham Lincoln

My 6^th grade son just completed a report on Abraham Lincoln, and I found these words by Lincoln particularly compelling and relevant in the face of the current state of climate change policy inaction in the United States. I find it ironic that with foresight, and with responsibility for the well being of the nation, that on March 3, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln signed the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) into being. As mandated by its Act of Incorporation, the NAS has, since 1863, had the responsibility to “investigate, examine, experiment, and report upon any subject of science or art” whenever called upon to do so by any department of the government. Most recently, the NAS has been called upon by Congress to examine the impacts of climate change on the United States.

On May 19, 2010 NAS issued three reports emphasizing why the U.S. should act now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and develop a national strategy to adapt to the inevitable impacts of climate change. The reports by the Research Council, the operating arm of the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering, are part of a congressionally requested suite of five studies known as America’s Climate Choices. “These reports show that the state of climate change science is strong,” said Ralph J. Cicerone, president of the National Academy of Sciences.  “But the nation also needs the scientific community to expand upon its understanding of why climate change is happening, and focus also on when and where the most severe impacts will occur and what we can do to respond.”

Why aren’t these reports or previous NAS reports on the climate change receiving front-page national attention from our nation’s major news networks and newspapers? Why, when independent scientists, in their strongest voices, tell us that climate change is real, happening and affecting us, do we choose to put our heads in the sand and “evade our responsibilities” putting our planet, and our children in peril. Where is the outrage, the reaction and action?

Recent media attention focusing on climate change skeptics has increased coverage by major news outlets, on fringe opinions, giving equal weight to these isolated views on climate change; seemingly validating these individuals, whose work is in almost every instant, not peer reviewed. Scientists from the NAS and around the world continue to try to make their voices heard, and are speaking out to try to erase the increasing confusion by the general public on the facts behind climate change. Less than two weeks before the release of the official reports on America’s Climate Choices 255 of these top scientists, with direct knowledge and expertise on climate change issues, including 11 Novel Laureates, signed a letter on May 7, 2010 expressing the view that:

“There is compelling, comprehensive, and consistent objective evidence that humans are changing the climate in ways that threaten our societies and the ecosystems on which we depend.” The letter also states that: “We are deeply disturbed by the recent escalation of political assaults on scientists in general and on climate scientists in particular.“

The letter concludes by stating that:

“Society has two choices: we can ignore the science and hide our heads in the sand and hope we are lucky, or we can act in the public interest to reduce the threat of global climate change quickly and substantively.”

Yet for some reason, we continue to want to question the validity of the facts presented by these distinguished and qualified scientists, who painstaking present the facts on climate change, through peer reviewed studies. Is it possible that we are doing this in the hopes of escaping our current “responsibility” to do something about climate change as we continue to ignore the seriousness of the issues before us? Over the years, the NAS has expanded to include the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council; The NAS provides a unique public service by working outside the framework of government to ensure independent advice on matters of science, technology, and medicine. They enlist committees of the nation’s top scientists, engineers, and other experts. Leading scientists from this independent, non-partisan organization are telling us to face our responsibilities and take action in the face of climate change and yet, we in the USA continue to evade and ignore their advice, in the face of partisan political deadlock.

There is a link to the report in the side panel of our blog; you can click on it for more information, or to purchase the reports directly from the NAS.