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Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (20688)	6/8/2005 10:47:25 AM
From: 10K a day	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 362361

did i see u on the corner in willits california a couple weekends ago....with a sign...

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (20688)	6/8/2005 10:58:23 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Respond to of 362361

Science Academies Urge Greenhouse Gas Cuts By ROBERT BARR, Associated Press Writer Tue Jun 7,12:22 PM ET LONDON - The U.S. National Academy of Sciences joined similar groups from other nations Tuesday in a call for prompt action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, warning that delays will be costly. The statement was released as British Prime Minister Tony Blair was meeting with President Bush in Washington. Blair has made action on climate change a priority for the July G-8 summit. Bush opposes the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, and his administration questions scientists' views that man-made pollutants are causing temperatures to rise. Lord May, president of Britain's Royal Society, said in releasing the statement that Bush's policy on climate change was "misguided" and ignored scientific evidence. The statement called on G-8 countries to "identify cost-effective steps that can be taken now to contribute to substantial and long-term reductions in net global greenhouse gas emissions." It urged the G-8 nations to "recognize that delayed action will increase the risk of adverse environmental effects and will likely incur a greater cost." Besides the U.S. and British academies, the statement was published by those in France, Russia, Germany, Japan, Italy and Canada, along with ones in Brazil, China and India. "It is clear that world leaders, including the G-8, can no longer use uncertainty about aspects of climate change as an excuse for not taking urgent action to cut greenhouse gas emissions," Lord May said. He noted the statement was endorsed by scientists in Brazil, China and India — nations "who are among the largest emitters of greenhouse gases in the developing world." "The Bush administration has consistently refused to accept the advice of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. The NAS concluded in 1992 that, 'Despite the great uncertainties, greenhouse warming is a potential threat sufficient to justify action now,' by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases," May said. The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit society of scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research. "Getting the U.S. on board is critical because of the sheer amount of greenhouse gas emissions they are responsible for," May said. He said the Royal Society had calculated that the 13 percent rise in greenhouse gas emissions from the U.S. between 1990 and 2002 was bigger than the overall cut achieved if all the other parties to the Kyoto Protocol reach their targets. The statement signed by the academies said evidence of global warming included "direct measurements of rising surface air temperatures and subsurface ocean temperatures and from phenomena such as increases in average global sea levels, retreating glaciers, and changes to many physical and biological systems." The 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which went into effect without United States support, targets carbon dioxide and five other gases that can trap heat in the atmosphere and are believed to be behind rising global temperatures that many scientists say are disrupting weather patterns. The Bush administration opposes the treaty because officials believe it would raise energy prices and cost 5 million U.S. jobs. The statement urged G-8 leaders and others to: _Acknowledge the threat of climate change is "clear and increasing." _Launch an international study to help set emission targets to avoid unacceptable impacts. _Identify cost-effective steps to take now to contribute to "substantial and long-term reduction in net global greenhouse gas emissions." _Work with developing nations to build there scientific and technological capacity. _Take a lead in developing and deploying clean energy technologies. _Mobilize the science and technology community to enhance research and development. ___ news.yahoo.com

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (20688)	6/8/2005 11:29:16 AM
From: ThirdEye	Respond to of 362361

Official altered reports on links to global warming U.S. climate research edited to downplay effects of greenhouse gases on environment - Andrew C. Revkin, New York Times Wednesday, June 8, 2005 A White House official who once led the oil industry's fight against limits on greenhouse gases has repeatedly edited government climate reports in ways that play down links between such emissions and global warming, according to internal documents. In handwritten notes on drafts of several reports issued in 2002 and 2003, the official, Philip Cooney, removed or adjusted descriptions of climate research that government scientists and their supervisors, including some senior Bush administration officials, had already approved. In most cases, the changes appeared in the final reports. The dozens of changes, while sometimes as subtle as the insertion of the phrase "significant and fundamental" before the word "uncertainties," tend to produce an air of doubt about findings that most climate experts say are robust. Cooney is chief of staff for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the office that helps devise and promote administration policies on environmental issues. Before going to the White House in 2001, he was the "climate team leader" and a lobbyist at the American Petroleum Institute, the largest trade group representing the interests of the oil industry. A lawyer with a bachelor's degree in economics, he has no scientific training. The documents were obtained by the New York Times from the Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit legal-assistance group for government whistle-blowers. The group is representing Rick Piltz, who resigned in March as a senior associate in the office that coordinates government climate research. That office, now called the Climate Change Science Program, issued the documents that Cooney edited. A White House spokeswoman, Michele St. Martin, said Tuesday that Cooney would not be made available to comment. Other White House officials said the changes made by Cooney were part of the normal interagency review that takes place on all documents related to global environmental change. But critics say that though all administrations routinely vet government reports, scientific content in such reports should be reviewed by scientists. Climate experts and representatives of environmental groups, when shown examples of the revisions, said they illustrated the significant if largely invisible influence of Cooney and other White House officials with ties to energy industries that have long fought greenhouse gas restrictions. In a memorandum sent last week to the top officials dealing with climate change at a dozen agencies, Piltz said the White House editing and other actions threatened to taint the government's $1.8 billion-a-year effort to clarify the causes and consequences of climate change. "Each administration has a policy position on climate change," Piltz wrote. "But I have not seen a situation like the one that has developed under this administration during the past four years, in which politicization by the White House has fed back directly into the science program in such a way as to undermine the credibility and integrity of the program." Efforts by the Bush administration to highlight uncertainties in science pointing to human-caused warming have put the United States at odds with other nations and with scientific groups at home. Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain, who met with President Bush at the White House on Tuesday, has been trying for several months to persuade Bush to intensify U.S. efforts to curb greenhouse gases. Bush has called only for voluntary measures to slow growth in emissions through 2012. On Tuesday, saying their goal was to influence that meeting, the scientific academies of 11 countries, including those of the United States and Britain, released a joint letter saying "the scientific understanding of climate change is now sufficiently clear to justify nations taking prompt action."