Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

homestead - Re: [Homestead] Holdren on climate change

homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Homestead mailing list

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: bobf <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Holdren on climate change
  • Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2008 13:35:49 -0800 (PST)

Gerald, this is in today's WSJ. By the way, Bev said you are "jerry".
'sorry, I didn't know................

---------------------------------------------------------------------


Sunday, December 21, 2008 As of 6:51 AM EST




DECEMBER 21, 2008, 6:51 A.M. ET Obama Fills Science Posts With Climate Change
Experts Article


WASHINGTON -- President-elect Barack Obama on Saturday named Harvard
physicist John Holdren and marine biologist Jane Lubchenco to top science
posts, signaling a change from Bush administration policies on global warming
that were criticized for putting politics over science.

Both Mr. Holdren and Ms. Lubchenco are leading experts on climate change who
have advocated forceful government response. Mr. Holdren will become Mr.
Obama's science adviser as director of the White House Office of Science and
Technology Policy; Ms. Lubchenco will lead the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, which oversees ocean and atmospheric studies and
does much of the government's research on global warming.

Mr. Holdren also will direct the president's Council of Advisers on Science
and Technology. Joining him as co-chairs will be Nobel Prize-winning
scientist Harold Varmus, a former director of the National Institutes of
Health, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Eric Lander, a
specialist in human genome research.

"From landing on the moon, to sequencing the human genome, to inventing the
Internet, America has been the first to cross that new frontier because we
had leaders who paved the way," Mr. Obama said in announcing his selections
in his weekly radio address. "Leaders who not only invested in our
scientists, but who respected the integrity of the scientific process."

"Because the truth is that promoting science isn't just about providing
resources -- it's about protecting free and open inquiry. It's about ensuring
that facts and evidence are never twisted or obscured by politics or
ideology," he said. "I could not have a better team to guide me in this work."

In their posts, the four scientists will confront challenges in global
warming after years of inaction by the Bush administration, which opposed
mandatory cuts of greenhouse gas pollution. Last year, former Surgeon General
Richard Carmona testified to Congress that top Bush administration officials
often dismissed global warming as a "liberal cause" and sought to play down
public health reports out of political considerations.

Since 1993, summer Arctic sea ice has lost the equivalent of Alaska,
California and Texas, and global warming is accelerating. The amount of
carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere has already pushed past the level some
scientists say is safe.

Mr. Holdren, 64, is a former president of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science in Washington who has pushed for more urgent action on
global warming. As Mr. Obama's top science adviser, he would manage about 40
Ph.D-level experts who help shape and communicate science and technology
policy.

Colleagues say the post is well-suited for Mr. Holdren, who at Harvard went
from battling the spread of nuclear weapons to tackling the threat of global
warming. He's an award-laden scientist comfortable in many different fields.

"Global warming is a misnomer. It implies something gradual, something
uniform, something quite possibly benign, and what we're experiencing is none
of those," Mr. Holdren said a year ago in a speech at Harvard. "There is
already widespread harm .. occurring from climate change. This is not just a
problem for our children and our grandchildren."

Ms. Lubchenco, an Oregon State University professor specializing in
overfishing and climate change, will be the first woman to head NOAA. A
member of the Pew Oceans Commission, Ms. Lubchenco has recommended steps to
overcome crippling damage to the world's oceans from overfishing and
pollution and has expressed optimism for change once President George W. Bush
leaves office.

"The Bush administration has not been respectful of the science," she said
earlier this year. "But I think that's not true of Republicans in general. I
know it's not. I am very much looking forward to a new administration that
does respect scientific information and that considers it very seriously in
making environmental policies."

Mr. Varmus, who was a co-recipient of the Nobel Prize for his research on the
causes of cancer, served as National Institutes of Health director during the
Clinton administration. A former medical professor at the University of
California, San Francisco, he helped found the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer
Care and Prevention and chairs a scientific board at the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation.

Mr. Lander, who teaches at both MIT and Harvard, founded the Whitehead
Institute-MIT Center for Genome Research in 1990, which became part of the
Broad Institute in 2003. A leading researcher in the Human Genome Project, he
and his colleagues are using the findings to explore the molecular mechanisms
behind human disease.

In his radio address, Mr. Obama said he planned early next year to more
closely address the issue of engaging the nation's technology community to
"harness technology and innovation to create jobs, enhance America's
competitiveness and advance our national priorities."

"It's time we once again put science at the top of our agenda and worked to
restore America's place as the world leader in science and technology," he
said.

Copyright © 2008 Associated Press

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122977903455824101.html

------------------------------------------------------------------------



--- On Sat, 12/20/08, Gerald Brittell <gabrittell AT gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Gerald Brittell <gabrittell AT gmail.com>
> Subject: [Homestead] Holdren on climate change
> To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Date: Saturday, December 20, 2008, 11:25 AM
> Here is a very informative speech given recently by John P.
> Holdren,
> Obamas's pick for top Science Adviser. This is a
> remarkable choice given
> the past eight years. The speech, with charts, is a great
> summary of
> present scientific thought on climate change.
>
> http://www.ncseonline.org/Conference/Chafee08final.pdf
>
> jerry b
> _______________________________________________
> Homestead list and subscription:
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/homestead
> Change your homestead list member options:
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/options/homestead/bobford79%40yahoo.com
> View the archives at:
> https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/homestead







Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page