This morning, I faxed to my elected officials letters discussing the importance of the method by which Congress reviews publicly funded science. This letter-writing campaign was kicked off by the singling out in June of three climate scientists by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which I’ve mentioned in previous blog entries [Sekula83] [Sekula84] [Sekula92].
One important thing, right off, is that it’s not that I am concerned that Congress is reviewing science. Congress funds a great many scientific research projects, on behalf of the American people. As the guardians of the purse strings, it is not only right, it is *necessary*, that they conduct reviews of that research. It’s also not the kind of science targeted that kicked off this campaign. Climate research is fiercely politicized, and for very good reasons: its findings, which overwhelmingly point to human-induced global warming (or “scorching”, as some have advocated making this distinction since the Earth does naturally warm and cool over time), clearly suggest that U.S. and world energy policy needs to change, and change fast. This is naturally charged with politics.
The reason that I, and I hope you as well, write letters to Congress about this is the method of review chosen in this case. Instead of assembling a panel, some of whose members are scientists with the knowledge to adequately review this work, or calling on the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a comprehensive, policy informing review of climate science, the House Committee chose personal letters to individual scientists. The Committee – really, Joe Barton, its head – asked for the scientists’ CVs, funding sources, raw data, and analysis software. Barton et al. never stated what would be done with this information, leaving to the imagination the method of review that will be chosen. There is much concern that the Committee will take it upon itself to conduct the review, calling on scientists from the energy industry with clear conflicts of interest to review the analysis.
I implore you to go to “scienceaction.org”:http://scienceaction.org and immediately draft letters to your Congressional representatives. The site will even draft the letters for you, and return copies:
“Automatically Generate Letters Calling for Proper Scientific Review by Congress”:http://www.scienceaction.org/saLetterForm?issue=20050812143149
Of course, you should be informed about this issue before sending your letters:
“Get Information about the precedent set by targeting individual scientists”:http://www.scienceaction.org/actions/20050812143149
I faxed my letters using my home fax machine. It’s important, when acting as a private citizen on such issues, not to employ government property (e.g. a laboratory fax machine) when sending letters. In total, it took me 20 minutes to put together my letters for Senators Boxer, Feinstein, Kennedy, and Kerry, Congressman Lantos, and Congresswoman Baldwin. It took about the same time to fax. In less than one hour, I had exercised my rights as a U.S. citizen to engage my elected officials about matters of import to me.
I hope you, too, find this important, and take 60 minutes to act on this!
“scienceaction.org”:http://scienceaction.org
.. [Sekula83] http://steve.cooleysekula.net/blog/?p=816
.. [Sekula84] http://steve.cooleysekula.net/blog/?p=815
.. [Sekula92] http://steve.cooleysekula.net/blog/?p=807
