NASA CLIMATOLOGIST SPEAKS OUT
SCIENCE -- NASA CLIMATOLOGIST SPEAKS OUT ABOUT ADMINISTRATION'S ATTEMPTS TO SILENCE HIM: James Hansen, the head of NASA's top institute studying the climate and arguably the world's leading researcher on global warming, told CBS's 60 Minutes last night that the Bush administration is censoring what he can say to the public. As proof, Hansen displayed a 2004 email he received that read, "The White House [is] now reviewing all climate related press releases." Hansen believes global warming is accelerating, pointing to the melting Arctic and to Antarctica, where new data show massive loss of ice to the sea. "In my more than three decades in the government I've never witnessed such restrictions on the ability of scientists to communicate with the public," said Hansen. The White House disputes the science behind global warming. While Bush ignores the counsel of the world's leading scientists who warn of pending environmental disaster, he solicits the opinions of fiction author Michael Crichton who tells him the science on warming is underwhelming. The White House has also relied on the advice of oil industry lobbyist Philip Cooney who, while he worked on the Council on Environmental Quality, edited government climate reports to play down links between greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. Hansen explains the danger of the White House's ignorance: "If the ice sheets begin to disintegrate, what can you do about it? You can’t tie a rope around the ice sheet. You can’t build a wall around the ice sheets. It will be a situation that is out of our control."