OPINION/COMMENTARY

Bush Administration Launches Climate Research Plan
The Bush administration on July 24 announced an unprecedented 10-year research plan to better understand how, and to what extent, human activity may be affecting the Earth’s climate.
The new initiative brings together the resources and expertise of 13 federal agencies and is the result of months of consultations with scientists, policy experts, and nongovernmental organizations who make up the federal government’s Climate Change Science Program (CCSP). It reflects an outreach to some 1,200 scientists and representatives of more than 35 countries.
As part of the initiative, Secretary of Commerce Don Evans announced a $103 million two-year federal initiative to accelerate the deployment of new global observation technologies. The initiative will provide data to improve scientists’ understanding of global climate change and their ability to apply that knowledge toward effective solu
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Fixing the Game
Foreign countries are all too ready to accuse the U.S. of not playing its part in the global community when it objects to the Kyoto protocols. Yet "playing its part" might be better thought of as "playing the game," and when the rules of that game are looked at closer, it becomes apparent that the game is as fixed as any "reality" TV show. Most of the other players have written the rules to ensure they win, and America loses. If the grand prize were a holiday or a record contract, this might not be an issue. But in this game, the grand prize is the future prosperity and well-being of both the United States and the world as a whole...
Environmental Scientists Must Stop Crying Wolf
There is a crisis emerging in the scientific community. The ideals of science are being sacrificed to the god of political expediency. Environmental scientists are becoming so obsessed with the righteousness of their cause that they are damning those who wish to use science as an objective tool in public policy decisions. The latest example comes in a Science article* that advocates nothing less than promoting alarmism over environmental hazards, on the basis that the end justifies the means. The article uses economic analysis to argue that the benefits of environmental alarmism outweigh the costs. Yet, as well as endorsing the political reasoning of Niccolo Machiavelli, this paper offends against the ethics of science itself...