July 7, 2007

Spin Control at NASA - Climate Change

Whoops! it seems that NASA's Chief Executive Michael Griffin ruffled some feathers and that they are spinning it as hard as they can. From Live Science:
NASA Chief's Global Warming Remarks Called 'Naive'
NASA sought today to deflect criticism its chief received following skeptical comments he made on the topic of the agency's role in global warming research.

During an interview Wednesday with NPR, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin expressed doubts that global warming was an issue that humans could or should address.

In a telephone interview today, NASA spokesman David Mould told LiveScience that climate is an important issue about which the agency provides a significant quantity of data, and that it will continue to provide that data, but that NASA's job is not to make policies or advise on policies.

Along the same lines, NASA clarified Griffin's remarks in a press release issued late Wednesday:
"NASA is the world's preeminent organization in the study of Earth and the conditions that contribute to climate change and global warming. The agency is responsible for collecting data that is used by the science community and policy makers as part of an ongoing discussion regarding our planet's evolving systems. It is NASA's responsibility to collect, analyze and release information. It is not NASA's mission to make policy regarding possible climate change mitigation strategies. As I stated in the NPR interview, we are proud of our role and I believe we do it well."
Bollocks! Griffin still managed to make his position clear with this:
Griffin's comments to NPR's Morning Edition included: “I have no doubt that global—that a trend of global warming exists. I’m not sure it’s fair to say that is a problem we must wrestle with.”
Like I said before -- the idea that we caused this current warming trend or that we can make a significant change or reversal is pure hubris. Posted by DaveH at July 7, 2007 5:59 PM | TrackBack