My second three-year contract with the Melbourne-based Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) ended with the financial year and is not being renewed.
I learnt a lot during the six years – especially early on with Andrew McIntyre teaching me how to write opinion (without reference to endnotes or footnotes) and Mike Nahan was always enthusiastic and supportive of my endeavours to understand the real state of the Murray River environment. [Read more…] about Jennifer Marohasy Leaves the IPA
A WEEK ago President Barrack Obama praised the House of Representatives for passing the ‘Clean Energy and Security Act’. Everyone agrees that it’s far reaching legislation.
The US Environment Protection Agency had one of its employees, a 35-year veteran of the agency, Alan Carlin, critique the supporting technical documentation for the legislation. Mr Carlin’s report advised that the scientific hypothesis on which the draft legislation is based is seriously flawed. Instead of considering the report in some detail, Mr Carlin was censored. The claim of censorship runs contrary to the new President’s promises of more transparency as explained by Kimberley A. Strassel in the Wall Street Journal:
“ONE of President Barack Obama’s first acts was a memo to agencies demanding new transparency in government, and science.
“The nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Lisa Jackson, joined in, exclaiming, ‘As administrator, I will ensure EPA’s efforts to address the environmental crises of today are rooted in three fundamental values: science-based policies and program, adherence to the rule of law, and overwhelming transparency.’ In case anyone missed the point, Mr. Obama took another shot at his predecessors in April, vowing that ‘the days of science taking a backseat to ideology are over.’
[Read more…] about Rational Advice on ‘Carbon Act’ Censored (Part 2)
“YET the deniers are choosing, willfully, to ignore that threat, placing future generations of Americans in grave danger, simply because it’s in their political interest to pretend that there’s nothing to worry about. If that’s not betrayal, I don’t know what is.”
This extract from a column in the New York Times by Paul Krugman refers specifically to politicians who voted against the cap and trade legislation last Friday in the US House of Representatives. [Read more…] about Harsh Words for ‘Deniers’ from Nobel Laureate
Promo for “.eco,” a top level domain for green-minded nonprofits, businesses, and individuals on the internet. Video here.
Actress Daryl Hannah was arrested this afternoon in West Virginia along with NASA climatologist James Hansen, local activist Michael Brune of Rainforest Action Network, Goldman Prize winner Judy Bonds, 94-year-old former U.S. Representative Ken Hechler and more than a dozen others. Read more here.
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“THE improver of natural knowledge absolutely refuses to acknowledge authority, as such. For him, scepticism is the highest of duties; blind faith the one unpardonable sin.”
This quote from Thomas Huxley is a favourite among so called ‘climate sceptics’.
Mr Huxley, a self-taught 18th Century British biologist ruthlessly attacked the established consensus in defence of Charles Darwin’s new theory of evolution by natural selection.
The word sceptic has come to be associated with those who doubt the accepted consensus on anthropogenic global warming. It is generally used by non-sceptics disparagingly to suggest this group would doubt any assertion or apparent fact.
Some sceptics who understand the use of the term in this classic sense insist they are not sceptics, but rather rationalist. The outspoken Australian geologist Bob Carter is a case in point.
Others embrace the label as meaning a person who seeks the truth. This meaning is consistent with Mr Huxley’s writings.
Of course few doubters of the modern consensus on anthropogenic global warming are always true to Thomas Huxley’s ideals, but it is surely a worthy goal – to seek the truth above all else. [Read more…] about Defining the Sceptics (Part 1)
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.
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