Tuesday, October 25, 2011

The Flat Earth Society

"The water level in Galveston Bay off the Texas coast is rising, faster than ever recorded.
That’s what the five scientists who wrote the most recent “State of Galveston Bay” report, commissioned by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, discovered. But the commissioners, appointed by Gov. Rick Perry, don’t want Texans to know that, so they censored the scientists’ report to remove their projection that this rise will accelerate in the future and that it is “one of the main impacts of global climate change.” These political appointees deleted or altered nearly all references to the effects of global warming on the Bay. All of the scientists have asked to have their names removed from the report."
Ignoring science may be good right wing politics, but it is dreadful public policy. Steve Hochstadt, of the Jacksonville Journal Courier, ponders the consequences of stifling scientific data for political gain.