Doug Jones writes in with this:
WUWT readers may be interested to see what the AAAS is doing with members’ funding. I’m amused that they baldly admit that they want to “influence public perceptions and debate when the science supporting a position is not enough to carry the argument.”
What is being said here with “Science Is Not Enough” is:
“If you have the facts on your side, pound the facts. If you have the law on your side, pound the law. If you have neither on your side, pound the table.”
The full text of the email I received is below. Sad, simply sad.
Note the twitter hashtag if you want to participate in the online discussion.
[Note the press release is here: http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2012/0209am_webcast.shtml – Anthony]
===============================================================
From: AAAS Office of Public Programs
To: [undisclosed recipients]
Sent: Fri, February 17, 2012 5:02:17 AM
Subject: Join Live Webcast from AAAS 2012 – Saturday, 18 February at 5 pm PST
View on mobile or on web page
Why do so many political leaders and citizens remain unconcerned about climate change, water scarcity, fisheries depletion, and a host of other science-related global challenges? Find out by joining us for a Webcast of the plenary panel Science Is Not Enough, featuring three of the world’s most knowledgeable and compelling science communicators during the 2012 AAAS Annual Meeting.
This exceptional Webcast—set for 5:00—6:30 p.m. PT on Saturday, February 18—will arm scientists, educators, students, and citizens around the world with messages to help influence public perceptions and debate when the science supporting a position is not enough to carry the argument.
Log onto http://www.aaas.org/go/enough and live-Tweet your questions to #AAASMtg.
Participants in this 90-minute discussion will be:
James Hansen, whose testimony before Congressional committees in the 1980s helped raise broad awareness of the global climate change issue. Dr. Hansen is recognized for speaking truth to powerful entities, for identifying ineffectual policies as “greenwash,” and for outlining the actions that the public must take to protect the future of young people and other species on the planet. He is currently the Director of NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Adjunct Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University.
Olivia Judson, who explores the intersection of science and society, focusing on such controversial issues as the actuarial use of DNA and the potential to grow human organs. Dr. Judson has presented science issues on television many times, most recently when she appeared in an episode of PBS’s “Nova” about DNA connections to evolution. She has written a weekly blog on evolutionary biology for the New York Times website, called “The Wild Side.” She is currently a Research Fellow at Imperial College in London.
Hans Rosling, co-founder of the Gapminder Foundation, which developed the Trendalyzer software for converting international statistics into moving, interactive, and enjoyable graphics. Dr. Rosling promotes a fact-based world view through increased use and understanding of freely accessible public statistics. He presented the television documentary “The Joy of Stats,” which was broadcast in the United Kingdom in 2010. He is currently Professor of International Health at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.
AAAS President Nina Fedoroff will introduce the speakers, and the session will be moderated by Emmy-award winning journalist Frank Sesno, former CNN Washington bureau chief, who is currently Professor and Director of the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University.
Again, the session will begin at 5:00 p.m., PT on Saturday, February 18. Click here to watch what should be one of the most informative yet entertaining Saturday evenings you have had in a while! Be sure to submit your questions via Twitter by using the hashtag #AAASMtg.
You should warn people before posting stuff like this. I nearly died from an apoplectic fit of intense laughter when I unsuspectingly stumbled across the phrase “young people and other species”. I was caught completely off guard, just wasn’t ready for it. Not fair to just hit someone with that without warning. Well, now that I am over the sudden shock and have had a chance to reflect upon the phrase with a degree of detachment, I suppose that it might have merit. I mean, it is a fresh point of view. I see that Joe Prins also alerted to the phrase but with a much more constructive response. I accept his revision but cannot rid myself of the catalog of ideas suggested by the original construction.
D. King said @ur momisugly February 17, 2012 at 1:14 pm
Or because they are sensible enough to change the start date to show the long term trend?
http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/climate/change/trendmaps.cgi?map=rain&area=aus&season=0112&period=1960
The other aspect of it, seemingly there is no “consensus” anymore. Evidently a symptom of an impending death of old paradigms.
You can be sure they will not talk about these:
1…CO2 at 390ppm is better than 310 seventy years ago.
Because crops grow some 40-50 percent faster.
Old growth forests, even, are restarting.
2…Higher world wide temperatures help.
Because a longer growing season across the whole of
Canada is beneficial.
On the edge of the UK to pound coin it reads “Standing on the shoulders of giants.” attributed to Newton.
Looking at this bunch of scientists, in the future it will be reading “sat in the pockets of dwarves!”
That should be two pound coin not to pound, oops! The curse of a tiny screen and fat fingers!
Acorn1 – San Diego said @ur momisugly February 17, 2012 at 1:51 pm
In your dreams pal! A 15% increase in yield maybe, but making stuff up doesn’t cut it around here.
The Loony Tunes conference have come to the home of the loony tunes warmers. Vancouver BC, is a beautiful City, but god we have them by the bucket load. Desmog blog, David Suzuki, Green Peace started here. and to many other environmental wacko’s.
“Global Warming” falling over Europe:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/120/261312396_71297258df.jpg
The future of we skeptics:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uTePTlemZ44/TQfQao8VOXI/AAAAAAAAFyc/sPjvbef-fxo/s1600/Mongol_by_yansoma.jpg
… the science is there, and has been for decades, but it is not getting through to the public …
=================================
the public is too dumb to get it………right?
I canceled my membership in Alternative Seance, Self Serving a while ago in total disgust. The ceased to be an honest broker long ago. Shame that.
The catastrophic AGW by CO2 cult led by the uninspiring guru/activist James Hansen is now a self-castrated pseudo-scientific fringe movement. They appear to only have one argument left to push back against the independent thinker (aka skeptic) led tide of CAGW rejection. Their last ditch argument against independent thinkers is just the old silly one about us being ‘big fossil fuel’ agents for an evil anti-scientific conspiracy against Mother Gaia. It was always bad strategy.
So, dear Hansen and associated cult acolytes, I recommend you get on a path to discuss the concept of independent thinker as an objective epistemological source of climate science dialog/evaluation.
John
D. King says:
February 17, 2012 at 1:14 pm
“Why do so many political leaders and citizens remain unconcerned about…” “…water scarcity…?”
Umm, cuz we live on the water planet?
=================================================
There #$%^$^@ur momisugly#@ur momisugly#$@ur momisugly is no #%$%#%^$^$&%^&%! water #@ur momisugly^$&%@ur momisugly# shortage!!! Sorry, pet peeve.
Are water doesn’t go anywhere. You can’t use it up. It stays right here on this big blue marble. The same water we use for cooking and drinking gets reused for crops and irrigation it gets reused for habitat, and all sorts of neat stuff.
http://suyts.wordpress.com/2012/02/17/you-learn-this-at-yale/ It is the perception they are creating in order to pass more laws for more control.
– The “Science” of supporting anthopogentic climate change is overwhelming, –
Possibly true, but it’s only the word “of” that makes it so.
J says:——Why would we assume that the truths of science would not be in need of some adornment in order to move the minds of men?
LarryL says:——-The “Science” of supporting anthopogentic climate change is overwhelming,
JK—– Can either of you guys show us actual, real evidence that man’s CO2 is causing dangerous global warming?
(We all know that unusual weather is NOT evidence of its cause, melting ice is NOT evidence of its cause, drowning polar bears are not evidence of man’s CO2, CO2 FOLLOWS temperature in Al Gore;s ice cores, nature emits about 97% of the annual CO2 emissions, water vapor causes about twice as much greenhouse effect as CO2, correlation is NOT evidence of causation, and climate models are not evidence for a variety of reasons including the fact that they are considered crap by the top climate scientists in their emails. )
Still waiting for real evidence.
Thanks
JK
“James Hansen, whose testimony before Congressional committees in the 1980s helped raise broad awareness of the global climate change issue.”
Can’t wait to hear him tell us how all those predictions he made during his testimony have come true and things are worse than his scariest predictions!!!
What do you mean, “Don’t hold your breath”?
Garry says: February 17, 2012 at 1:44 pm
“That’s very odd. You must be on the wrong web site. Go to http://www.aaas.org. In the upper left is a search box. Enter the phrase “influence public perceptions and debate” (in fact you can copy and paste it from this very sentence) and click on the red magnifying glass. You will then get a page of 20 hits, the first three of which contain the exact and precise bolded phrase “influence public perceptions and debate. Easy, eh? ”
Yes, but you will not find “when the science supporting a position is not enough to carry the argument” which is by far the most interesting part of the quote.
Reading what I actually wrote is almost as easy as putting it into the search box, eh?
Actually, it might be an interesting discussion. James Hansen might be more know as an alarmist, but he also realized that the only alternative to fossil fuel is nuclear. It would be interesting to hear if he would elaborate on the public’s negative preception about nuclear energy and the green movement permanent denials of science when it comes to nuclear safety.
Hans Rosling has amazing presentations (at http://www.ted.org) on population development (growth, wealth and health) that make it very clear, why we need energy for civilized life.
Conflating “climate change” with true environmental needs such as fisheries and watersheds has proven to be a disaster. The phony Warmists, alarmism has sucked the life out of true environmental remediation and preservation. Billions have been spent on worthless schemes and research.
If anyone is interested, I can personally attest that Nina Fedoroff has been steadfast in defending REAL SCIENCE and rational perspective in the area of genetic engineering/biotechnology. She is truly an ally to us– one who is rooted in reality.
The AAAS has been tacking left for decades, but Nina may represent a turning point. Reach out to her in rational terms and she’ll take this up with Hansen!!
I’ll send her a note.
🙂
Smokey says:
February 17, 2012 at 12:49 pm
“…Dr Steven Schneider wrote: Blah Blah
They’ve made their choice. They decided to be effective….”
Bravo, Smokey, that’s it in a nutshell. The lies and exaggerations and dirty tricks come back to haunt them; it will be a lot tougher and more expensive now than it was 20 or even 10 years ago. Hopefully, in our lifetime we’ll see the worst of these charlatans face some kind of comeuppance.
Frank K. said @ur momisugly February 17, 2012 at 1:05 pm
They have never cared about ordinary people and their lives, but they do not live in a fantasy world except to the extent perhaps we all do. The clowns have always aligned themselves with our political Lords and Masters for the very sound reason that is where the money & prestige lie.
History is our great teacher here. Ordinary people began to experience progress back in the Middle Ages about a thousand years ago when windmills and animal power began to replace slave labour. Food became more plentiful and for the first time humanity gained a Middle Class in Western Europe.
When the Medieval Climate Optimum had passed into the Little Ice Age, civilisation survived, despite the calamities of the plagues brought on by food shortages. Previouslt, civilisation had collapsed under the pressure of climatic decline. This is the European Miracle. New technologies and innovative economics enabled the pace of change to gradually increase resulting in what we see today: a Working Class with the same standard of living the Middle Class had 50 years ago.
The Middle Class is the engine driving the economic & technological miracle. Our political Lords and Masters are attempting to persuade the Middle Class to commit economic suicide, sadly with some considerable success so far. Pricing energy out of the reach of both the Working Class and the Middle Class can only benefit our political Lords and Masters. The Middle Class appear to be asleep at the wheel.
Better get off my high horse now…
Why does science have to move the minds of men ?
The truth about CO2 and climate was there before there were any men and it will be there long after there are none left.
The job of science is to shine a light on it and attempt to expose the truth for study. The technologist will then use the knowledge to try to improve the lot of humanity, the the politican will try to move the minds of men when there is a decision to be made about which path to take.
Wasnt it very recently that travesty T was telling us to listen to the specialists?
I always thought that quotation marks were meant to denote a quotation! This is NOT a quote from the press release that was mentioned above.
It is sad that Anthony baldly accepts the misquote and then goes on to hype Doug’s misquote as if it came AAAS, causing others (like Willis) to think this is indeed what AAAS said. A little fact-checking would have gone a long way.
The closest I can find on the AAAS site is a quote (for the event in question) that states “An exceptional plenary panel will arm scientists, educators, and students with finely worded messages to influence public perceptions and debate about science-related global challenges.” Note that the inflamatory part of the supposed quote (“when the science supporting a position is not enough to carry the argument.”) is nowhere to be found.
So Anthony, what in the actual AAAS statement do you equate to AAAS saying “If you have neither on your side, pound the table.” this this is “what is being said here” according to you?
suyts says:
February 17, 2012 at 2:09 pm
“There #$%^$^@ur momisugly#@ur momisugly#$@ur momisugly is no #%$%#%^$^$&%^&%! water #@ur momisugly^$&%@ur momisugly# shortage!!! Sorry, pet peeve.”
Me too, drives me nuts!