Some interesting information via George Monbiot (one of my favorite political writers):
The Union of Concerned Scientists found that 58% of the 279 climate scientists working at federal agencies in the US who responded to its survey reported that they had experienced one of the following constraints: 1. Pressure to eliminate the words “climate change”, “global warming”, or other similar terms from their communications; 2. Editing of scientific reports by their superiors that “changed the meaning of scientific findings”; 3. Statements by officials at their agencies that misrepresented their findings; 4. The disappearance or unusual delay of websites, reports, or other science-based materials relating to climate; 5. New or unusual administrative requirements that impair climate-related work; 6. Situations in which scientists have actively objected to, resigned from, or removed themselves from a project because of pressure to change scientific findings. They reported 435 incidents of political interference over the past five years.
I vaguely recall hearing about the study he's describing when it came out in late January of 2007, but I'd never seen any details of the findings.
This is particularly relevant in light of this week's news that the U.S. and China watered down the latest report on global warming from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
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