Is Science being censored?

Guest post by Blake Wright

Most people think of censoring science as a concept of the past, something only done to protect the church before church and state were separate, however the reality of the situation is censoring still occurs.  Perhaps the church no longer has power in the United States, but money does, more specifically, oil money. This censorship focuses on diverting attention from global warming and discrediting scientists who have any facts that may hurt profits and bring public attention to a human impact on global warming. This can be seen back in 2008 as well as in the still ongoing issue with the ‘poster child’ of global warming, the polar bear drownings. However, this problem does not simply stop with global warming, but can be seen with the current issue of ‘fracking’, which has very evident side affects to water and the environment but is still being fought over by regulators and the energy industry.

Filed under environment, global warming, marine life, sustainability, Uncategorized | Tags: global warming, politics, science | Comment (1)

Performance of US in Environmental Stewardship

A recent survey conducted by researchers at Yale and Columbia Universities concluded that US ranks dead last among the richest 8 countries and 39th among 149 countries evaluated. Link. The survey created an Environmental Peformance Index (EPI) for 149 countries with the help of several indicators within the broad categories of Environmental Health, Air Pollution, Water Resources, Biodiversity and Habitat, Productive Natural Resources, and Climate Change.

The EPI identifies broadly-accepted targets for environmental performance and measures how close each country comes to these goals. As a quantitative gauge of pollution control and natural resource management results, the Index provides a powerful tool for improving policymaking and shifting environmental decision-making onto firmer analytic foundations. Link

What do you think about this survey? Comment especially on the methodology, the quality of data, and the breadth (or extent) of indicators.

Apart from government’s policies (or non-policies), what do you think you can do to raise US’ score. What can you do to increase environmental sustainability awareness among your peers, family, and friends?

Filed under environment, global warming, sustainability | Tags: climate change, environment, environmental management, health, politics, pollution, water resources | Comments (11)