Friday 29th of March 2024

incompetence and conspiracy mix...

csiro

Most government cockups happen when politics interferes with good administration, resulting in stupid decisions. Conspiracy, which requires careful thought, is rarely present.

This, I think, explains much about the sacking of CSIRO climate scientists a year ago, ending the long and exceptional CSIRO career of John Church, recognised as a global leader in sea level science.

But it doesn’t explain all of it, and a couple of revelations last week indicate an agenda – call it a conspiracy if you like – that wants our principal science agency to focus on making a profit.

Internal CSIRO emails ahead of the sackings, posted on ABC Radio National’s websitelast week, revealed a top management keen to ensure that in the review of Australian emissions targets for the 2015 Paris climate meeting, Church and other scientists did not voice their expert views.

CSIRO declined to put in its own official submission – a clear failure to meet its obligations – but its management did finally agree that scientific staff who were members of the Australian Academy of Science could contribute to a submission by that body.

Guided by John Church and other non-CSIRO scientists, the Academy recommended an Australian 2030 emissions target of 30 to 40 per cent below 2000 levels – 50 to 100 per cent stronger than the target the government finally settled on.

The second revelation came in a letter by Tasmanian public health academic Kathryn Barnsley published in the Sunday Tasmanian on April 30, which drew attention to a speech by CSIRO chief executive Larry Marshall to the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) a few days earlier.

Barnsley’s main concerns were that AmCham was tarnished by its close association with the umbrella US Chamber of Commerce, well-known for its support of big tobacco and opposition to carbon emissions control, and that the head of CSIRO should have nothing to do with it.

read more:

http://southwind.com.au/2017/05/09/larry-marshall-and-the-marketing-of-c...

 

expert in bullshit...

President Donald Trump has reportedly tapped a longtime renewable energy antagonist with ties to the Koch brothers to lead the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).

According to an internal memo first reported by E&E News, the president has picked Daniel Simmons to lead the Department of Energy's office that focuses on supporting and developing renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. EERE's work currently includes investments in electric vehicles; solar, geothermal and wind energy; and technologies to reduce energy use in U.S. buildings.

Daniel Simmons' Longstanding Ties to the Kochs

Before Simmons joined the then President-elect's transition team to the DOE in January, he served multiple roles at the Institute for Energy Research (IER), most recently as Vice President for Policy. IER is a Koch-affiliated non-profit think tank that focuses on “energy analysis and free-market energy and environmental policy,” offering reports and analysis criticising plans to lower emissions and attacking renewable energy.

Simmons is also currently listed as a Policy Expert on the Heartland Institute's website.

Before joining IER, Simmons was Director of the Natural Resources Task Force at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the Koch-tied organization designed to link state legislators with corporations and create templates for state legislation.

Simmons' old boss at IER, President Tom Pyle, served as the head of then President-elect Trump's energy transition team.

read more:

https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/05/06/trump-taps-renewable-energy-antagonist-run-renewable-energy-office

"inserting politics into science”...

Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt has dismissed half of the EPA’s key scientific review board members. Some fear the Trump administration is “inserting politics into science” and will favor industries the agency is meant to regulate.

Pruitt is facing a backlash over his decision to not reappoint nine members of the 18-member Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC) – a panel which  reviews research done by EPA scientists within the Office of Research and Development (ORD). 

According to JP Freire, a spokesman for the EPA, Pruitt is considering replacing the academic scientists with representatives from the very industries the EPA regulates.

The administrator believes we should have people on this board who understand the impact of regulations on the regulated community,” Freire told the New York Times. “We want to expand the pool of applicants to as broad a range as possible, to include universities that aren’t typically represented and issues that aren’t typically represented.

Four other members who have already served their maximum two terms have also left, opening the way for Pruitt to fill 13 of the board’s 18 total seats. The scientists who ended their first term at the agency were recently assured they would be able to stay for another term.

Robert Richardson, one of the members of BOSC whose renewal was denied, told Science Magazine that the cuts "just came out of nowhere."

I’ve never heard of any circumstance where someone didn’t serve two consecutive terms,” Richardson told theWashington Post, adding that the dismissals gave him “great concern that objective science is being marginalized in this administration.”

Today, I was Trumped. I have had the pleasure of serving on the EPA Board of Scientific Counselors, and my appointment was terminated today.

— Robert Richardson (@ecotrope) May 5, 2017

Gretchen Goldman, research director at the Center for Science and Democracy, said the EPA’s decision is “inserting politics into science.

"The EPA is treating this scientific advisory board like its members are political appointees when these committees are not political positions. The individuals on these boards are appointed based on scientific expertise not politics,” Goldman said, according to CNN.

read more:

https://www.rt.com/usa/387651-epa-dismissed-half-advisers/

with cash from the chinese...

CSIRO is back in town and back on the world climate research stage. That was the real news in yesterday’s welcome announcement of a new Hobart-based Centre for Southern Hemisphere Oceans Research.

The centre, which has the nifty acronym CSHOR (seashore), is financially supported by China’s largest marine science research institute, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (QNLM).

The full funding commitment for CSHOR is $20 million over 10 years, half of which will come from China. Two Australian universities, Tasmania and New South Wales, are also contributors, offering shared facilities and personnel.

The funding is modest, but the important point is the international connection, which will offer some protection against any further CSIRO funding cuts.

This is just what was needed after CSIRO’s decision early last year to cut climate research resources on grounds that it needed those resources to respond to a government drive for commercially-driven science.

Within a week of the decision’s announcement, thousands of climate scientists from around the world had put their names to a letter to the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, pointing out the critical importance of CSIRO’s multi-decadal investigation of Southern Hemisphere climate.

At the same time, some senior CSIRO scientists were questioning their board and chief executive, Larry Marshall, over declining to put in a submission on Australian climate policy. One of those scientists was world-leading sea level specialist John Church, who was sacked last May.

There was an immediate outcry over the sacking. Responding to the bad press, new science minister Greg Hunt issued a statement that “public good” research into climate change was here to stay.

Extra money was found and plans put together, and in March this year senior CSIRO atmospheric scientist Helen Cleugh took charge of a rebadged CSIRO climate research program, in which remaining climate scientists and programs came together in a new Climate Change Centre.

Key to the development of both CSHOR and the parent Climate Change Centre has been ocean scientist Steve Rintoul, whose long CSIRO career is approaching 30 years. He doesn’t talk about it, but my judgment is that he was an important steadying influence through some troubled times.

read more:

http://southwind.com.au/2017/05/23/chinese-stake-in-hobarts-new-ocean-re...

the imbecile is burning the essential furniture...

"More than 100 jobs in mineral research have already been lost and these further cuts illustrate how government funding is grossly deficient in allowing CSIRO to cope with short term market fluctuations impacting on revenue from industry."

The Marsfield laboratory in Sydney, home to historic research that helped the development of wireless internet technology, will see job cuts in the Data61 unit.

Mr Popovski said the union had been told impacted teams were confined to the communications systems group, within the cyber physical systems program.

It includes small teams working in the electromagnetics, microwave systems, communications and project management capabilities.

"CSIRO needs to go back to being what Australians want: a trusted, government-funded leader in research for the public good and supporting local jobs in our key industries including agriculture, environment, technology, energy manufacturing," Mr Popovski said.

The association has contacted individual staff members to provide information and assistance and is seeking to minimise and mitigate forced redundancies.

It has called on the Turnbull government to improve funding for scientific research and stem Australia's slide in international competition.

CSIRO spokesman Huw Morgan said the changes were similar to staff adjustments in recent years.

"The changes are being made by the business units to ensure they can respond to different or changing demands and adapt when programs come to an end or new skills are needed to meet other opportunities," he said.

An email to staff this week said the cuts were driven by "the need to realign [units'] science capability in line with market demands."

Last month it was revealed moves to cut climate science research jobs at the CSIRO had cost taxpayers almost $3 million, despite an about face by the Turnbull government.

read more:

http://www.smh.com.au/national/public-service/csiro-cuts-57-jobs-from-mi...

and suddenly he finds himself in the leaky boat...

CSIRO chief Larry Marshall said he only learned of the Turnbull government's plan to funnel $444 million for Great Barrier Reef research to a non-profit group in "a rumour", an admission leapt on by federal Labor as further proof the policy was "driven by electoral panic".

Dr Marshall told Senate estimates on Thursday that although he served on the chairman's panel of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation – and had attended each of their bi-annual meetings since becoming CSIRO head in 2015 – he had little inkling the organisation was about to become the main channel for reef research funding.

 

Read more:

https://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/unorthodox-csiro-ceo-mar...

 

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