Bush Aide Rejects Climate Goal: Science Adviser's Stance at Odds With Panel on Warming

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: Washington Post

By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 19, 2007; Page A02

The president's top science adviser said yesterday there is no solid scientific evidence that the widely cited goal of limiting future global temperature rises to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels is necessary to avert dangerous climate change, an assertion that runs counter to that of many scientists as well as the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

John H. Marburger III, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said at a news conference that the target of preventing Earth from warming more than two degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, "is going to be a very difficult one to achieve and is not actually linked to regional events that affect people's lives."

A wide number of scientists, as well as European leaders and many U.S. lawmakers, have endorsed the goal of limiting global temperature rise to that level. That roughly translates to holding the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to 450 parts per million of carbon dioxide or equivalents, compared with the current level of roughly 385 parts per million.

The atmosphere has already warmed by 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit compared with pre-industrial levels. In its April report, the IPCC outlined a range of environmental impacts that could transpire if temperatures rise 1.8 to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit above 1980 levels. These include placing between 20 and 30 percent of all species "at increasing risk of extinction" damaging most coral reefs; and "increased morbidity and mortality from heat waves, floods and droughts."

Marburger said that while there is general agreement that human activity is producing too much carbon dioxide and "you could have emerging disasters long before you get to two degrees. . . . There is no scientific criterion for establishing numbers like that."...

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/18/AR2007101802243.html?hpid=topnews

[Occulus]

1. Oh my God.

What. The. Hell.

Let me break down this shithead's comments:

John H. Marburger III, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said at a news conference that the target of preventing Earth from warming more than two degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, "is going to be a very difficult one to achieve and is not actually linked to regional events that affect people's lives."

Okay, in the first place, just exactly what the bloody hell does that bolded part of his statement actually mean? I don't have an analogy tht compares to this stream of garbage. What exactly is meant by that? I can't tell.

Then he goes on later to say this:

...human activity is producing too much carbon dioxide and "you could have emerging disasters long before you get to two degrees. . . . There is no scientific criterion for establishing numbers like that."

Emerging disasters. Such as WWIII, perhaps? A terrorist attack? The Yellowstone caldera blowing its top?

What fantasy is this man jerking off to imagining that he thinks it will dwarf global climate change as a serious problem that needs our attention?

Alice? Can you point me back to the rabbit hole, please? I seem to have lost my way...

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Thanks for your post, kgfnally -- well done! nt

[Lautremont]

3. In his second statement there, I believe he's agreeing that natural disasters will result

with a two-degree temperature increase (I should probably say "natural"), but he doesn't seem to believe that any science has been done to establish such an increase.

Another head-in-the-sand numbskull.

[lurky]

4. Emerging Disasters = The Rapture?

I wonder how much the evangelical end-times mindset plays into this mindset. As in: "Who cares about climate change! We'll all be golfing with Jesus before it does any real damage."

[truthisfreedom]

5. Hey bush... you'd better issue John a Medal of Freedom award sometime this week.

Because the rate of acceleration of Global Warming is beyond anyone's previous predictions. Like oil prices exceeding $100/bbl, everything seems to be happening within a matter of weeks.

[rodeodance]

6. Can the EARTH wait another 18 months?-----

[onehandle]

7. His stance is too narrow. He needs to widen it a bit.

Tap his foot. Wave his hand under the stall.

That's what lying whores do.

[tanyev]

8. I think that should be "science" adviser.

[yellowcanine]

9. Well no, we don't know what the critical numbers are above which all * breaks loose.

On the other hand we would rather not find out either. The point is we don't want to conduct an uncontrolled experiment with the whole earth. And there is plenty of scientific evidence that conducting uncontrolled experiments with ecosystems, let alone the whole earth, is a bad idea. That should be good enough reason for doing everything we can to limit emissions of greenhouse gases.

[olddad56]

10. There is no evidence that a full on nuclear war will hurt us or the environment either.

and I have seen pigs flying low across the evening sky lately.

[Stephanie]

11. Who is he? He needs to go. He needs to go NOW.

Good god I can't believe I'm witnessing the end of the world and nobody does anything about it. Who is this guy? I will swift boat his ass. What will it take to get him out?

[Stephanie]

12. Another no-necked monster >

Dr. John H. Marburger, III, Science Adviser to the President and Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, was born on Staten Island N.Y., grew up in Maryland near Washington D.C. and attended Princeton University (B.A., Physics 1962) and Stanford University (Ph.D. Applied Physics 1967). Before his appointment in the Executive Office of the President, he served as Director of Brookhaven National Laboratory from 1998, and as the third President of the State University of New York at Stony Brook (1980-1994). He came to Long Island in 1980 from the University of Southern California where he had been a Professor of Physics and Electrical Engineering, serving as Physics Department Chairman and Dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences in the 1970's. In the fall of 1994 he returned to the faculty at Stony Brook, teaching and doing research in optical science as a University Professor. Three years later he became President of Brookhaven Science Associates, a partnership between the university and Battelle Memorial Institute that competed for and won the contract to operate Brookhaven National Laboratory.
While at the University of Southern California, Marburger contributed to the rapidly growing field of nonlinear optics, a subject created by the invention of the laser in 1960. He developed theory for various laser phenomena and was a co-founder of the University of Southern California's Center for Laser Studies. His teaching activities included "Frontiers of Electronics," a series of educational programs on CBS television.

Marburger's presidency at Stony Brook coincided with the opening and growth of University Hospital and the development of the biological sciences as a major strength of the university. During the 1980's federally sponsored scientific research at Stony Brook grew to exceed that of any other public university in the northeastern United States.

During his presidency, Marburger served on numerous boards and committees, including chairmanship of the governor's commission on the Shoreham Nuclear Power facility, and chairmanship of the 80 campus "Universities Research Association" which operates Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Chicago. He served as a trustee of Princeton University and many other organizations. He also chaired the highly successful 1991/92 Long Island United Way campaign.

While on leave from Stony Brook, Marburger carried out the mandates of the Department of Energy to improve management practice at Brookhaven National Laboratory. His company, Brookhaven Science Associates, continued to produce excellent science at the lab while achieving ISO14001 certification of the lab's environmental management system, and winning back the confidence and support of the community.