NASA distorted climate-change reports

A bit late to chime in, but I have to say i agree that science is the mot poorly reported field of them all. People tend to treat it as just one thing and just don't get how science works. But in the end, much of it is pretty understandable if you do just a very little bit of research. That's one of the great ups of the WWW!

Your welcome Clay and thanks for the kudos.

Sorry TY I couldn’t keep my mouth shut. Since joining current.com I’ve come to realize way to many eco-friendly(or as I call them in this situation Ecofreaks) bad mouth NASA because they know nothing about the space program. The fact of the matter is NASA spends billions a year on earth based research which absolutely benefits their cause(and mine cause I like the environment too).

Without the space program it’s possible we would have never heard of ozone depletion, global warming and climate change. You can’t recite scientific data relevant to those issues without referencing the work of NASA scientists. Yet ecofreaks will never acknowledge this because NASA is a government agency. Plus space shuttles do not run on ethanol and satellites are not constructed out of hemp.

thanks for actually reading it ricky~!

I heard about this on Michigan Public Radio. It is not all that surprising, but it is certainly disgusting and immoral. To have a science organization put off releasing reports and not explaining the entire truth... not up to NASA's standards.

They distorted it to try and shock the more republican side of congress even some democrats to become more green, that what i read ion a separate story, not that this comes out people are less likely to listen to them.

Most people and law makers know that the climate is changing and that it is going to shit, it's not that they don’t care, they care more about other things and need to see more of a economical way to change things, which is horrible, but that’s the way it is.

I’m sorry but the Times article does not provide enough information to cover the issue. You should of went to NASA.gov before you submitted this article. Its wrong for a news outlet to make false accusations when the truth is readily available to ANYONE. Had you of taken the time to actually read the findings of the inquiry I believe the title of your article would have been much different.

I’m going to quote the actual findings of the inquiry.

“We also concluded that the climate change editorial decisions were localized within the NASA Headquarters Office of Public Affairs; we found no credible evidence suggesting that senior NASA or Administration officials directed the NASA Headquarters Office of Public Affairs to minimize information relating to climate change.”

Senior NASA Headquarters Office of Public Affairs officials (political appointees3) deny such actions, claiming that many of the proposed news releases were poorly written or too technical in nature for meaningful broad public dissemination. “

Once again it wasn’t the officers or senior NASA officials. The blame rests on the political appointees who run the office of public affairs. They CLAIM they didn’t understand the documents offered by the scientists.(lol what a crappy excuse. Remind you of anyone?)

“To the contrary, we found that once NASA leadership within the Office of the Administrator were made aware of the scope of the conflict between the Office of Public Affairs and scientists working on climate change, they aggressively implemented new policies with a view toward improved processes in editorial decision-making relating to scientific public affairs matters ””

Some within the OPR mainly scientists claim that their facts were distorted to go along with the party line. The inquiry determined this is probable due to the volume of evidence which shows that political interference was to blame rather than then a poor quality of draft news releases. When true NASA employees( ie the administration department) discovered the truth they changed the rules so such a thing could never happen again.

“Regarding media access, our investigation confirmed that, contrary to its established procedures, the NASA Headquarters Office of Public Affairs declined to make one of NASA’s scientists, Dr. James E. Hansen, available for a radio interview with National Public Radio in December 2005. Our investigative efforts revealed that NASA’s decision was based, in part, on concern that Dr. Hansen would not limit his responses to scientific information but would instead entertain a discussion on policy issues. NASA maintains that the decision to deny media access to Dr. Hansen was unilaterally (LOOK HERE) made by a junior Schedule C political appointee in the NASA Headquarters Office of Public Affairs. “

So this means the Office of Public Affairs which is run by political appointees told a junior appointee that Dr. Hansen could not take part in a radio broadcast. This had nothing to do with NASA. Furthermore I wasn’t asking that you imply anything. You don’t have to cry conspiracy to get the point across. NASA is not holding press conferences to denounce the current administration because all the ones responsible for this crime have been replaced by loyal, none political appointees.

The only thing that is false and misleading is the title of your article.

Don't make current another panic channel like the flip side of FOX news.

Way to go ricky84

Actually addctd you have it backwards. NASA was calling out the government for distorting their research. Political appointees were responsible for distorting the facts not the hard working scientists who provided them. If you go on to read the rest of the article you would notice the senate requested an internal inquiry.

This follows NASA protocol. Whenever there is a dispute about NASA claims an individual or party can ask for a hearing. This is why the story came to the attention of the Times. NASA said the government was interfering with there public relations office.

In the end you cannot blame NASA because at the same time these facts were distorted by the public relations office they were freely presented to other scientific parties and journals. This is textbook bush administration bullshit. You can blame the government for this problem and not NASA.

I’d also like the blame the person who posted this article for not during their homework. Instead of copy/pasting the article from the Times they should have actually read the 48 page memo released from NASA. Now the facts have been distorted three times. Bush was first, the Times was second and current.com was third.

All the while people who actually read the article and the memo are shaking their heads because you people still don’t get it.

This didn't really say that they made it look better or worse. Did it?

its funny how the government calls out someone else for "marginalizing" the truth; isnt that what they are known for?

It took them four years to figure that out? And how much damage was done in those four years? Sometimes policy and procedure just aren't enough.

NASA Fix the Problem before it is too late!! We have to act now on Climate Change.

Yeah this is nothing new. NASA at heart is a benign agency but at it can be manipulated by the government. In the early days of the Landsat program the government restricted the resolution capabilities of their Earth Resources Technology Satellite (ERTS) thus limiting its effectiveness.

Its ridiculous that a satellite designed to find and monitor natural resources, pollution and plant life should be hindered because of national security. Wouldn’t it make more sense for the government to make sure no baddies got access to the program instead of limiting its capabilities?

This does not surprise me.Down playing the important issues...well I'm ready for some reparations..Do something to fix this, NASA!!

Yes, and there was a brainless monkey sitting behind that desk. He had a little chubby devil whispering commands in his ear with the first name of "DICK".

Who writes this shit???

All the world's a stage...

The final command decision to do this in the first place lay at one desk.

Yeah, I read about this a while back and it still disgusts me just as much...

These pricks are going to have to live with their deception their whole lives... Hopefully it will haunt them enough to make them try to things right.