The extent to which politics plays a role in scientific reports on the environment is incredibly disappointing for those of us that care about climate change. Government whistleblower Rick Piltz and journalist Ross Gelbspan featured in Everything’s Cool demonstrated that many government and news reports have been skewed to misrepresent the threat that global warming presents – thus widening the gap between what scientists know and what the public understands.

Recently on Dot Earth of the New York Times, Andrew Revkin weighed in on an investigation of NASA’s possible suppression of findings and shared specific insights:

“Our investigation,” the report said, “found that during the fall of 2004 through early 2006, the NASA Headquarters Office of Public Affairs managed the topic of climate change in a manner that reduced, marginalized or mischaracterized climate change science made available to the general public.”

Revkin also noted that Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, the New Jersey Democrat who wrote the request for the inquiry stated:

“Global warming is the most serious environmental threat we face, but this report is more evidence that the Bush administration’s appointees have put political ideology ahead of science,” Mr. Lautenberg said in a statement e-mailed by an aide. “Our government’s response to global warming must be based on science, and the Bush administration’s manipulation of that information violates the public trust.”

There is no doubt that this type of suppression is having an impact on our government policy or the lack thereof. Our partners at 1Sky are mobilizing for strong climate legislation from the next Congress. In the mean time we will continue to push for the truth.

Additional media: Clip from Everything’s Cool