Many critics have derided what they call President George W. Bush's lax environmental standards, and now a national panel of scientists--including Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences Dean William Schlesinger--has issued a report attacking the administration's climate change research plan.
Schlesinger was one of 17 people who collaborated with the National Research Council to review Bush's November 2002 plan on the future of environmental science. The report, released last week, expressed disappointment and called for improvement in the national agenda for the environment.
"Bush's plan made science seem juvenile. What is already known about ecosystems was never separated from what we need to research, and it reflected poorly on past scientific work," said Schlesinger, who is a James B. Duke professor of biogeochemistry.
Bush has proposed plans to study how ecosystems of the land, ocean and atmosphere react to carbon dioxide increases, Schlesinger said but the president failed to focus on the important priorities.
Other scientists in the study hold similar viewpoints. According to a statement issued by the panel, the plan lacks "a guiding vision, executable goals, clear timetables and criteria for measuring progress, an assessment of whether existing programs are capable of meeting these goals, explicit prioritization and a management plan."
Schlesinger attributed the plan's weaknesses to Bush's attempt to justify inaction. "He wants to increase uncertainty by focusing the science community on what has already been done, making people believe there is too much risk out there," he said.
Many environmentalists believe Bush's plan will ultimately disable American efforts in global change research. "I can't be cynical enough. Bush backed out at Kyoto since he wanted more time to study, but now he's cutting funds which will undermine research and environment agencies," said John Albertson, associate professor of civil engineering and member of the executive committee of Duke's Center for Global Change.
Schlesinger added that Bush's policies force him to view environmental policy of the 1980s in a new light.
"The Reagan administration had their days when they irritated environmental science, but compared to the current Bush administration's daily onslaught, I look back at those years as not quite as bad."
Former Nicholas School dean Norm Christensen, professor of ecology, agreed that Bush has moved in the wrong direction for the environment.
"I believe the Administration's initiatives in the areas of forest management, conservation, energy and environmental quality are a genuine step backward," Christensen wrote in an e-mail. "There is, on the one hand, a stated wish to employ the best science, but a willingness to neglect or ignore that science when it does not serve other purposes."
Pankaj Agarwal, a professor of computer science and member of the Center for Global Change's Executive Committee said Bush's environmental policy is much worse than it appears. "You can't see the outcomes until it is too late to do anything. It's not like the economy. You can't precisely plan the consequences."
The federal government established the U.S. Climate Change Science Program one year ago to organize climate change research. CCSP released its plan in November to hundreds of scientists and a panel of experts including Schlesinger. Later in the year, the 17 members will be asked to comment on a revised edition.
Schlesinger said he enjoyed participating on a project related to his field and was glad the National Research Council chose him. "It was important for Duke to be represented on a national panel," he said. "It's essential for the Nicholas School's agenda to educate more of the public. Our agenda's never been more relevant. George W. Bush's administration is a great justification for what we do."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.