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The New York Times and HuffPost and many others report on EPA abruptly blocking three agency scientists from giving talks on climate change - specifically in the context of a Rhode Island event, with the subject of discussing a report on current conditions in Narragansett Bay and future threats that include climate change.
The New York Times (the origin)
WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency has canceled the speaking appearance of three agency scientists who were scheduled to discuss climate change at a conference on Monday in Rhode Island, according to the agency and several people involved.
John Konkus, an E.P.A. spokesman and a former Trump campaign operative in Florida, confirmed that agency scientists would not speak at the State of the Narragansett Bay and Watershed program in Providence. He provided no further explanation.
Scientists involved in the program said that much of the discussion at the event centers on climate change. Many said they were surprised by the E.P.A.'s last-minute cancellation, particularly since the agency helps to fund the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program, which is hosting the conference. The scientists who have been barred from speaking contributed substantial material to a 400-page report to be issued on Monday.
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Monday's conference is designed to draw attention to the health of Narragansett Bay, the largest estuary in New England and a key to the region's tourism and fishing industries. Rhode Island's entire congressional delegation, all Democrats, will attend a morning news conference. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, an outspoken critic of Mr. Pruitt, will be among the speakers.Scientists there will unveil the report on the state of the bay, which E.P.A. scientists helped research and write. Among the findings will be that climate change is affecting air and water temperatures, precipitation, sea level and fish in and around the estuary.
The HuffPost article provides some context:
The researchers were booked to appear Monday in Providence at the State of the Narragansett Bay and Watershed workshop, an event highlighting the health of New England's largest estuary, where temperatures have risen 3 degrees Fahrenheit and water has risen up to seven inches over the past century.
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The move comes days after the EPA scrubbed dozens of links from its website to materials that helped local governments deal with the effects of climate change. Administrator Scott Pruitt has said he does not believe greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels cause climate change, and has scrapped or proposed eliminating numerous regulations to reduce emissions. Two weeks ago, he proposed repealing the Clean Power Plan, the federal government's primary policy for slashing utilities' output of planet-warming gases.
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The sudden cancellations on Sunday inflame concerns that the agency is muzzling scientists to further the White House's political interests.
I have a hunch Rhode Island isn't included in Trump's list of American places to be "made great again".
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Thursday October 26 2017, @04:39PM (3 children)
The USA is no longer being looked to as a moral leader. This is creating a power vacuum. Who will fill that void?
China and Russia. The EU has been trying, but they're too disorganized and incompetent, so they're failing. (It doesn't help that Spain is reverting to Francoism, and the EU is all too happy to voice support for authoritarianism.) China is definitely looking like it'll be the next superpower and world leader in 50 years or less.
Great times ahead....
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Thursday October 26 2017, @05:15PM (1 child)
China wants to be, but they'll have to do it with raw, physical dominance because they won't do it by winning hearts and minds. African nations that were briefly relieved to invite Chinese interests in because they're sick and tired of America and Europe have already come to realize that the Chinese have no interest in their well-being at all either. ASEAN, too, which initially welcomed China to its gatherings, has grown quite wary thanks to Beijing's moves in the South China Sea. Vietnam (!) has offered to re-lease Cam Ranh Bay to the US. Japan, thanks to Kim Jong Un's antics and China's refusal to rein him in, just gave conservatives the majority they need to revise Japan's pacifist constitution to respond to the threat.
At China's landward elbow India is jostling below, Russia above. Neither of those countries is China's friend and will not come to its aid in a conflict. China in fact has no defensive pacts with anybody but North Korea, really. Russia would be stupid to enter into one with China because Beijing would wind up absorbing Moscow, and I suspect Putin knows that.
So clockwise from north to west, it's surrounded by hostiles. From west to north are rivals, if not hostiles.
War with them would be a doozy though, no doubt about it. Europe, America, Japan, and South Korea would probably prevail against China, but they'd all be so badly bloodied that India or Russia would probably be able to walk in and take over afterward if they managed to stay out of the fray. Maybe Mercosur would assert itself more in the western hemisphere. Who knows? But it would be a very different world from this one.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Thursday October 26 2017, @06:37PM
China wants to be, but they'll have to do it with raw, physical dominance because they won't do it by winning hearts and minds.
Yeah, but no one else is going to "win hearts and minds" either these days. The US gave that up, and there aren't any other big players out there that can offer that. Obviously China can't, but neither can Russia. It does seem like some regional blocs are trying to vie for more power on the global stage (ASEAN, Mercosur, EU), but all of them are too hobbled by huge internal issues to be really effective. Mercosur can't even keep its members straight, as it keeps suspending them, Paraguay's mad that Argentina is there, etc. And the EU has Spain looking like Francoism is returning.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 26 2017, @06:04PM
China now seems to be intent on going where Soviet Union went. I guess we'll see in a decade if the warning signs are for real... but I won't put any of my money on them long-term.