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Australia fires 110 climate researchers
More political meddling in climate science? From the Scientific American http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/australia-cuts-110-climate-scientist-jobs/ [scientificamerican.com]
With an ax rather than a scalpel, Australia’s federal science agency last week chopped off its climate research arm in a decision that has stunned scientists and left employees dispirited.
But the interesting part is that this is unlike American or Harper-Canadian attempts to destroy scientific evidence for global climate change, instead it is premised on accepting AGW as established science.
Marshall [Larry Marshall, CEO of theCommonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia's equivalent of NASA], wrote in the memo that climate change is now settled science, and basic research is no longer needed.
“The question has been answered, and the new question is what do we do about it, and how can we find solutions for the climate we will be living with,” he wrote.
The issue seems to be one of the unbusiness-like nature of pure research.
In December, CSIRO’s management audited the atmosphere and oceans program for its commercial potential.
“We were having a hard time in demonstrating the capacity to be commercially valuable,” one CSIRO scientist said. “Not that climate science can’t demonstrate incredible economic value to society by helping to adapt and reduce damages and risks, but that’s not the kind of economics that the new CEO and the government is going after.”
Well, at least NASA gave the US Tang and space pens, so they didn't have to cut it so much. Until NASA started doing Earth Science. But now we know that, as far as the Auzzies are concerned, Anthropogenic Global Warming is a real thing, and all that is left is to figure out how to make some wallabys off of it.
