Welcome! Please click on above links to navigate to specific pages.
This website is dedicated to our attempt to remove or tone down the American Physical Society’s 2007 Statement on Climate Change to a less alarmist and more scientifically thoughtful statement. It is maintained by Robert Austin: [email protected]
HISTORY
Originally we launched a petition to the APS to replace the 2007 Statement. The open_letter petition can be found at:
and the Correspondence we published in Nature can be found at:
The petition to replace the 2007 Statement was rejected in 2009, but at the November 8, 2009 APS Council meeting, it was decided to remand the 2007 Statement on Climate Change to the Panel on Public Affairs (POPA) to address what were termed issues of “clarity and tone.” The operating passage of the Ad Hoc (Kleppner) Committee’s recommendation was as follows:
”Members of the committee have varying degrees of reservation about the 2007 APS Council statement. However, ultimately these criticisms of the statement center on clarity and tone, rather than the ultimate message: global warming is potentially a grave problem and society needs to take it seriously. We recommend that Council return its resolution to POPA to address the issues of clarity and tone.
Despite the uncertainties in detailed predictions, it is the conviction of this committee that the APS would be well advised not to retract its support for policies and actions that are aimed at reduction in the production of greenhouse gasses. The weight of the evidence we have examined points to this as a prudent policy position.”
Thus, POPA is required not to alter content but to adjust wording; i.e., wordsmith to accomplish unstated changes of expression, while keeping the content unchanged. There is no stated objective or metric provided to guide POPA, merely unspecified improvements of “clarity and tone.” The “weight of evidence” clause refers to earlier citations of IPCC statements and their derivatives found in other examinations, the precise statements that had been challenged in the 2009 Open Letter to the APS.
At the 2009 November Council Meeting, it was also agreed that members would be given an opportunity to comment on the POPA’s forthcoming adjustment of “clarity and tone.” Accordingly, in late February 2010, APS leadership sent a message evidently to all members:
This message briefly reviewed the process and attached a draft-for-comment of the “Proposed Commentary to Accompany APS 2007 Climate Change Statement.” Members were also provided with a window through March 16 allowing 3500 characters (about 500 words) in which to comment on the Commentary.
It is noteworthy that members are not being asked to give a straight up-or-down vote on whether to scrap the 2007 Statement. Nor are we told how the member comments will be utilized. Moreover, we are informed that individual member comments will not be made public, so that an opportunity to more fully capitalize on a step forward in member participation will be lost.
ACTION!
Therefore, we would like to make this site available to all APS members and former members who wish to comment on the Commentary and to see their comments get broader exposure. Those who wish to take advantage of this are also invited to express their response to the question, ”Should the 2007 APS Statement be scrapped and a new one developed?” You will have the option of including your name or remaining anonymous. Respondents can address their comments to either Bob Austin [email protected] or Roger Cohen [email protected].
Former APS members: please warrant that you are indeed a former member; indicate the approximate range of years that you were a member.
TO SEE WHAT APS MEMBERS REALLY THINK, GO TO THIS LINK:
Responses to the APS 2010 EMAIL