Monckton in particular is a swivel-eyed, right-wing
lunatic. His basic view is that he, as a wealthy white
male, represents the culmination of the evolutionary
process and he got to be that by doing exactly as he dam'
well pleases (which is called the 'free market'). Any
attempt to interfere in that process or to regulate his
activities in any fashion whatsoever is obviously
communist fascism, and the person suggesting it is
Stalin/Hitler.
--
Dr Jon Cloke
Lecturer
Geography Department
Loughborough University
Loughborough LE11 3TU
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Tel: 00 44 07984 813681
On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 10:19:28 -0800
Lawrence Berg <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Jon,
>
> It¹s useful to keep in mind the the Science and Public
>Policy Institute has
> strong links to both Rightwing think tanks in the US and
>carbon-based energy
> corporations like Exxon-Mobil. It is a well-known
>climate-change denial
> organization. Here¹s part of the Wikipedia entry which
>presents some of
> these links.
>
>> The organization's Executive Director is Robert "Bob"
>>Ferguson, who was listed
>> as executive director of the Center for Science and
>>Public Policy in the
>> Frontiers of Freedom Foundation 2006 form 990[2]. He is
>>also a former Chief of
>> Staff to Republican Congressmen Jack Fields (1981-1997),
>>John E. Peterson
>> (1997-2002), and Rick Renzi (2002). The chief science
>>adviser to the institute
>> is Willie Soon, PhD an astrophysicist and geoscientist,
>>a skeptic of man made
>> global warming and proponent of the theory that climate
>>change is caused by
>> solar variation. The chief policy adviser is Christopher
>>Monckton, a former
>> special adviser to Margaret Thatcher. Further science
>>advisers include William
>> Kininmonth, Robert M. Carter, David Legates, Craig D.
>>Idso, and James J.
>> O'Brien. Joe D'Aleo is the institute's Meteorology
>>Adviser.
>
> Many of the people listed above are well-known
>climate-change deniers. It
> might be both good science and good public policy to be
>skeptical about
> publications from the SPPI.
>
> Lawrence
>
> On 10-01-23 5:38 AM, "Jon Swords"
><[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Speaking of which, this is a fascinating analysis of the
>>'climategate' emails:
>>
>> http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/images/stories/papers/reprint/climategate_an
>> alysis.pdf
>>
>> Jon
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: A forum for critical and radical geographers on
>>behalf of Chiara Certomà
>> Sent: Sat 1/23/2010 11:57 AM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: RGS-IBG second CFP: Science, politics and the
>>nature of
>> environmental debates
>>
>>
>> Second Call for Papers: RGS-IBG Annual International
>>Conference,
>> London, 1-3 September 2010.
>> Science, politics and the nature of environmental
>>debates
>>
>> The recent attention given to scientific discourses and
>>practices in
>> providing effective guidance to global environmental
>>policies has
>> shown that expert knowledge is not exempt of politics.
>>On the
>> contrary, scientific knowledge is the resulting product
>>of continuous
>> epistemological negotiations occurring amongst
>>scientists as well as
>> between scientists and non-scientists on what scientific
>>data mean.
>>
>> The very recent controversy generated by the possible
>>manipulation of
>> climate data by several climate scientists a week before
>>the
>> Copenhagen summit can be seen as an explicit
>>demonstration of how
>> politics and science are intertwined and cannot be
>>thought
>> independently. Although this event raised the awareness
>>of non-
>> scientists about the uncertainties of climate sciences,
>>how the
>> interplay between politics and science occurs is still
>>largely
>> unquestioned and misunderstood. This miscomprehension
>>has significant
>> impacts on the formulation and application of
>>environmental policies
>> but also on how the non human world is imagined. For
>>example, the
>> epistemic realm through which scientific discourses and
>>practices are
>> produced and articulated makes it possible for
>>scientists 'to provide
>> a voice' (as a material semiotic approach suggests) to
>>the biophysical
>> environment that is generally considered as external to
>>human
>> societies and apolitical. In turn, the predominance of
>>scientific
>> discourses and practices in environmental NGOs and
>>policy makers'
>> circles when engaging with the non-human world makes it
>>rather
>> difficult to reorganise and challenge the power
>>relationships
>> constituting environmental sciences and politics.
>>
>> By not engaging with the politics at the centre of the
>>production of
>> knowledge as well as acknowledging its impact on the
>>comprehension of
>> the non-human world, environmental politics are building
>>on shaky
>> foundations that can result in important local and
>>international
>> policy failures, widely addressed by the
>>post-environmentalist
>> critiques.
>>
>> Thus, this session aims at bringing together
>>contributions that are
>> seeking to interrogate and re-conceptualise the
>>relationships between
>> politics, 'the political' and science in environmental
>>governance.
>> Topics may include, but are not limited to:
>>
>> · How non-scientific epistemologies can give voice
>>to nonhumans
>> and thus being part of a renewal of environmental
>>politics, as a non-
>> foundationalist and non-normative political view?
>>
>> · What are the different relationships occurring in
>>the process
>> of making scientific subjects political?
>>
>> · How scientific practices and discourses could
>>inform us about
>> the essence of the political?
>>
>> · How knowing about the politics of science would
>>improve policy
>> making and application?
>>
>>
>> Abstracts (250 words max) should be submitted, by email,
>>to session
>> organisers Sébastien Nobert, King's College, London
>> ([log in to unmask]
>> ) and Chiara Certomà; Sant'Anna School of Advanced
>>Studies, Pisa
>> ([log in to unmask]
>> ) by 1st of February at the latest.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
> --
> Lawrence D. Berg, D.Phil.
> Co-Director, The Centre for Social, Spatial & Economic
>Justice
> Graduate Coordinator, Human Geography
>
> Community, Culture and Global Studies
> University of British Columbia
> 3333 University Way
> Kelowna, BC, Canada, V1V 1V7
> Voice: +1 250.807.9392, Fax: +1 250.807.8001
> Email: [log in to unmask]
> WEB: http://web.ubc.ca/okanagan/ccgs/faculty/berg.html
>
> Editor: ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical
>Geographies
> http://www.acme-journal.org
>
> Co-Leader: BC Disabilities Health Research Network
> http://www.dhrn.ca
>
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