More evidence of politicizing climate change

California and other states celebrated a victory yesterday in their protracted battle against the federal government's neglectful energy policies. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Bush administration's new fuel economy standards for light trucks and SUV's need to be fixed to take into account the effects of carbon emissions and their possible link to global warming.

At the same time, the Washington Post is breaking news that government scientists think that certain Smithsonian exhibits dealing with issues of climate change and the Arctic were too politically influenced. These new revelations of the administration's "chilling effect" on the scientific community can only "fuel" the states' convictions to proceed with their own energy policies. (sorry, couldn't help it!)

The Museum of Natural History ran a 2006 exhibit about changes in the Arctic that was dramatically altered by high level Smithsonian officials. For one thing, the name of the exhibit was changed from "Arctic Meltdown" to "The Arctic: A Friend Acting Strangely." Hmm. "For the focus to be shifted from scientific content to political content, I found disturbing for a museum," said NASA scientist Waleed Abdalati, who was involved in the project. Museum officials are under fire for other sketchy moves as well, such as approving a $5 million donation from the American Petroleum Institute to fund the Natural History Museum's Ocean Initiative exhibit hall and web site.

These incidents were preceded by one in 2003, the Post reports, when the Natural History Museum moved a photo display of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to a less noticeable location and changed its captions, right as the administration was considering oil and gas drilling in the region. That event was certainly a harbinger of things to come, and not only in the scientific community. The Bush administration has obviously since been lambasted for politicizing just about every apolitical federal bureaucracy imaginable. On a more tragic note, keeping images of our precious natural resources out of sight from the public, lest people be reminded of what we are destroying, brings to mind attempts to keep the public focused on the War on Terror by keeping our fallen soldiers out of view.

Thankfully, some like California gov. Schwarzenegger are trying to rein in the federal government's politicization of nonpartisan issues. In addition to the previously mentioned lawsuit, California is also suing the EPA so it can implement its own emission standards. Also, the governor will be hosting with Al Gore a forum on energy and climate change for both democratic and republican presidential candidates. It is supposed to take place this December in New Hampshire. Hopefully the next president will spend some time actually trying to change things, rather than changing their appearances by politicizing them.