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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOPEN LETTER: Leading Scientists Tell the Nation's Museums to Sever Ties with the Koch Brothers
An Open Letter to Museums from Members of the Scientific Community
March 24, 2015
As members of the scientific community we devote our lives to understanding the world, and sharing this understanding with the public. We are deeply concerned by the links between museums of science and natural history with those who profit from fossil fuels or fund lobby groups that misrepresent climate science.
Museums are trusted sources of scientific information, some of our most important resources for educating children and shaping public understanding.
The Code of Ethics for Museums, adopted in 1991 by the Board of Directors of the American Alliance of Museums, states:
It is incumbent on museums to be resources for humankind and in all their activities to foster an informed appreciation of the rich and diverse world we have inherited. It is also incumbent upon them to preserve that inheritance for posterity.
Museums are grounded in the tradition of public service. They are organized as public trusts, holding their collections and information as a benefit for those they were established to serve Museums and those responsible for them must do more than avoid legal liability, they must take affirmative steps to maintain their integrity so as to warrant public confidence. They must act not only legally but also ethically.
We are concerned that the integrity of these institutions is compromised by association with special interests who obfuscate climate science, fight environmental regulation, oppose clean energy legislation, and seek to ease limits on industrial pollution.
For example, David Koch is a major donor, exhibit sponsor and trustee on the Board of Directors at the Smithsonians National Museum of Natural History, and the American Museum of Natural History. David Kochs oil and manufacturing conglomerate Koch Industries is one of the greatest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Mr. Koch also funds a large network of climate-change-denying organizations, spending over $67 million since 1997 to fund groups denying climate change science.
When some of the biggest contributors to climate change and funders of misinformation on climate science sponsor exhibitions in museums of science and natural history, they undermine public confidence in the validity of the institutions responsible for transmitting scientific knowledge. This corporate philanthropy comes at too high a cost.
Drawing on both our scientific expertise and personal care for our planet and people, we believe that the only ethical way forward for our museums is to cut all ties with the fossil fuel industry and funders of climate science obfuscation.
With concern,
1. James Hansen, Climatologist; former head of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
2. James Powell, Geochemist; former President of the Franklin Museum of Science and former President and Director of the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum.
3. Bob Corell, Climatologist; Head of US Office for the Global Energy Assessment; former Assistant Director for Geosciences at the National Science Foundation.
4. Kevin E Trenberth, Distinguished Senior Scientist, Climate Analysis Section, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Lead Author 2001 and 2007 IPCC report which won a Nobel Prize.
5. Danny Harvey, Professor of Geography and Climatology, University of Toronto, IPCC Convening Lead Author and Lead Author; Deputy Editor of Climatic Change.
6. Eric Chivian, founder and Director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School. Co-founder of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985.
7. Henry Pollack, Emeritus Professor of Geophysics at the University of Michigan. Advisor to the National Science Foundation, IPCC member.
8. Michael Mann, Distinguished Professor of Meteorology; Director, Earth System Science Center, The Pennsylvania State University.
9. Joseph J. Romm, Physicist, Climatologist; former Acting Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy; founder and editor of Climate Progress.
10. George Woodwell, Ecologist; Founder and Director Emeritus, Woods Hole Research Center.
11. Calvin B. DeWitt, Environmental Scientist, Co-founder of the Evangelical Environmental Network, President of the Academy of Evangelical Scientists and Ethicists, and Professor Emeritus of Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
12. Dr Stuart Parkinson, Climatologist; Executive Director, Scientists for Global Responsibility, UK
13. Jason Box, Climatologist, Professor of Glaciology at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland. Co-author of 2007 IPCC report which won a Nobel Prize.
14. Mike MacCracken, Chief Scientist for Climate Change Programs with the Climate Institute.
15. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Director of the Global Change Institute, Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow, University of Queensland, Australia
16. Robert R. Janes, Ph.D. , Archaleologist, Museologist, Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, Museum Management and Curatorship
17. Matt Lappe, Paleoclimatologist, Environmental Hydrologist, Executive Director, Alliance for Climate Education.
18. Greg Laden, Paleoanthropologist, Independent Scholar, Writer at National Geographic Scienceblogs.
19. Sarah Kornbluth, Biologist; Affiliate of Bee Database Project, American Museum of Natural History and Doctoral Candidate, Rutgers University
20. Dr Simon L Lewis, Reader, Global Change Science, at University College London and University of Leeds.
21. Roger Fouquet, Principal Research Fellow, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
22. Brad Johnson, Science writer; MS geosciences, MIT
23. Emmanuel Vincent, Assistant Project Scientist at the University of California, Merced
24. Jonathan Oppenheim, Professor of Quantum Theory, University College London. Royal Society Research Fellow in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics.
25. David Webb; Emeritus Professor; Previously Professor of Engineering, Leeds Metropolitan University
26. Dr Martin Zaltz Austwick, Physicist, University College London
27. Scott A. Mandia, Asst. Chair /Professor Physical Sciences, Suffolk County Community College
28. Mona Mehdy, Molecular biologist, faculty at University of Texas at Austin
29. Judith S. Weis, Professor Emerita, Department of Biological Sciences, Rutgers University
30. Jonathan Tunik, Former Evaluation Studies Associate for the American Institute of Physics.
31. Aerin Jacob, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Applied Conservation Science Lab, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
32. Shaun Lovejoy, Professor of Physics, McGill University, Canada, formerly at the Climate Diagnostics Centre of NOAA
33. Lindy Weilgart, Professor of Biology, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada
34. Dr. Sophie Levina, MD, PhD and Doctor of Medical Sciences.
35. Dr. Susan Spencer, Solar Scientist, Founder/President of ROCSPOT.org
36. Erika Crispo, PhD, Evolutionary Ecologist and Biologist, Pace University, NYC
37. Lucky Tran, PhD, Biologist, University of Cambridge
38. Damian Alexander Stanley, Ph.D., Neuroscientist, California Institute of Technology
39. Hanah Chapman, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Brooklyn College, CUNY
40. Dr. John Abraham, University of St. Thomas, School of Engineering
41. Mark Mason PhD, former primate evolution researcher, UC Berkeley
http://thenaturalhistorymuseum.org/open-letter-to-museums-from-scientists/
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)mountain grammy
(27,024 posts)because the corporate media and truth and all...
FairWinds
(1,717 posts)erronis
(16,491 posts)But unfortunately the plutocrats have bought into academia in a big way also. A lot of those individuals work for institutions that may have nice chunks of change from the kochs and their ilk.
Roland99
(53,345 posts)Cha
(303,108 posts)WillyT
(72,631 posts)Liberalynn
(7,549 posts)These scientists are much more diplomatic than I. I would have phrased it "corporate bribery". Still excellent overall!
calimary
(83,518 posts)But who listens to mere scientists anymore, 'eh?
There was a remarkable line spoken in my all-time favorite movie, "Network" (hell, there were HUNDREDS of remarkable lines spoken int that movie - that script was FULL of them) that applies here. "You get your psychiatrists, I'll get mine." Said during a scene in which the main characters were arguing about whether their anchorman, Howard "I'm Mad as Hell..." Beale, should be deemed unfit to continue broadcasting. That's what these koch & company assholes have done. Co-opted some "scientists" and bought them, body and soul, so they'd "research" and "opine" the corporate gospel, and bend science and fact to suit their own selfish, myopic, perverted, and entirely anti-social monetary goals. These are the same people who yowl day after day about being "pro-life." Much more accurate to say they're pro-mass-extinction. They're REALLY for things and activities that threaten the very existence of life on this planet, and this planet's continuing ability to support that life.
Tuesday Afternoon
(56,912 posts)*heads to FB .... with link.
vlyons
(10,252 posts)I sure would like to see Koch kicked off the Smithsonian board at the very least.
Electric Monk
(13,869 posts)Cha
(303,108 posts)donate to museums like the Smithsonian.. so they can spread their anti-climate change/Global Warming Propaganda.
mahalo kpete