Congress on EARTH Magazine

Congress on EARTH Magazine https://www.earthmagazine.org/tags/congress/ Recent content in Congress on EARTH Magazine Hugo en-US American Geosciences Institute. All rights reserved. Fri, 23 Mar 2012 16:54:40 -0400 Blogging on EARTH: Panelists weigh in on tsunami preparedness policy https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/blogging-earth-panelists-weigh-tsunami-preparedness-policy/ Fri, 23 Mar 2012 16:54:40 -0400 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/blogging-earth-panelists-weigh-tsunami-preparedness-policy/ <figure class="earth-figure"> <img src="https://www.americangeosciences.org/static/earth/blogging-earth-panelists-weigh-tsunami-preparedness-policy/tsunsign.jpg" alt="Many low-lying coastal communities in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington and Puerto Rico have tsunami warning signs and evacuation plans in place. NOAA" loading="eager" decoding="async"> <figcaption>Many low-lying coastal communities in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington and Puerto Rico have tsunami warning signs and evacuation plans in place. NOAA</figcaption> </figure> <figure class="earth-figure"> <img src="https://www.americangeosciences.org/static/earth/blogging-earth-panelists-weigh-tsunami-preparedness-policy/1311728966380.jpg" alt="DART buoy locations around the world. DART buoys help track tsunamis in real time. NOAA National Data Buoy Center" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> <figcaption>DART buoy locations around the world. DART buoys help track tsunamis in real time. NOAA National Data Buoy Center</figcaption> </figure> <figure class="earth-figure"> <img src="https://www.americangeosciences.org/static/earth/blogging-earth-panelists-weigh-tsunami-preparedness-policy/EARTH_Abby.jpg" alt="Abby Seadler is the member society services manager for the American Geosciences Institute and writes about about the government and policy developments for EARTH. Abby Seadler" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> <figcaption>Abby Seadler is the member society services manager for the American Geosciences Institute and writes about about the government and policy developments for EARTH. Abby Seadler</figcaption> </figure> <p> “It is not a question of whether it will happen, but when it will happen,” said John Schelling, addressing the room at a Congressional Hazards Caucus briefing last week. The briefing, entitled <a href="http://www.hazardscaucus.org/briefings/tsunami_briefing0312.html">Tsunami Preparedness: Understanding our Nation’s Risk and Response</a>, brought together Schelling, who is the Earthquake and Tsunami Program Director for the Washington State Emergency Management Division, Eddie Bernard, scientist emeritus at NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, and John Orcutt, a geophysicist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography to put forward one question: Is the U.S. tsunami-ready?</p> The art of un-legislating https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/art-un-legislating/ Fri, 20 Jan 2012 03:51:09 -0500 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/art-un-legislating/ <figure class="earth-figure"> <img src="https://www.americangeosciences.org/static/earth/art-un-legislating/i-8e-7d8-9-1e.jpg" alt="The U.S. Capitol Building Diliff" loading="eager" decoding="async"> <figcaption>The U.S. Capitol Building Diliff</figcaption> </figure> <p>Taking public approval ratings at face value, it would be easy to conclude that the legislative branch of our government is motivated by an unfortunate blend of incompetence and arrogance. Certainly the repeated and well-documented failures of Congress to act on issues of national significance and its tendency to substitute rhetoric and pork barrel spending for meaningful action provide ample fodder for this well-worn reputation. Whether or not such a portrait is fair, it reveals a powerful and deeply rooted public perception: that the fundamental purpose of Congress is to enact good legislation. Yet this is not the case, as I have seen firsthand in my year spent on Capitol Hill.</p> 2012 budget requests a mixed bag for science https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/2012-budget-requests-mixed-bag-science/ Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/2012-budget-requests-mixed-bag-science/ <figure class="earth-figure"> <img src="https://www.americangeosciences.org/static/earth/2012-budget-requests-mixed-bag-science/i-446-7db-2-11.jpg" alt="The White House. Wikimedia Commons" loading="eager" decoding="async"> <figcaption>The White House. Wikimedia Commons</figcaption> </figure> <p>The Obama administration emphasized scientific innovation and education in its fiscal year 2012 budget requests. On Monday, the president’s science advisor, John Holdren, summarized the requests across the different agencies as part of a “tough-love” strategy outlined in the president’s State of the Union speech in January to “win the future.”</p> Congress lets bans on outer continental shelf drilling expire https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/congress-lets-bans-outer-continental-shelf-drilling-expire/ Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/congress-lets-bans-outer-continental-shelf-drilling-expire/ <figure class="earth-figure"> <img src="https://www.americangeosciences.org/static/earth/congress-lets-bans-outer-continental-shelf-drilling-expire/i-7f-7d8-9-10.jpg" alt="The cast-iron dome of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. U.S. government" loading="eager" decoding="async"> <figcaption>The cast-iron dome of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. U.S. government</figcaption> </figure> <p>In July, President Bush lifted the executive ban on outer continental shelf (OCS) drilling, putting pressure on Congress to follow suit.</p> Hazardous Living: Climategate climatologists cleared of wrongdoing https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/hazardous-living-climategate-climatologists-cleared-wrongdoing/ Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/hazardous-living-climategate-climatologists-cleared-wrongdoing/ <figure class="earth-figure"> <img src="https://www.americangeosciences.org/static/earth/hazardous-living-climategate-climatologists-cleared-wrongdoing/i-39a-7da-4-10.jpg" alt="Megan Sever (pictured at Yellowstone) writes Hazardous Living for EARTH. Megan Sever" loading="eager" decoding="async"> <figcaption>Megan Sever (pictured at Yellowstone) writes Hazardous Living for EARTH. Megan Sever</figcaption> </figure> <p>Last November, a thousand private <a href="http://www.earthmagazine.org/earth/article/2da-7d9-c-11">e-mails between prominent climatologists were hacked</a>, resulting in a brouhaha that threatened to discredit the work presented in the Nobel Prize-winning <a href="http://www.ipcc.ch/">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</a>’s Fourth Assessment Report. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/07/findings-muir-russell-review">A new report released this week</a>, the latest in a series of independent reviews of the e-mails and the situation, cleared the climatologists of any real wrongdoing.</p> Is it time to invest in entrepreneurial geoengineering? https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/it-time-invest-entrepreneurial-geoengineering/ Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/it-time-invest-entrepreneurial-geoengineering/ <p>Government research and development has its limits: Time, money and bureaucracy can all hamper the timely progress of research. As a result, many federal agencies are looking to private companies to help drive new innovation and keep costs down — but it’s never that simple. Two current hot-button topics — returning humans to space and geoengineering — highlight a range of issues related to how private and public investment in science can coexist. Last month, we looked at NASA’s push toward privatization. This month, we focus on geoengineering — altering earth systems to reduce warming or modify weather.</p> Restarting U.S. rare earth production? https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/restarting-us-rare-earth-production/ Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/restarting-us-rare-earth-production/ <figure class="earth-figure"> <img src="https://www.americangeosciences.org/static/earth/restarting-us-rare-earth-production/i-38d-7da-3-19.jpg" alt="Rare earth minerals experts testified in front of the House Subcommittee on Science and Technology in March. Left to right: Stephen Freiman, Freiman Consulting, representing the National Research Council's Committee on Earth Resources; Steven Ducos, GE Global Research; Karl Gschneidner Jr., Ames National Laboratory and Iowa State University; Mark Smith, CEO of Molycorp Minerals; and Terence Stewart, Law Offices of Stewart and Stewart. Courtesy of the House Committee on Science and Technology" loading="eager" decoding="async"> <figcaption>Rare earth minerals experts testified in front of the House Subcommittee on Science and Technology in March. Left to right: Stephen Freiman, Freiman Consulting, representing the National Research Council's Committee on Earth Resources; Steven Ducos, GE Global Research; Karl Gschneidner Jr., Ames National Laboratory and Iowa State University; Mark Smith, CEO of Molycorp Minerals; and Terence Stewart, Law Offices of Stewart and Stewart. Courtesy of the House Committee on Science and Technology</figcaption> </figure> <p>Rare earth minerals are not actually rare, but if China has anything to say about it, they may become scarce in the near future, experts say. And that could pose real problems for the U.S.’ high-tech industries that rely on the metals, including everything from hybrid cars to renewable energy to computers and mobile phones. But in March, rare earth experts testifying before the U.S. House of Representatives said that there is a way to avoid this potential shortage: Reopen a long-idle U.S. mine.</p>