The National Academy of Science - 226

 For those of you who follow the climate drama in Washington DC the biggest surprise in the last decade came last week when it was announced Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer agreed to the climate provisions in legislation called, “The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022”. You might expect me to comment on it, but I will not.

We in the climate action universe have been through over 30 years of disappointments. It is bad luck to count the climate cows before they are in the barn.

I am going to write about the National Academies of Science, (NAS) and the amazing trove of information available to us.  The NAS is a treasure chest of free scientific information.

I would like to note, researchers who attempt to figure out how people create opinions sometimes divide socioeconomic groups into two simple categories. High information gatherers, (HIGs) and low information gatherers, (LIGs).

If you want to effectively expose people to facts, it only makes sense you appeal predominately to HIGs. In general, LIGs are not interested in detailed information and certainly not in information opposing their worldviews. As subscribers to this publication, I assume you are a HIG. If you subscribe to a science publication, most likely you are.

The NAS is a great source of facts for HIGs. At NAS you are guaranteed information comes from the most reputable sources. The NAS was created by government charter in 1863 and signed into law by Abraham Lincoln. It is non-governmental, non-partisan, and non-profit. New members are selected by current members. Except for the Nobel Prize, nomination to the NAS is considered the highest honor in the science world.

Here is the NAS mission statement from 1863:

“The Academy shall, whenever called upon by any department of the Government, investigate, examine, experiment, and report upon any subject of science or art, the actual expense of such investigations, examinations, experiments, and reports to be paid from appropriations which may be made for the purpose, but the Academy shall receive no compensation whatever for any services to the Government of the United States.”

 Here is the NAS mission statement on climate today: “From more extreme weather to rising seas, the climate is changing in ways that pose increasing risks to people and ecosystems. Building on decades of work, the National Academies continue to provide objective advice from top experts to help the nation understand, prepare for, and limit future climate change”.

You might start by searching National Academies of Science, or NAS Press. My favorite 25-page booklet is, “Climate Change Evidence and Causes: UPDATE 2020”. You can read this booklet free online, download it, print it, or buy a pack of five books for five dollars. If you are without a computer, any library should be able to help you.

From there look for what interests you such as: “Global Warming is Contributing to Extreme Weather Events”. “Cold Weather Still Happens in a Warming World”. “Humans are Causing Global Warming”. “Human Driven Climate Change is Causing Sea Levels to Rise”, or “Equitable and Resilient Infrastructure Investments”.

A pertinent booklet today from the NAS Press is, “Accelerating Decarbonization in the US Energy System”.

A new and interesting NAS short read is, “Growing Impacts of Climate-Smart Agriculture.”

And to put an explanation point on the importance of the NAS astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson was asked to write a speech for the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address in which he made the point one of Lincoln's greatest legacies was establishing the National Academy of Sciences in the same year he wrote his famous speech. This has had the potential long-term effect, said Tyson, of "setting our Nation on a course of scientifically enlightened governance, without which we all may perish from this Earth".

Not to short-change the LIGs, my favorite video is a one minute creation by a NAS partner titled, “Royal Society Climate Change in 60 seconds”.

If you are curious and want to explore more: www.nasonline.org.

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