Is a National Climate Service Enough?
At the National Academy of Science's Climate Summit today, the new head of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Administrator (NOAA) Jane Lubchenco endorsed the idea of creating a National Climate Service.
This new organization, to be housed within NOAA, would act as a one-stop aggregation point for all of the government's climate science data and information. It would ideally provide policy makers and the public better information on climate change.
On the one hand, Lubchenco's support is good news to the climate science community. It would bring organizational coherence -- and probably more dollars -- to the key environmental threat of our era. Along with an expanded role for PCAST and the Academy study being launched today, this is another welcome sign of the elevation of climate science and policymaking inside the new Administration. House Science Committee Chair Bart Gordon (D-TN) has expressed support for the creation of the NOAA Climate Service.
On the other hand, some scientists and former federal officials may think this measure does not go far enough. One group called for the creation of a so-called Earth Systems Science Agency in Science magazine last year (subscription required). The super-agency would combine the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration into one, while establishing strong links with an independent NASA.
Jane Lubchenco is one of the very best scientific appointments the President has made. An ecologist, she has both a distinguished academic background and a history of global leadership in addressing ecological threats to the planet. I was pleased to serve with her on an Academy board in the 1990s. But if Administrator Lubchenco is thinking about federal reorganization better to marshal science for climate benefit, she and her new colleagues, such as President's Science Adviser John Holdren and Energy Secretary Steven Chu, might give this second, more impactful concept a careful review.
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