Paul,
=20
I'm curious about your estimate about "funding to create / maintain thousan=
ds of new environmental science related jobs." Where did you get this estim=
ate from? Is this anecdotal?=20
=20
Concerning the influence of opinions. If money is influencing their opinion=
s then these are bad scientists. There is a methodology used in science to =
help us remove our own bias from percieving the natural world and allow us =
to understand the factors that control it. Data, and results from these stu=
dies influence the opinions of scientists, not money. Because some scientis=
ts might be greedy does not discredit the science behind the climate change=
research; only more research can do that. =20
=20
I would think those that work for a vested private interest with a profit m=
argin and investors to satisfy would have much more interest in allowing mo=
ney to influence their opinons in research. I believe that has been shown w=
ith the recent exposure of Exxon's interest in climate change research.=20
=20
Mark Winterstein=20
> Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:06:11 -0700> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject:=
Re: Climate change funding> To: [email protected]> > Malcolm Mccal=
lum wrote:> > > if PHDs' activities were primarily profit driven, then they=
> > would be found in corporations paying much better than > > the low pay=
(often less than 45K/yr) found at most> > universities upon graduation. De=
spite this,> > graduates in environmentally relevant fields seek> > academi=
c posts viewed as most prestigious. These> > facts seem to fly in the face =
of the entire idea that> > scientific opinions are in some way driven by th=
e> > availability of funds.> > Malcolm, I'll try to explain why I think Glo=
bal Warming has been> a financial windfall issue for ecologists in the sens=
e that it has> generated hundreds of millions of dollars in government > fu=
nding to create / maintain thousands of new environmental > science related=
jobs.> > In recent decades our universities have been cranking out> thousa=
nds of new graduates in the environmental science > related fields. Most of=
these graduates, like you said, "seek > academic posts".> > "Academic post=
s" =3D jobs in our government owned institutions> (e.g. universities) & age=
ncies (EPA, NOAA, USFWS, etc).> > What determines the number of available e=
nvironmental> science related jobs in our government institutions & > agenc=
ies?> > Answer: the availability of funds.> > What inspired Congress and fo=
undations to award all this new > funding in recent decades? Answer: a cons=
ensus of scientific > opinion that certain emerging environmental issues (e=
.g. > ozone depletion, global warming, etc) must be immediately > addressed=
(via funding researchers who work at the > government institutions & agenc=
ies) to avert serious> environmental consequences.> > In this way, it appea=
rs to me that scientific opinions are > substantially influenced by the ava=
ilability of funds. > > Paul Cherubini> El Dorado, Calif.
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