Extinction Rebellion Reprimands the National Academy of Sciences for Complicity in Spreading Climate Denial
NAS features self-proclaimed climate denier and anti-science advocate as keynote speaker for their moon landing anniversary event
Washington DC, December 15 2022– Last night, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) featured climate denier Harrison “Jack” Schmitt as the keynote speaker for an event commemorating the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. In protest, members of Extinction Rebellion DC gathered outside the National Academy of Sciences to sing climate carols and raise awareness of the NAS’ role in degrading trust in science and delaying necessary climate action.
Featuring Schmitt as a keynote speaker is a direct violation of the NAS mission. The NAS claims they aim to provide “objective, science-based advice on critical issues affecting the nation” and are “committed to furthering science in America,” yet featuring someone who blatantly disregards and even actively opposes science-backed policies like climate action only serves to deepen governmental and public distrust in science and delay action on critical issues like climate change.
The science is clear, and has been for decades, that humans are causing Earth’s climate to warm, which the NAS itself confirmed in their “Climate Change: Evidence and Causes 2020” report. By allowing someone who denies this truth any sort of air time at a sponsored event, the NAS is complicit in spreading climate disinformation, which translates to further delay on climate action and thousands more lives at risk due to the devastating impacts of a warming planet.
The NAS must remain true to their mission and support the scientists telling the truth about our global crisis and condemn those, like Schmitt, who sow dangerous distrust and denial in science and harm us all in the process.
Note to Editors (from DeSmog):
Harrison Schmitt is a self-proclaimed climate denier, and a former Director at the Heartland Institute as well as of the contrarian Annapolis Center for Science-Based Public Policy.
Apart from denying the existence of man-made global warming, the Annapolis Center has spent considerable effort calling into question the link between air pollution and asthma, the impacts of mercury pollution, and the dangers of pesticide residue on food.
Since 1998, ExxonMobil has given $973,500 to the Annapolis Center. In 2004, at the Center’s annual dinner, it honored Senator James Inhofe for his work in “promoting science-based public policy.”
While Harrison Schmitt served as chairman and president of the Annapolis Center, he was affiliated with Sallie Baliunas. Baliunas was a member of the Annapolis Center’s Science and Economic Advisory Council.
According to ExxonSecrets, Baliunas is the “central scientist in the fight against action on climate change. She is used by virtually all of the Exxon-funded front groups as their scientific expert.” Baliunas has also been affiliated with the Heritage Foundation, the Heartland Institute, the George C. Marshall Institute, and the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI).
About Extinction Rebellion
Time has almost entirely run out to address the climate & ecological crisis, including the sixth mass extinction, global pollution, and abrupt, runaway climate change. Societal collapse and mass death are seen as inevitable by scientists and other credible voices if rapid action is not taken.
Extinction Rebellion believes it is a citizen’s duty to rebel, using peaceful civil disobedience, when faced with criminal inactivity by their Government.
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