Just when you thought it was safe to trust NASA again.

[TheFaithfulStone]

So today on NPR, I was listening to NASA administrator Michael Griffin hand Gregg Easterburg his head (which was satisfying) and then whammo he drops this one.

Originally Posted by Michael Griffin

I guess I would ask which human beings - where and when - are to be accorded the privilege of deciding that this particular climate that we have right here today, right now is the best climate for all other human beings. I think that's a rather arrogant position for people to take.

Damn it man! That's fantastic - you were doing such good job of making Gregg Easterburg look like a concern troll, and then you pop that one off. Now, admittedly, you were saying that combating global warming isn't one of NASA's tasks (and it shouldn't be) but the little bit about 'what's right in climate' is either -

A) Far to scientific and parsed a statement for most people to comprehend. That is - if he actually meant it. (Well, maybe we just got lucky until now, and the climate is only metastable, and we need to be thinking about how we're going to adapt to a different one.) But then, why not just say that?

or

B) Weak scientific justification for a political position.

Anyway, as much as I hate the anti-NASA crowd - whose main reason for not building a 'motel 6 on the moon' - is that they want that little bit of money spent on their own pet projects - Griffin's comment makes him sound like a political hack. Despite the fact that's he probably done more for NASA in the last two years than O'Keefe did in four, it's still frustrating.

Now we'll have all the environmentally concerned-but-not-crazy looking askance at NASA.

Grrr....

TFS

[DougF]

I'm surprised I haven't read this in the news, you would think that they would be all over that.

You could say he put his foot in his mouth.

[Tormod]

It may not be the most well-formed statement ever from Mr Griffin but I disagree that NASA should not combat global warming. I think that should be (and is) one of their major roles in space - to ensure the construction, launch, and operation of Earth observation satellites. This is what's being done with the A-Train satellites, for example.

NASA - A-Train



Only an organization with NASA's resources (or international counterparts) can do that. Then the data needs to be analyzed by NASA and independent research institutions. Policy making is however something else.

[TheFaithfulStone]

Originally Posted by tormod

to ensure the construction, launch, and operation of Earth observation satellites

Yeah, but that's not really 'combat' as much as 'study.'

I think 'combat' is the EPA's job, 'study' is probably NOAAs job, and 'provide the tools that make that possible' is NASA's job.

TFS

[Tormod]

Originally Posted by TheFaithfulStone

Yeah, but that's not really 'combat' as much as 'study.'

I think 'combat' is the EPA's job, 'study' is probably NOAAs job, and 'provide the tools that make that possible' is NASA's job.

TFS

It's important to see a larger picture than that. NASA has almost 50 years of experience in environmental science through satellites, balloons, sounding rockets and other methods. They are an enabler, yes, but they are also a major player in the field of environmental science.

science@nasa - Earth

NOAA plays a different role in that it is the oceanic and athmospheric administration - it studies weather more than it studies land resources, for example. Neither the EPA nor NOAA are basically climate organisations. They both however work with NASA.

No single agency or unit can combat global warming in isolation. It's important to have a lot of resources working against it - like public and private institutes, companies, universities etc through cooperation and partnership. NASA is one of these, and one of NASA's major roles in this is building and launching satellites, and also making satellite data available. NASA also plays an important role when it comes to studying the data and making sure it is distributed to the relevant parties (like NOAA).

[DougF]

What Does NASA Do?

NASA's mission is to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery, and aeronautics research.

To do that, thousands of people have been working around the world -- and off of it -- for more than 45 years, trying to answer some basic questions. What's out there in space? How do we get there? What will we find? What can we learn there, or learn just by trying to get there, that will make life better here on Earth?


I think that NASA is also a tool that is used to monitor, using all satellite data, like greenhouse gas emissions see below.

NASA Research Finds That Earth's Climate is Approaching "Dangerous" Point.

NEW YORK - NASA and Columbia University Earth Institute research finds that human-made greenhouse gases have brought the Earth's climate close to critical tipping points, with potentially dangerous consequences for the planet.

This study finds that global warming of 0.6oC in the past 30 years has been driven mainly by increasing greenhouse gases,

NASA Research Finds That Earth's Climate is Approaching "Dangerous" Point | SpaceRef - Your Space Reference

They (NASA) have there hand in everything that goes into space, this gives them a very interesting point of view, they get to see, examine and have access to all satellite data, (They get a view of the big picture) lets say that I wanted search the deepest parts of the ocean in search of the oldest oceanic crust, Then NASA mite say did you know there's an exploration led by Bill Stone of Stone Aerospace, into the depths of Mexico's mysterious El Zacatón sinkhole, you want to tag along?

NASA-funded robotic sub finds bottom of world's deepest sinkhole

my point is they don't run all of the experiments, but they say what, when and how to get the best end results, and I'm listening.