Klaatu barada nikto!
I don’t normally like to comment on American politics, but I must say Obama is making some very smart appointments in his administration. Specifically, I’m referring to his appointment of professors Stephen Chu and John P. Holdren.
Chu is a 1997 Nobel laureate in Physics. He is the Professor of Physics and Molecular and Cellular Biology of University of California, Berkeley and the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which is working with businesses to develop technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He is also a member of the Copenhagen Climate Council, and is a vocal advocate of added research into biofuels, solar power and other forms of alternative energy. Stephen Chu was appointed Secretary of Energy last December 15.
Holdren is a physicist with degrees from MIT and Standford University. He is the Professor of Environmental Policy at Harvard University, and the director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program at the School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. He has focused his work on global environmental change, energy technologies and policies, nuclear proliferation, and science and technology policy. If The Boston Globe and The Washington Post are to believed, John Holdren will be the next Scientific Adviser to the President.
It’s nice to see that actual experts are being assigned to the posts that require them, and that science will not be ignored as it is in the current US administration. While Bush does have a Scientific Adviser (John Marburger, who has a pretty flimsy Wikipedia page), I find it funny that the only thing I’ve read about him is his response to a report, Scientific Integrity in Policymaking, published by the Union of Concerned Scientists that criticized the Bush administration for the “manipulation, suppression, and misrepresentation of science” and for choosing members of scientific advisory panels based on their business interests rather than scientific experience. Marburger dismissed the report as “biased”, “false” and “a distortion”. The UCS rebutted by saying Marburger’s claims were “unjustified”. Marburger has since kept quiet.
I must say, I am a little excited about what policies will be put in place by the Obama administration. I’m tired of seeing movies like The Day The Earth Stood Still, where the government blatantly ignores key scientists’ advice until after the attack-first policy has failed. And hopefully, with these guys in charge of Energy and Environmental concerns, Klaatu won’t be visiting anytime soon.
