AGU bak

<div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</font></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="" /><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;">mashey 2012</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;">p78</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;">P. American Institute of Professional Geologists</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;">This section illustrates Heartland’s ability to disseminate disinformation,</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;">especially to those who like the message and pass it on. IRS-0E. See</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;">Z.2010.08-16, where E&CN brought AIPG to the world’s attention.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;">The Geological Society of America (GSA) has 24,000 members and the</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;">American Geophysical Union (AGU) has 50,000+. Both have many</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;">climate scientists and strong positions on climate change. 382</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;">The 5,500-member AIPG’s383 tagline is “competence, integrity, ethics,”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;">but it is rare in abandoning the straightforward climate position common to</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">most relevant science societies384<b> Some geologists are fine climate</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>scientists, but petroleum / mining geologists often are not.</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;">385</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;">AIPG Ohio states:</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;">386</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;">“The primary goal of the American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG)</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;">Ohio Section is to be the principal advocate for geology and the geologic</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;">profession in Ohio, and to promote high ethical standards and continuing</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;">career development for our members.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;">The Ohio October 2010 newsletter included a note by Pres. Justice:</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;">387</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;">“This year, we may take special pride that we did not shrink from an issue of</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="font-weight: normal;">great national importance, House Bill H.R. 2454 the </span><b>Markey-Waxman “cap &</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>trade” bill. </b><span style="font-weight: normal;">When the bill, now before the Senate, passed through the House on</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;">June 26, we engaged the entire membership in a timely, democratic vote on</div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">whether to publicly oppose. When you, our membership, voted by a</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> 77%</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">majority to publicly oppose, </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">the Executive Committee responded, approving a</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;">position statement which reasons strictly on scientific grounds. As a institute</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;">service to the public, we placed the paper on our website, along with its</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;">supporting academic and support research references, made available through</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;">embedded hyperlinks. By so doing, we have given visitors to our website the</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;">ability to conduct independent research. The Ohio position statement has now</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal;">been mailed to the governor and over twenty legislators. In addition, national ...</div></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">cnn Washington Post: NOAA taps climate change skeptic to help lead agency</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">By Devan Cole, CNN</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Updated 8:02 PM ET, Mon<b> September 14, 2020</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Climate science denier appointed to top position at NOAA</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Climate science denier appointed to top position at NOAA 03:29</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Washington (CNN)A longtime climate change skeptic has been appointed by the Trump administration to help run the federal agency charged with producing "much of the climate research funded" by the government, The Washington Post reported Sunday.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">David Legates, who was a professor at the University of Delaware before being tapped by the administration, will serve as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's deputy assistant secretary of commerce for environmental observation and prediction, according to the Post, which said the climate change skeptic will report<b> directly to acting NOAA Administrator Neil Jacobs.</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">CNN has reached out to Legates on the reported appointment.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The executive director/CEO of the nonprofit </font><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">American Geophysical Union, whose website claims 60,000 members, urged in a blog post Monday evening that the appointment be rescinded.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">"With climate change producing raging wildfires in the western United States and devastating hurricanes in the Atlantic, our nation -- and the world -- cannot afford to have our federal government undermining the important work of climate scientists," Randy Fiser wrote. "Legates' appointment not only threatens our ability to combat the climate crisis and protect our planet for future generations, it undermines scientific integrity at NOAA."</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">The Post said Legates formerly served as Delaware's climatologist but was "forced out" because of his "controversial views" on the issue.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">The newspaper said that Legates "had come under pressure from then-Gov. Ruth Ann Minner (D), because of his fossil fuel industry-funded research casting doubt on the science showing that burning coal, oil and other fossil fuels is the main factor behind heating the planet and would lead to dangerous effects such as sea level rise and extreme weather events.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Legates spoke about some of his views during a hearing before the House Natural Resources Committee in 2019, claiming that carbon dioxide isn't the only thing contributing to changes in the planet's temperature.</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"Carbon dioxide is not this magic knob that decides the temperature of the planet. In particular, there's an awful lot of other things that happen with it, too. The plant does not warm like a greenhouse, that's simply pure radiation balance," Legates testified during the hearing.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In response to questions from Republican Rep. Tom McClintock of California, Legates said that although the planet is experiencing some of the highest recorded temperatures in the last 150 years, it <b>"has little to do with carbon dioxide," but instead has to do with the "demise of the little ice age and warming conditions due to an increasing sun."</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Climate scientists largely agree that carbon dioxide is warming the planet, and that human activity, like the burning of fossil fuels for energy, has increased the gas to dangerous levels</b>. Other gasses, like methane, are also responsible for some of the human-causes warming we see today.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">NOAA "oversees weather forecasting, climate research and fisheries," according to the Post, and "has until now continued its climate research and communications activities unfettered by political influence," unlike other parts of the administration, like the Environmental Protection Agency, that have "dismissed and sidelined climate scientists or altered their work before publication."</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">This story has been updated with reaction from the American Geophysical Union.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">CNN's Drew Kann contributed to this report.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></p></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</font></font></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">http://www.sierraclub.org/san-francisco-bay/blog/2017/03/will-bay-area-air-regulators-keep-promises-stop-rise-refinery</font></font></div><div style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><p style="font-weight: normal; line-height: inherit; margin: 0.91071em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Putting in place local regulation of refinery emissions has been an uphill battle, even here in the Bay Area. For this reason we are counting on the support of Governor Brown and other state-level climate regulators. We have heard Governor Brown’s promises to defend California’s climate policies and programs against the encroachments of Trump’s administration. What will be his stand on rulemaking at our local Air District?</font></font></p><p style="line-height: inherit; margin: 0.91071em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In December, at the<b> American Geophysical Union</b> meeting in San Francisco, Brown declared, “We’ve got the scientists, we’ve got the lawyers, and we’re ready to fight.” Also in December, the Governor’s office and the state Air Resources Board (CARB) committed to producing a public letter affirming the authority of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to adopt Rule 12-16, and stating that there are absolutely no conflicts between Rule 12-16 and California cap-and-trade and other climate programs (an argument put forward by the oil industry). But this letter is now long delayed. It is urgently needed prior to the community workshops on refinery rules at the end of March. Will CARB and the Governor’s office come through?</font></font></p></div><div style="orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" /></font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>
</div><div>Scientists are frantically copying U.S. climate data, fearing it might vanish under Trump</div><div>
</div><div>By Brady Dennis December 13 at 11:07 AM </div><div> </div><div>A satellite image of Hurricane Otto approaching the coast of Central America on Nov. 24. (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)</div><div>Alarmed that decades of crucial climate measurements could vanish under a hostile Trump administration, scientists have begun a feverish attempt to copy reams of government data onto independent servers in hopes of safeguarding it from any political interference.</div><div>
</div><div>The efforts include a “guerrilla archiving” event in Toronto, where experts will copy irreplaceable public data, meetings at the University of Pennsylvania focused on how to download as much federal data as possible in the coming weeks, and a collaboration of scientists and database experts who are compiling an online site to harbor scientific information.</div><div>
</div><div>“Something that seemed a little paranoid to me before all of a sudden seems potentially realistic, or at least something you’d want to hedge against,” said Nick Santos, an environmental researcher at the University of California at Davis, who over the weekend began copying government climate data onto a nongovernment server, where it will remain available to the public. “Doing this can only be a good thing. Hopefully they leave everything in place. But if not, we’re planning for that.”</div><div>
</div><div>[Trump taps Montana congressman Ryan Zinke, who frequently votes against environmentalists, as Interior secretary]</div><div>
</div><div>In recent weeks, President-elect Donald Trump has nominated a growing list of Cabinet members who have questioned the overwhelming scientific consensus around global warming. His transition team at the Department of Energy has asked agency officials for names of employees and contractors who have participated in international climate talks and worked on the scientific basis for Obama administration-era regulations of carbon emissions. One Trump adviser suggested that NASA no longer should conduct climate research and instead should focus on space exploration.</div><div>
</div><div>Trump transition team for Energy Department seeks names of employees involved in climate meetings Embed  Share Play Video1:54</div><div>The Trump transition team has issued a list of 74 questions for the Energy Department, asking officials there to identify which department employees and contractors have worked on forging an international climate pact as well as domestic efforts to cut the nation's carbon output. (Whitney Shefte/The Washington Post)</div><div>Those moves have stoked fears among the scientific community that Trump, who has called the notion of man-made climate change “a hoax” and vowed to reverse environmental policies put in place by President Obama, could try to alter or dismantle parts of the federal government’s repository of data on everything from rising sea levels to the number of wildfires in the country.</div><div>
</div><div>Michael Halpern, deputy director of the Center for Science and Democracy at the advocacy group Union of Concerned Scientists, argued that Trump has appointed a “band of climate conspiracy theorists” to run transition efforts at various agencies, along with nominees to lead them who share similar views.</div><div>
</div><div>[Energy Dept. rejects Trump’s request to name climate change workers, who remain worried]</div><div>
</div><div>“They have been salivating at the possibility of dismantling federal climate research programs for years. It’s not unreasonable to think they would want to take down the very data that they dispute,” Halpern said in an email. “There is a fine line between being paranoid and being prepared, and scientists are doing their best to be prepared. .?.?. Scientists are right to preserve data and archive websites before those who want to dismantle federal climate change research programs storm the castle.”</div><div>
</div><div>To be clear, neither Trump nor his transition team have said the new administration plans to manipulate or curtail publicly available data. The transition team did not respond to a request for comment. But some scientists aren’t taking any chances.</div><div>
</div><div>“What are the most important .gov climate assets?” Eric Holthaus, a meteorologist and self-proclaimed “climate hawk,” tweeted from his Arizona home Saturday evening. “Scientists: Do you have a US .gov climate database that you don’t want to see disappear?”</div><div>
</div><div>[Trump taps former Texas Gov. Rick Perry to head Energy Department he once vowed to abolish]</div><div>
</div><div>Within hours, responses flooded in from around the country. Scientists added links to dozens of government databases to a Google spreadsheet. Investors offered to help fund efforts to copy and safeguard key climate data. Lawyers offered pro bono legal help. Database experts offered server space and help organizing mountains of data. In California, Santos began building an online repository to “make sure these data sets remain freely and broadly accessible.”</div><div>
</div><div>Climate data from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have been politically vulnerable. When Tom Karl, director of the National Centers for Environmental Information, and his colleagues published a study in 2015 seeking to challenge the idea that there had been a global warming “slowdown” or “pause” during the 2000s, they relied, in significant part, on updates to NOAA’s ocean temperature data set, saying the data “do not support the notion of a global warming ‘hiatus.’”</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>In response, the U.S. House Science, Space and Technology Committee chair, Rep. Lamar S. Smith (R-Tex.), tried to subpoena the scientists and their records.</div><div>
</div><div>That effort launched by Holthaus is one of several underway to preserve key federal scientific data.</div><div>
</div><div>[Trump has picked the most conservative EPA leader since 1981. This one will face much less resistance.]</div><div>
</div><div>In Philadelphia, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, along with members of groups such as Open Data Philly and the software company Azavea, have been meeting to figure out ways to harvest and store important data sets.</div><div>
</div><div>At the University of Toronto this weekend, researchers are holding what they call a “guerrilla archiving” event to catalogue key federal environmental data ahead of Trump’s inauguration. The event “is focused on preserving information and data from the Environmental Protection Agency, which has programs and data at high risk of being removed from online public access or even deleted,” the organizers said. “This includes climate change, water, air, toxics programs.”</div><div>
</div><div>The event is part of a broader effort to help San Francisco-based Internet Archive with its End of Term 2016 project, an effort by university, government and nonprofit officials to find and archive valuable pages on federal websites. The project has existed through several presidential transitions.</div><div>
</div><div>[Al Gore just had ‘an extremely interesting conversation’ with Trump on climate change]</div><div>
</div><div>At the American Geophysical Union’s fall meeting in San Francisco, where more than 20,000 earth and climate scientists have swarmed the city’s biggest conference center this week, an air of gallows humor marked many conversations. Some young scientists said their biggest personal concern is funding for their research, much of which relies on support from NASA and other agencies.</div><div>
</div><div>“You just don’t know what’s coming,” said Adam Campbell, who studies the imperiled Ross Ice Shelf of Antarctica.</div><div>
</div><div>But others also arrived at the meeting with a strengthened sense of resolve. Campbell was planning to join hundreds of other people at a rally Tuesday, organized in part by the activist group ClimateTruth.org, encouraging researchers to “stand up for science.” “People have felt a call to arms,” Campbell said. “We need to be outspoken.”</div><div>
</div><div>What a Trump presidency means for climate change Embed  Share Play Video2:19</div><div>Donald Trump will enter the White House with an environmental policy agenda opposed to that of the Obama administration and many other nations that have pledged support to the Paris climate agreement. The Washington Post's Chris Mooney breaks down what a Donald Trump presidency will mean when it comes to climate change. (Daron Taylor/The Washington Post)</div><div>Lawyers with the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund — which provides legal assistance to researchers facing lawsuits over their work on climate change — will be holding one-on-one consultations with researchers who think they might need help from a lawyer. And the organization’s table in the AGU exhibition hall is piled high with booklets titled “Handling Political Harassment and Legal Intimidation: A Pocket Guide for Scientists.”</div><div>
</div><div>[Shrinking mountain glaciers are ‘categorical evidence’ of climate change, scientists say]</div><div>
</div><div>“We literally thought about it the day after the election,” said Lauren Kurtz, the legal defense fund’s executive director. “I have gotten a lot of calls from scientists who are really concerned. .?.?. So it’s intended in some ways to be reassuring, to say, ‘There is a game plan; we’re here to help you.’”</div><div>
</div><div>The 16-page guide contains advice for government researchers who believe their work is being suppressed, as well as how scientists should react if they receive hate mail or death threats.</div><div>
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</div><div>Holthaus, who encouraged scientists to flag key databases, said the effort to safeguard them is mostly precautionary.</div><div>
</div><div>“I don’t actually think that it will happen,” he said of efforts by an incoming administration to obscure or alter scientific data. “But I think it could happen. .?.?. All of these data sets are priceless, in the sense that if there is a gap, it greatly diminishes their usefulness.”</div><div>
</div><div>[Trump says ‘nobody really knows’ if climate change is real]</div><div>
</div><div>Energy and Environment newsletter</div><div>The science and policy of environmental issues.</div><div>Sign up</div><div>That’s the main concern for Andrew Dessler, a professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M University. He said he doubts that even the most hostile administration would try to do away with existing climate data, given the potential backlash.</div><div>
</div><div>“I think it’s much more likely they’d try to end the collection of data, which would minimize its value. Having continuous data is crucial for understanding long-term trends,” Dessler said. “Trends are what climate change is about — understanding these long-term changes. Think about how much better off the people who don’t want to do anything about climate change would be if all the long-term temperature trends didn’t exist.”</div><div>
</div><div>He added, “If you can just get rid of the data, you’re in a stronger position to argue we should do nothing about climate change.”</div><div>
</div><div>Chris Mooney in Washington and Sarah Kaplan in San Francisco contributed to this report.</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
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<p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alarmed that decades of crucial climate measurements could vanish under a hostile Trump administration, scientists have begun a feverish attempt to copy reams of government data onto independent servers in hopes of safeguarding it from any political interference.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The efforts include a “<a href="https://ischool.utoronto.ca/content/guerrilla-archiving-event-saving-environmental-data-trump" style=" box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(25, 85, 165); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); zoom: 1; margin-bottom: 18px; line-height: 1.8em;">guerrilla archiving</a>” event in Toronto, where experts will copy irreplaceable public data, meetings at the University of Pennsylvania focused on how to download as much federal data as possible in the coming weeks, and a collaboration of scientists and database experts who are compiling an <a href="http://climatemirror.org/" style=" box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(25, 85, 165); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); zoom: 1; margin-bottom: 18px; line-height: 1.8em;">online site</a> to harbor scientific information.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">BAK 12/16</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></p><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">9/16</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474657668487_29649" helvetica="helvetica" segoe="segoe" lucida="lucida" font-size="font-size:" background-color="background-color:" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 1em 0em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We're floored. In a crushing blow to scientific integrity, the American Geophysical Union (AGU) board just announced that it will continue to accept sponsorship from Exxon, one of the world's leading funders of climate change denial.</font></p><p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474657668487_29647" helvetica="helvetica" segoe="segoe" lucida="lucida" font-size="font-size:" background-color="background-color:" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 1em 0em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Today's news is disappointing — and perplexing. By making this decision, the AGU board has ignored the pleas of 300 prominent climate scientists, hundreds of AGU members, and 56,000 petition signers.</font></p><p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474657668487_29631" helvetica="helvetica" segoe="segoe" lucida="lucida" font-size="font-size:" background-color="background-color:" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 1em 0em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The AGU decision also renders the organization's own sponsorship policy meaningless, since the policy explicitly bars AGU from receiving funds from companies that disseminate misinformation about science. <span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474657668487_29630" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-weight: 700;">You know it and I know it — Exxon certainly fits the bill! Somehow, AGU hasn't gotten the message.</span></font></p></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">8/16 hansen</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">climate truth</font></div><div><p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1470929450113_2487" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" arial="Arial" lucida="Lucida" grande="Grande" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 1em 0em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1470929450113_2486" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-weight: 700;">Exxon has been deceiving the public about the science of climate change for decades, to the tune of $33 million in funding to climate denial since 1998 — and the deception continues to this day.</span> As I write this, Exxon is funding climate change denying think tanks (like the American Enterprise Institute), trade associations (like the American Legislative Exchange Council), and more than one hundred climate change denying politicians.</font></p><p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1470929450113_2367" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" arial="Arial" lucida="Lucida" grande="Grande" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 1em 0em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Energy companies like Exxon should turn to large investments in clean energies. Instead, they financially support climate change denial and major public advertising campaigns designed to keep the world hooked on fossil fuels — even though the science shows that fossil fuel emissions must be phased out rapidly for the sake of young people and future generations.</font></p><p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1470929450113_2377" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" arial="Arial" lucida="Lucida" grande="Grande" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 1em 0em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1470929450113_2378" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-weight: 700;">That’s why I’ve joined with 300 of my fellow Earth scientists, including Kerry Emanuel, Catherine Gautier, Charles Greene, Elisabeth Holland, Michael Mann, Nathan Phillips, and Bob Ward on an open letter calling on the AGU to reject sponsorship from Exxon once and for all.</span> <a rel="nofollow" title="Take Action" target="blank" href="https://act.climatetruth.org/sign/AGU?t=5&akid=4144.100725.bbNnRS" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1470929450113_2485" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(25, 106, 212); outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1470929450113_2484" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-weight: 700;">Today, we’re asking you to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with us scientists by adding your name.</span></a></font></p><p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1470929450113_2483" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" arial="Arial" lucida="Lucida" grande="Grande" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 1em 0em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Despite our pleas so far, the AGU Board decided at their last meeting to continue accepting funding from Exxon. In response, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Representative Ted Lieu backed us up with a letter of their own, finally prompting the AGU Board to vow to once again “review and discuss the information” at its next meeting this September.<span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1470929450113_2482" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-weight: 700;"> But nothing has changed yet. So, as we approach this September’s board meeting, we now need your support.</span></font></p><p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1470929450113_2376" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" arial="Arial" lucida="Lucida" grande="Grande" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 1em 0em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We’re working with ClimateTruth.org and The Natural History Museum to invite you, the public, to add your weight behind us.<span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-weight: 700;"> Join us in this collaborative campaign of scientists and citizens.</span> Help us remind one of our world’s great bastions of science that its leadership matters to us all. This September, as AGU’s board decides if it will stand or falter in the face of attacks on its own science and scientists, the eyes of the world will be watching.</font></p><p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1470929450113_2476" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" arial="Arial" lucida="Lucida" grande="Grande" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 1em 0em; padding: 0px;"><a rel="nofollow" title="Take Action" target="blank" href="https://act.climatetruth.org/sign/AGU?t=6&akid=4144.100725.bbNnRS" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(25, 106, 212); outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-weight: 700;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Please sign our petition to tell the AGU to drop Exxon sponsorship.</font></span></a></p><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see Mann bk Holdren Harvard aaas prez support early, also EOS am geophy jrnl</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">around p 114</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">lamar:</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span id="docs-internal-guid-65b92192-cb2f-d228-1c4c-ee4d103adec1">Ever since Smith gained control of the committee in 2013, its most conservative faction has </span><a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2016/03/07/lamar_smith_broadens_his_attacks_on_noaa_scientists.html">aggressively questioned climate science and funding</a>, including<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/11/25/3725782/scientists-scold-science-committee-chair/">charging the scientists</a> at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of misrepresenting climate data.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 21px;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span id="docs-internal-guid-65b92192-cb2f-d228-1c4c-ee4d103adec1"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">That feud earned the committee an unusual rebuke last year in a joint letter from major scientific groups: the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American<b> Chemical</b> Society, the <b>American Geophysical Union, the American Meteorological Society</b>, the American Statistical Association, the Ecological Society of America, and the Geological Society of America. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">They said the committee's actions were chilling scientific inquiry—the very charge Smith is now making about the investigations into Exxon.</span></span></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Smith and his allies on the committee bitterly oppose the Paris climate treaty and action on climate change generally, with many of them vocally doubting the mainstream scientific consensus on the climate crisis. At hearings, the panel's majority often invites testimony weighted toward this view.</font></p></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ties deeper</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/26052016/agu-american-geophysical-union-exxon-climate-change-denial-science-sponsorship"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">http://insideclimatenews.org/news/26052016/agu-american-geophysical-union-exxon-climate-change-denial-science-sponsorship</font></a></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><div class="content" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The board of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) sparked a protest among member scientists when it announced last month that it would keep accepting money from ExxonMobil amid new revelations the oil giant misled the public on climate science. At issue was the company's sponsorship of a $35,000 student breakfast at its annual conference.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What AGU president Margaret Leinen did not discuss when announcing the decision<span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> was <b>Exxon's other, longtime financial support and close ties to the world's largest organization of earth scientists.</b></span></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ExxonMobil Exploration is recognized by AGU as a top donor, and some of that money was raised by two longstanding AGU members who are Exxon employees: Carlos Dengo, a former company vice president and a member of AGU's board of directors, and Exxon scientist Pinar Yilmaz.</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In all, donations tied to Exxon have totaled a little over $620,000 from 2001-15 and less than half was secured by Dengo and Yilmaz.</b> Both are listed in AGU's annual reports among the top 10 living AGU donors for their bundling efforts, the practice of gathering contributions. Both have also personally donated to AGU in much smaller amounts, according to Dana Rehm, AGU's director of communications. Dengo contributed as recently as 2015.</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">AGU would not detail the exact amounts bundled for Exxon or personally donated by Dengo and Yilmaz.</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;">The $620,000 represents just 0.1 percent of AGU's total revenue during that time, but it reflects the company's deep ongoing, even mutually beneficial involvement with AGU. According to i</span>nterviews with more than a dozen past and present AGU members and officials, severing ties with the company is not a simple issue, despite the <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/22022016/scientists-american-geophysical-union-cut-ties-exxon-climate-change-denial" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">calls from more than a hundred scientists and AGU members</a> to stop accepting the company's money. From recruiting AGU scientists to sharing common interest in better understanding Earth's geoscience, the AGU and Exxon have been intertwined for at least four decades. In recent years, however, Exxon's funding of climate misinformation campaigns has come to light, raising ethical concerns among the scientists.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;">The latest revelations, detailed in an </span><a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/content/Exxon-The-Road-Not-Taken" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">investigation by InsideClimate News</a>, that Exxon's knowledge of climate change reaches back at least four decades while it also worked to discredit that very science, led to the most recent discontent about sponsorship among members. <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/14042016/agu-will-continue-accept-exxon-money-despite-scientists-protest" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">AGU announced in April</a> it would continue the relationship. At the time, <a href="https://about.agu.org/president/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">Leinen</a> wrote, "it is not possible for us to determine unequivocally whether ExxonMobil is participating in misinformation about science currently, either directly or indirectly, and that AGU's acceptance of sponsorship of the 2015 Student Breakfast does not constitute a threat to AGU's reputation."</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Leinen, however, said in an interview the board of directors will continue to discuss Exxon's sponsorship at their next meeting in September, raising the possibility of another vote.</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;">She said the decision to re-open the topic for debate was triggered by a letter from<b> Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) o</b>n May 10.</span><a href="http://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/release/whitehouse-lieu-call-on-american-geophysical-union-to-reconsider-accepting-funding-from-exxonmobil" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;"> The letter provided examples</a> from 2014 and 2015 where Exxon gave money to organizations (such as the <b>American Legislative Exchange Council</b>) that cast doubt on climate science and lobbied against climate action.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;">"Everything I have known about AGU over the years is they don't need ExxonMobil money to be financially stable," said </span><a href="http://www.envsci.rutgers.edu/_robock/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">Alan Robock</a>, past president of AGU's atmospheric science section. "I don't think [the reluctance to sever ties] is about the money at all," but the company's overall relationship with AGU.  </font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Exxon has sponsored the student breakfast at AGU's fall conference since at least 2001, and has funded travel grants for students to attend meetings.</span>Exxon, which employs 16,000 scientists and engineers, used the event for recruiting purposes.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;">That began to change in December 2006, the start of the first pushback against Exxon's funding of AGU, d</span>riven in part by complaints from AGU student members. That year, the Royal Society, the United Kingdom's science academy,<a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/15092015/Exxons-own-research-confirmed-fossil-fuels-role-in-global-warming" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;"> accused Exxon of being "inaccurate and misleading" on climate science</a> and demanded that Exxon stop funding organizations that undermine public understanding of climate risks.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Under pressure, AGU officials considered distancing itself from Exxon. In May 2007, it decided to no longer allow Exxon, or any other sponsor, to be given special access to students at sponsored events, including the Exxon-funded student breakfast</span>. AGU leaders also discussed severing all financial ties with the company, though never brought that to a formal vote.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;">AGU's counterpart in Europe, the </span><a href="http://www.egu.eu/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">European Geosciences Union</a>, faced the opposite decision that year—whether to start accepting corporate sponsors, including Exxon—for the first time. Some EGU climate scientists vocally opposed accepting Exxon money, and the group never brought the sponsorship issue to a vote.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;">AGU executive director and chief executive </span><a href="http://sites.agu.org/leadership/leader/christine-w-mcentee/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">Christine McEntee</a> defended her organization's acceptance of corporate sponsorship money, saying: "No sponsor influences anything we do about the science." Exxon has no input on AGU's scientific position statements or its programs, McEntee said.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Still, as the science behind man-made global warming became irrefutable and climate science became a more popular field of study among </span>AGU's 60,000 members, AGU's relationship with Exxon grew more controversial.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Following the recent details unearthed by InsideClimate News, the company is now </span>under investigation by <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/30032016/climate-change-fraud-investigation-exxon-eric-shneiderman-18-attorneys-general" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">four attorneys general</a> for possibly misleading the public and its investors about climate risks. AGU has a policy to "not accept funding from organizational partners that promote and/or disseminate misinformation of science, or that fund organizations that publicly promote misinformation of science."</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Exxon Ranks Among AGU's Top Donors</font></strong></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;">The AGU was founded in 1919 as a scientific organization to study earth physics. The group initially shied away from applying geophysics to discover petroleum deposits, preferring instead to focus on the "pure" sciences of physics, chemistry and geology according to </span>History of Science in the United States by Marc Rothenberg. As early as 1977, AGU's executive director Fred Spilhaus discussed corporate membership with Exxon representatives, according to correspondence held at the Niels Bohr Library & Archives in College Park, Maryland.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Today, AGU is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that gets most of its funding from publications, meetings, an $89 million endowment and membership dues, according to its 2014 annual report. In 2015, approximately 24,000 scientists attended the organization's annual conference, making it the largest earth and space science meeting in the world.</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">AGU offers special recognition in its annual reports for donors who have made lifetime contributions of $100,000 or more, as well as those who have bundled the same amount. AGU stopped recognizing bundlers after 2012. In the organization's 97-year history, only 14 individuals or entities have reached that threshold, according to an ICN review of seven years of annual reports. Four are deceased.</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Of the three Exxon-related donors who have received recognition at this level, perhaps most controversial is Dengo, the former director and geoscience vice president of ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company.</b></font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dengo, who sits on AGU's current board of directors, recused himself from the April vote and discussion on whether or not to continue accepting Exxon funding. However, Dengo did give a brief statement after the board decided that it wouldn't be a conflict of interest for him to do so. Dengo told InsideClimate News he shared his "personal knowledge and insights on the matter." According to Leinen, Dengo's talk emphasized that Exxon "felt strongly about supporting students at the meeting...[and] was not centered on trying to convince the board that they should vote one way or the other."</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dengo told InsideClimate News that he did not give $100,000 himself, but solicited funds from Exxon, along with his personal donations.</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><b>Dengo also served on AGU's development board, which raises funds for the organization, from 2006 to 2012.</b> AGU conducted a review of its development program in 2013 and '14 and the development board did not meet. </span><a href="http://energy.tamu.edu/faculty-experts/carlos-a-dengo/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">Dengo</a> retired from Exxon in 2012 and joined Texas A&M University's faculty in 2014. When the development board reconvened in 2015, Leinen appointed Dengo as chair, a position that gave him an automatic seat on AGU's board of directors.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pinar Yilmaz, manager of external project collaboration at ExxonMobil Exploration, brought in major donations from Exxon between 2001-07. This similarly earned her a spot on the top donors' list. AGU characterized Yilmaz's personal donations as "not large" and her last donation was in 2005. Yilmaz, who started working for the Mobil Oil Corp. in 1980 and later worked for Exxon, which became ExxonMobil in 1999, has served on AGU's international participation committee. She was an officer of the Geological Society of America, a smaller geological community; Yilmaz has given at least $100,000 to her alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin. Yilmaz did not respond to repeated requests for comment.</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ExxonMobil Exploration, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil that specializes in locating and extracting oil and gas reserves, is the third Exxon-related top donor.</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Choosing Engagement Over Severing Ties</font></strong></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The AGU board's decision to continue accepting Exxon funding, according to Leinen, stems from a desire to engage the company on climate change moving forward.</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Robock, who led the effort to end AGU sponsors' special access to students in 2006, said Leinen elaborated on the board's recent decision during an AGU dinner at the EGU annual meeting in Vienna on </span>April 19. Severing ties with Exxon would make a political statement in the short term, Robock recalled Leinen telling him, but AGU was focused on the long term and believed companies like Exxon have to be part of the climate change solution. According to Robock, Leinen said it would be more valuable for AGU to work with the industry rather than cut them off for short-term political gain.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When InsideClimate News asked Leinen about that conversation, she said she didn't recall talking about short-term political statements, but she "certainly would have said" that the board had decided to engage over the long term with the entire energy industry, including non-fossil fuel companies.</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Robock is among those who signed the recent petition asking AGU to stop accepting Exxon's sponsorship. He said the current debate revisits much of what was discussed by AGU leadership a decade ago.</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I wish they would have divorced themselves from Exxon 10 years ago," Robock said. "I wish they would have said 'we are a science organization and this company, they are actively confusing the public about climate science. We are an organization that promotes science and we don't want to take their money.'"</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Geologists Vs. Climate Scientists</font></strong></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a href="http://eaps4.mit.edu/faculty/Emanuel/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">Kerry Emanuel</a></span>, a professor of meteorology at MIT who studies hurricanes and climate change, said the AGU's decision to continue ties with Exxon likely reflects AGU's constituency, which includes some climate skeptics.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I know that AGU has gotten a lot of pressure from geologists in general not to pay much attention to the climate issue," said Emanuel, who also signed the petition and is considering boycotting AGU's annual conference this year. "I just don't know how to quantify that."</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;">According to several scientists who spoke to InsideClimate News, there's disagreement among AGU members about the seriousness of human-caused climate change, and what policies should be adopted to fight it. That debate is playing out in at universities across the country where earth and atmospheric science departments include climate scientists and geologists, according to </span><a href="http://www.eas.cornell.edu/people/profile.cfm?netid=chg2_eng" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">Charles Greene</a>, an Earth and Atmospheric Sciences professor at Cornell University.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"One side is saying what the impacts [of climate change] are going to be and the other is training students to go into oil and gas exploration," said Greene, who also signed the petition. "With reports in last five years saying we can't exploit all of the resources we already know about, why are we training students to go out and find more?"</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a href="http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/_gautier/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">Catherine Gautier</a></span>, an emeritus professor at UC-Santa Barbara who specializes in earth systems science, said AGU historically has been dominated by geologists in the broad sense, including what's called solid earth geophysicists.</b> But growing awareness of the urgency of climate change has raised the issue's profile within AGU.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There are now more presentations about climate research at AGU events, and scientists in global warming-related fields are taking on more leadership roles within the organization, she said.</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Gautier, also a petition signer, said AGU's board of directors is denying "ample evidence" that shows Exxon has continued to support climate misinformation campaigns, even though the company vowed to </span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/may/28/climatechange.fossilfuels" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">stop such activities in 2008</a>.</font></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Some people have suggested that...shaming Exxon isn't the right strategy," Gautier said.</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I think that we need to have both a carrot and stick approach. I don't think they will change their [actions] until we force them."</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Will AGU Reconsider?</font></strong></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Leinen said she hadn't finished reviewing the information provided by Whitehouse and Lieu. She added that the board will continue to monitor the progress of the investigations of Exxon and will evaluate their findings.</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"If there were concrete evidence that could be independently verified that ExxonMobil is communicating scientific misinformation, then that evidence would be cause for the Board to reconsider our decision regarding acceptance of their sponsorship," Leinen told InsideClimate News in an email. She defined concrete evidence as "documentation that is either publicly accessible; a direct quote in full context from someone at ExxonMobil that demonstrates an official connection to misinformation about science; or non-public and independently verifiable material that has been collected by a disinterested, unbiased source, such as via a legal investigation or academic study."</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When asked how recent the communication of misinformation would have to be to qualify as "current," Leinen declined to specify.</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We have not defined 'current' quantitatively, rather our emphasis on 'current' is intended to recognize that the positions of organizations and corporations may evolve (and ideally improve) over time," Leinen said.</font></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><em style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Clarification: This story has been updated to more accurately reflect the historical make-up of the AGU. The organization has been historically dominated by all types of geologists, in the most broad sense. By that, we mean </span>any scientist who studies processes happening on or below the ground, including mineralogists, geomorphologists, seismologists, volcanologists, petroleum geologists, and, importantly, <span style="box-sizing: inherit;">solid earth geophysicists (</span>physicists who study solid earth processes)<span style="box-sizing: inherit;">. This is in contrast to scientists like climatologists who study</span>atmospheric sciences and other processes happening above the ground.</font></em></p></div></div></div></div><div class="tagged-with" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-transform: uppercase; margin-bottom: 1em; line-height: 22.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><label style="box-sizing: inherit; display: block; line-height: 1.2;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PUBLISHED UNDER:</font></label><div class="field field-name-field-topics field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-item even" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/topics/business-and-accountability-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">BUSINESS AND ACCOUNTABILITY</font></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-item even" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/tags/exxon-road-not-taken" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">EXXON: THE ROAD NOT TAKEN</font></a></div></div><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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<a href="http://ecowatch.com/2016/02/23/climate-experts-agu-reject-exxon/">http://ecowatch.com/2016/02/23/climate-experts-agu-reject-exxon/</a>

<b>More than 100 researchers—including <a href="http://ecowatch.com/?s=James+Hansen">James Hansen</a>, <a href="http://ecowatch.com/author/mmann/">Michael Mann</a> and Kerry Emanuel—have signed an <a href="http://thenaturalhistorymuseum.org/scientists-to-agu-drop-exxon-sponsorship/" target="blank">open letter</a> pressing the American Geophysical Union (AGU) to <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/22022016/scientists-american-geophysical-union-cut-ties-exxon-climate-change-denial" target="blank">end Exxon’s sponsorship</a> of the group’s annual fall meeting. While <a href="http://ecowatch.com/?s=exxon">Exxon</a> is a major employer of geophysicists and does some significant research in the geophysical space, its long-time funding of <a href="http://ecowatch.com/?s=denial">climate denial</a> puts Exxon at odds with AGU’s organizational support policy, which states that AGU won’t take money from groups that fund or disseminate misinformation.</b></font><div class="rve" data-content-width=""><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500"><p dir="ltr" lang="en"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Time for Exxon's day in court. Call on US State AGs to investigate just what <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ExxonKnew?src=hash">#ExxonKnew</a>: <a href="https://t.co/ge57bXmHMQ">https://t.co/ge57bXmHMQ</a> <a href="https://t.co/m5LREgeSqO">pic.twitter.com/m5LREgeSqO</a></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">— 350 dot org (@350) <a href="https://twitter.com/350/status/701138027498889216">February 20, 2016</a></font></p></blockquote></div><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The open letter argues, in light of the <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23ExxonKnew&src=typd" target="blank">#ExxonKnew</a> investigations, that Exxon has run afoul of AGU’s policy. In <a href="https://fromtheprow.agu.org/exxon-agu-and-corporate-support/" target="blank">response</a>, AGU first said it would keep the sponsorship because investigators have yet to definitively prove that Exxon funded denial, but the organization later said it would reconsider the issue at the AGU board of directors meeting in April.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Exxon’s sponsorship of AGU is a relatively contentious issue in academia. Some scientists see Exxon’s employment of geologists as sufficient justification for the relationship, since Exxon does perfectly respectable science in non-climate fields. But Exxon’s AGU sponsorship has been the subject of at least a little mockery in the deniersphere, with Anthony Watts making it a point to highlight in a post <a href="http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/12/17/a-side-of-the-agu-fall-meeting-sure-to-cause-some-alarmists-to-go-postal/" target="blank">this year</a> and <a href="http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/12/17/day-two-at-agu14-no-photos-allowed-but-lots-of-beer-and-big-oil-funding-flowed/" target="blank">last</a>.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Whether or not AGU can afford to x-out Exxon’s sponsorship will be seen in April, but regardless, this represents yet another step in the ongoing effort to revoke Exxon’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_social_responsibility#Social_license" target="_blank">social license to operate</a>.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE</strong></font></p><p class="title"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);"><a class="black-to-green" href="http://ecowatch.com/2016/02/22/warren-buffett-war-solar-west/" style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">Warren Buffett Wages Quiet War on Solar in the West</a></span></font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

green dragon bs:</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="line-height: 24px; text-align: justify; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Attributing their trouble to politics and public relations campaigns rather than mounting scientific discoveries that undermine their theory, supporters of drastic reductions in carbon emissions recently persuaded the American Geophysical Union to try to revive the message by asking members to speak out in a “rapid response” media effort.</span></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="line-height: 24px; text-align: justify; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</span></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="line-height: 24px; text-align: justify; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">partially back grijalva on sci conflict disclosure</span></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="line-height: 24px; text-align: justify; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">==</span></font></div></div></div></div></div></div>

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<p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.8em; margin: 0px auto 18px; max-width: 100%; color: rgb(17, 17, 17);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Something that seemed a little paranoid to me before all of a sudden seems potentially realistic, or at least something you’d want to hedge against,” said Nick Santos, an environmental researcher at the University of California at Davis, who over the weekend began copying government climate data onto a nongovernment server, where it will remain available to the public. “Doing this can only be a good thing. Hopefully they leave everything in place. But if not, we’re planning for that.”</font>

<i style=" box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/12/13/trump-taps-montana-congressman-ryan-zinke-as-interior-secretary/" style=" box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(25, 85, 165); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); zoom: 1; margin-bottom: 18px; line-height: 1.8em;">Trump taps Montana congressman Ryan Zinke, who frequently votes against environmentalists, as Interior secretary</a>]</font></i>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In recent weeks, President-elect Donald Trump has nominated a growing list of Cabinet members who have questioned the overwhelming scientific consensus around global warming. His transition team at the Department of Energy has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/12/09/trump-transition-team-for-energy-department-seeks-names-of-employees-involved-in-climate-meetings/" style=" box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(25, 85, 165); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); zoom: 1; margin-bottom: 18px; line-height: 1.8em;">asked agency officials for names of employees and contractors</a> who have participated in international climate talks and worked on the scientific basis for Obama administration-era regulations of carbon emissions. One Trump adviser suggested that NASA <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2016/11/23/trump-adviser-proposes-dismantling-nasa-climate-research/?utm_term=.f3589786c7f8" style=" box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(25, 85, 165); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213); zoom: 1; margin-bottom: 18px; line-height: 1.8em;">no longer should conduct climate research</a> and instead should focus on space exploration.</font>

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<p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474657668487_29649" helvetica="helvetica" segoe="segoe" lucida="lucida" font-size="font-size:" background-color="background-color:" style=" -webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 1em 0em; padding: 0px; font-family: ;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We're floored. In a crushing blow to scientific integrity, the American Geophysical Union (AGU) board just announced that it will continue to accept sponsorship from Exxon, one of the world's leading funders of climate change denial.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Today's news is disappointing — and perplexing. By making this decision, the AGU board has ignored the pleas of 300 prominent climate scientists, hundreds of AGU members, and 56,000 petition signers.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The AGU decision also renders the organization's own sponsorship policy meaningless, since the policy explicitly bars AGU from receiving funds from companies that disseminate misinformation about science. <span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1474657668487_29630" style=" -webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-weight: 700;">You know it and I know it — Exxon certainly fits the bill! Somehow, AGU hasn't gotten the message.</span></font></p>

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</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">8/16 hansen</font></div>

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<div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">climate truth</font></div>

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<p id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1470929450113_2487" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" arial="Arial" lucida="Lucida" grande="Grande" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style=" -webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 1em 0em; padding: 0px; font-family: ;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1470929450113_2486" style=" -webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-weight: 700;">Exxon has been deceiving the public about the science of climate change for decades, to the tune of $33 million in funding to climate denial since 1998 — and the deception continues to this day.</span> As I write this, Exxon is funding climate change denying think tanks (like the American Enterprise Institute), trade associations (like the American Legislative Exchange Council), and more than one hundred climate change denying politicians.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Energy companies like Exxon should turn to large investments in clean energies. Instead, they financially support climate change denial and major public advertising campaigns designed to keep the world hooked on fossil fuels — even though the science shows that fossil fuel emissions must be phased out rapidly for the sake of young people and future generations.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1470929450113_2378" style=" -webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-weight: 700;">That’s why I’ve joined with 300 of my fellow Earth scientists, including Kerry Emanuel, Catherine Gautier, Charles Greene, Elisabeth Holland, Michael Mann, Nathan Phillips, and Bob Ward on an open letter calling on the AGU to reject sponsorship from Exxon once and for all.</span> <a rel="nofollow" title="Take Action" target="_blank" href="https://act.climatetruth.org/sign/AGU?t=5&akid=4144.100725.bbNnRS" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1470929450113_2485" style=" -webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(25, 106, 212); outline: none; background: transparent;"><span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1470929450113_2484" style=" -webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-weight: 700;">Today, we’re asking you to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with us scientists by adding your name.</span></a></font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Despite our pleas so far, the AGU Board decided at their last meeting to continue accepting funding from Exxon. In response, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Representative Ted Lieu backed us up with a letter of their own, finally prompting the AGU Board to vow to once again “review and discuss the information” at its next meeting this September.<span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1470929450113_2482" style=" -webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-weight: 700;"> But nothing has changed yet. So, as we approach this September’s board meeting, we now need your support.</span></font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We’re working with ClimateTruth.org and The Natural History Museum to invite you, the public, to add your weight behind us.<span style=" -webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-weight: 700;"> Join us in this collaborative campaign of scientists and citizens.</span> Help us remind one of our world’s great bastions of science that its leadership matters to us all. This September, as AGU’s board decides if it will stand or falter in the face of attacks on its own science and scientists, the eyes of the world will be watching.</font>

<a rel="nofollow" title="Take Action" target="_blank" href="https://act.climatetruth.org/sign/AGU?t=6&akid=4144.100725.bbNnRS" style=" -webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(25, 106, 212); outline: none; background: transparent;"><span style=" -webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-weight: 700;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Please sign our petition to tell the AGU to drop Exxon sponsorship.</font></span></a></p>

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<div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see Mann bk Holdren Harvard aaas prez support early, also EOS am geophy jrnl</font></div>

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<div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">around p 114</font></div>

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</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">lamar:</font></div>

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<p dir="ltr" style=" line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span id="docs-internal-guid-65b92192-cb2f-d228-1c4c-ee4d103adec1">Ever since Smith gained control of the committee in 2013, its most conservative faction has </span><a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2016/03/07/lamar_smith_broadens_his_attacks_on_noaa_scientists.html">aggressively questioned climate science and funding</a>, including<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/11/25/3725782/scientists-scold-science-committee-chair/">charging the scientists</a> at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of misrepresenting climate data.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span id="docs-internal-guid-65b92192-cb2f-d228-1c4c-ee4d103adec1"><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">That feud earned the committee an unusual rebuke last year in a joint letter from major scientific groups: the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American<b> Chemical</b> Society, the <b>American Geophysical Union, the American Meteorological Society</b>, the American Statistical Association, the Ecological Society of America, and the Geological Society of America. </span><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">They said the committee's actions were chilling scientific inquiry—the very charge Smith is now making about the investigations into Exxon.</span></span></font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Smith and his allies on the committee bitterly oppose the Paris climate treaty and action on climate change generally, with many of them vocally doubting the mainstream scientific consensus on the climate crisis. At hearings, the panel's majority often invites testimony weighted toward this view.</font></p>

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</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ties deeper</font></div>

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<div><a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/26052016/agu-american-geophysical-union-exxon-climate-change-denial-science-sponsorship"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">http://insideclimatenews.org/news/26052016/agu-american-geophysical-union-exxon-climate-change-denial-science-sponsorship</font></a></div>

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<p style=" box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The board of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) sparked a protest among member scientists when it announced last month that it would keep accepting money from ExxonMobil amid new revelations the oil giant misled the public on climate science. At issue was the company's sponsorship of a $35,000 student breakfast at its annual conference.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What AGU president Margaret Leinen did not discuss when announcing the decision<span style=" box-sizing: inherit;"> was <b>Exxon's other, longtime financial support and close ties to the world's largest organization of earth scientists.</b></span></font>

<span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ExxonMobil Exploration is recognized by AGU as a top donor, and some of that money was raised by two longstanding AGU members who are Exxon employees: Carlos Dengo, a former company vice president and a member of AGU's board of directors, and Exxon scientist Pinar Yilmaz.</font></span>

<span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In all, donations tied to Exxon have totaled a little over $620,000 from 2001-15 and less than half was secured by Dengo and Yilmaz.</b> Both are listed in AGU's annual reports among the top 10 living AGU donors for their bundling efforts, the practice of gathering contributions. Both have also personally donated to AGU in much smaller amounts, according to Dana Rehm, AGU's director of communications. Dengo contributed as recently as 2015.</font></span>

<span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">AGU would not detail the exact amounts bundled for Exxon or personally donated by Dengo and Yilmaz.</font></span>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;">The $620,000 represents just 0.1 percent of AGU's total revenue during that time, but it reflects the company's deep ongoing, even mutually beneficial involvement with AGU. According to i</span>nterviews with more than a dozen past and present AGU members and officials, severing ties with the company is not a simple issue, despite the <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/22022016/scientists-american-geophysical-union-cut-ties-exxon-climate-change-denial" style=" box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">calls from more than a hundred scientists and AGU members</a> to stop accepting the company's money. From recruiting AGU scientists to sharing common interest in better understanding Earth's geoscience, the AGU and Exxon have been intertwined for at least four decades. In recent years, however, Exxon's funding of climate misinformation campaigns has come to light, raising ethical concerns among the scientists.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;">The latest revelations, detailed in an </span><a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/content/Exxon-The-Road-Not-Taken" style=" box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">investigation by InsideClimate News</a>, that Exxon's knowledge of climate change reaches back at least four decades while it also worked to discredit that very science, led to the most recent discontent about sponsorship among members. <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/14042016/agu-will-continue-accept-exxon-money-despite-scientists-protest" style=" box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">AGU announced in April</a> it would continue the relationship. At the time, <a href="https://about.agu.org/president/" style=" box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">Leinen</a> wrote, "it is not possible for us to determine unequivocally whether ExxonMobil is participating in misinformation about science currently, either directly or indirectly, and that AGU's acceptance of sponsorship of the 2015 Student Breakfast does not constitute a threat to AGU's reputation."</font>

<span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Leinen, however, said in an interview the board of directors will continue to discuss Exxon's sponsorship at their next meeting in September, raising the possibility of another vote.</font></span>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;">She said the decision to re-open the topic for debate was triggered by a letter from<b> Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) o</b>n May 10.</span><a href="http://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/release/whitehouse-lieu-call-on-american-geophysical-union-to-reconsider-accepting-funding-from-exxonmobil" style=" box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;"> The letter provided examples</a> from 2014 and 2015 where Exxon gave money to organizations (such as the <b>American Legislative Exchange Council</b>) that cast doubt on climate science and lobbied against climate action.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;">"Everything I have known about AGU over the years is they don't need ExxonMobil money to be financially stable," said </span><a href="http://www.envsci.rutgers.edu/_robock/" style=" box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">Alan Robock</a>, past president of AGU's atmospheric science section. "I don't think [the reluctance to sever ties] is about the money at all," but the company's overall relationship with AGU.  </font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;">Exxon has sponsored the student breakfast at AGU's fall conference since at least 2001, and has funded travel grants for students to attend meetings.</span>Exxon, which employs 16,000 scientists and engineers, used the event for recruiting purposes.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;">That began to change in December 2006, the start of the first pushback against Exxon's funding of AGU, d</span>riven in part by complaints from AGU student members. That year, the Royal Society, the United Kingdom's science academy,<a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/15092015/Exxons-own-research-confirmed-fossil-fuels-role-in-global-warming" style=" box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;"> accused Exxon of being "inaccurate and misleading" on climate science</a> and demanded that Exxon stop funding organizations that undermine public understanding of climate risks.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;">Under pressure, AGU officials considered distancing itself from Exxon. In May 2007, it decided to no longer allow Exxon, or any other sponsor, to be given special access to students at sponsored events, including the Exxon-funded student breakfast</span>. AGU leaders also discussed severing all financial ties with the company, though never brought that to a formal vote.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;">AGU's counterpart in Europe, the </span><a href="http://www.egu.eu/" style=" box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">European Geosciences Union</a>, faced the opposite decision that year—whether to start accepting corporate sponsors, including Exxon—for the first time. Some EGU climate scientists vocally opposed accepting Exxon money, and the group never brought the sponsorship issue to a vote.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;">AGU executive director and chief executive </span><a href="http://sites.agu.org/leadership/leader/christine-w-mcentee/" style=" box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">Christine McEntee</a> defended her organization's acceptance of corporate sponsorship money, saying: "No sponsor influences anything we do about the science." Exxon has no input on AGU's scientific position statements or its programs, McEntee said.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;">Still, as the science behind man-made global warming became irrefutable and climate science became a more popular field of study among </span>AGU's 60,000 members, AGU's relationship with Exxon grew more controversial.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;">Following the recent details unearthed by InsideClimate News, the company is now </span>under investigation by <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/30032016/climate-change-fraud-investigation-exxon-eric-shneiderman-18-attorneys-general" style=" box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">four attorneys general</a> for possibly misleading the public and its investors about climate risks. AGU has a policy to "not accept funding from organizational partners that promote and/or disseminate misinformation of science, or that fund organizations that publicly promote misinformation of science."</font>

<strong style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Exxon Ranks Among AGU's Top Donors</font></strong>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;">The AGU was founded in 1919 as a scientific organization to study earth physics. The group initially shied away from applying geophysics to discover petroleum deposits, preferring instead to focus on the "pure" sciences of physics, chemistry and geology according to </span>History of Science in the United States by Marc Rothenberg. As early as 1977, AGU's executive director Fred Spilhaus discussed corporate membership with Exxon representatives, according to correspondence held at the Niels Bohr Library & Archives in College Park, Maryland.</font>

<span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Today, AGU is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that gets most of its funding from publications, meetings, an $89 million endowment and membership dues, according to its 2014 annual report. In 2015, approximately 24,000 scientists attended the organization's annual conference, making it the largest earth and space science meeting in the world.</font></span>

<span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">AGU offers special recognition in its annual reports for donors who have made lifetime contributions of $100,000 or more, as well as those who have bundled the same amount. AGU stopped recognizing bundlers after 2012. In the organization's 97-year history, only 14 individuals or entities have reached that threshold, according to an ICN review of seven years of annual reports. Four are deceased.</font></span>

<span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Of the three Exxon-related donors who have received recognition at this level, perhaps most controversial is Dengo, the former director and geoscience vice president of ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company.</b></font></span>

<span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dengo, who sits on AGU's current board of directors, recused himself from the April vote and discussion on whether or not to continue accepting Exxon funding. However, Dengo did give a brief statement after the board decided that it wouldn't be a conflict of interest for him to do so. Dengo told InsideClimate News he shared his "personal knowledge and insights on the matter." According to Leinen, Dengo's talk emphasized that Exxon "felt strongly about supporting students at the meeting...[and] was not centered on trying to convince the board that they should vote one way or the other."</font></span>

<span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dengo told InsideClimate News that he did not give $100,000 himself, but solicited funds from Exxon, along with his personal donations.</font></span>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><b>Dengo also served on AGU's development board, which raises funds for the organization, from 2006 to 2012.</b> AGU conducted a review of its development program in 2013 and '14 and the development board did not meet. </span><a href="http://energy.tamu.edu/faculty-experts/carlos-a-dengo/" style=" box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">Dengo</a> retired from Exxon in 2012 and joined Texas A&M University's faculty in 2014. When the development board reconvened in 2015, Leinen appointed Dengo as chair, a position that gave him an automatic seat on AGU's board of directors.</font>

<span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pinar Yilmaz, manager of external project collaboration at ExxonMobil Exploration, brought in major donations from Exxon between 2001-07. This similarly earned her a spot on the top donors' list. AGU characterized Yilmaz's personal donations as "not large" and her last donation was in 2005. Yilmaz, who started working for the Mobil Oil Corp. in 1980 and later worked for Exxon, which became ExxonMobil in 1999, has served on AGU's international participation committee. She was an officer of the Geological Society of America, a smaller geological community; Yilmaz has given at least $100,000 to her alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin. Yilmaz did not respond to repeated requests for comment.</font></span>

<span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ExxonMobil Exploration, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil that specializes in locating and extracting oil and gas reserves, is the third Exxon-related top donor.</font></span>

<strong style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Choosing Engagement Over Severing Ties</font></strong>

<span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The AGU board's decision to continue accepting Exxon funding, according to Leinen, stems from a desire to engage the company on climate change moving forward.</font></span>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;">Robock, who led the effort to end AGU sponsors' special access to students in 2006, said Leinen elaborated on the board's recent decision during an AGU dinner at the EGU annual meeting in Vienna on </span>April 19. Severing ties with Exxon would make a political statement in the short term, Robock recalled Leinen telling him, but AGU was focused on the long term and believed companies like Exxon have to be part of the climate change solution. According to Robock, Leinen said it would be more valuable for AGU to work with the industry rather than cut them off for short-term political gain.</font>

<span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When InsideClimate News asked Leinen about that conversation, she said she didn't recall talking about short-term political statements, but she "certainly would have said" that the board had decided to engage over the long term with the entire energy industry, including non-fossil fuel companies.</font></span>

<span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Robock is among those who signed the recent petition asking AGU to stop accepting Exxon's sponsorship. He said the current debate revisits much of what was discussed by AGU leadership a decade ago.</font></span>

<span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I wish they would have divorced themselves from Exxon 10 years ago," Robock said. "I wish they would have said 'we are a science organization and this company, they are actively confusing the public about climate science. We are an organization that promotes science and we don't want to take their money.'"</font></span>

<strong style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Geologists Vs. Climate Scientists</font></strong>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><a href="http://eaps4.mit.edu/faculty/Emanuel/" style=" box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">Kerry Emanuel</a></span>, a professor of meteorology at MIT who studies hurricanes and climate change, said the AGU's decision to continue ties with Exxon likely reflects AGU's constituency, which includes some climate skeptics.</font>

<span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I know that AGU has gotten a lot of pressure from geologists in general not to pay much attention to the climate issue," said Emanuel, who also signed the petition and is considering boycotting AGU's annual conference this year. "I just don't know how to quantify that."</font></span>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;">According to several scientists who spoke to InsideClimate News, there's disagreement among AGU members about the seriousness of human-caused climate change, and what policies should be adopted to fight it. That debate is playing out in at universities across the country where earth and atmospheric science departments include climate scientists and geologists, according to </span><a href="http://www.eas.cornell.edu/people/profile.cfm?netid=chg2_eng" style=" box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">Charles Greene</a>, an Earth and Atmospheric Sciences professor at Cornell University.</font>

<span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"One side is saying what the impacts [of climate change] are going to be and the other is training students to go into oil and gas exploration," said Greene, who also signed the petition. "With reports in last five years saying we can't exploit all of the resources we already know about, why are we training students to go out and find more?"</font></span>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><a href="http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/_gautier/" style=" box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">Catherine Gautier</a></span>, an emeritus professor at UC-Santa Barbara who specializes in earth systems science, said AGU historically has been dominated by geologists in the broad sense, including what's called solid earth geophysicists.</b> But growing awareness of the urgency of climate change has raised the issue's profile within AGU.</font>

<span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There are now more presentations about climate research at AGU events, and scientists in global warming-related fields are taking on more leadership roles within the organization, she said.</font></span>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;">Gautier, also a petition signer, said AGU's board of directors is denying "ample evidence" that shows Exxon has continued to support climate misinformation campaigns, even though the company vowed to </span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/may/28/climatechange.fossilfuels" style=" box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">stop such activities in 2008</a>.</font>

<span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Some people have suggested that...shaming Exxon isn't the right strategy," Gautier said.</font></span>

<span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I think that we need to have both a carrot and stick approach. I don't think they will change their [actions] until we force them."</font></span>

<strong style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Will AGU Reconsider?</font></strong>

<span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Leinen said she hadn't finished reviewing the information provided by Whitehouse and Lieu. She added that the board will continue to monitor the progress of the investigations of Exxon and will evaluate their findings.</font></span>

<span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"If there were concrete evidence that could be independently verified that ExxonMobil is communicating scientific misinformation, then that evidence would be cause for the Board to reconsider our decision regarding acceptance of their sponsorship," Leinen told InsideClimate News in an email. She defined concrete evidence as "documentation that is either publicly accessible; a direct quote in full context from someone at ExxonMobil that demonstrates an official connection to misinformation about science; or non-public and independently verifiable material that has been collected by a disinterested, unbiased source, such as via a legal investigation or academic study."</font></span>

<span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When asked how recent the communication of misinformation would have to be to qualify as "current," Leinen declined to specify.</font></span>

<span id="docs-internal-guid-4ef9669d-ed94-5139-6b7b-7eb0da31e83a" style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We have not defined 'current' quantitatively, rather our emphasis on 'current' is intended to recognize that the positions of organizations and corporations may evolve (and ideally improve) over time," Leinen said.</font></span>

<em style=" box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style=" box-sizing: inherit;">Clarification: This story has been updated to more accurately reflect the historical make-up of the AGU. The organization has been historically dominated by all types of geologists, in the most broad sense. By that, we mean </span>any scientist who studies processes happening on or below the ground, including mineralogists, geomorphologists, seismologists, volcanologists, petroleum geologists, and, importantly, <span style=" box-sizing: inherit;">solid earth geophysicists (</span>physicists who study solid earth processes)<span style=" box-sizing: inherit;">. This is in contrast to scientists like climatologists who study</span>atmospheric sciences and other processes happening above the ground.</font></em></p>

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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div class="field-item even" style=" box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/topics/business-and-accountability-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style=" box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">BUSINESS AND ACCOUNTABILITY</a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div>

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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div class="field-item even" style=" box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/tags/exxon-road-not-taken" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style=" box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">EXXON: THE ROAD NOT TAKEN</a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div>

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<a href="http://ecowatch.com/2016/02/23/climate-experts-agu-reject-exxon/">http://ecowatch.com/2016/02/23/climate-experts-agu-reject-exxon/</a>

<b>More than 100 researchers—including <a href="http://ecowatch.com/?s=James+Hansen">James Hansen</a>, <a href="http://ecowatch.com/author/mmann/">Michael Mann</a> and Kerry Emanuel—have signed an <a href="http://thenaturalhistorymuseum.org/scientists-to-agu-drop-exxon-sponsorship/" target="blank">open letter</a> pressing the American Geophysical Union (AGU) to <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/22022016/scientists-american-geophysical-union-cut-ties-exxon-climate-change-denial" target="blank">end Exxon’s sponsorship</a> of the group’s annual fall meeting. While <a href="http://ecowatch.com/?s=exxon">Exxon</a> is a major employer of geophysicists and does some significant research in the geophysical space, its long-time funding of <a href="http://ecowatch.com/?s=denial">climate denial</a> puts Exxon at odds with AGU’s organizational support policy, which states that AGU won’t take money from groups that fund or disseminate misinformation. </b>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Time for Exxon's day in court. Call on US State AGs to investigate just what <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ExxonKnew?src=hash">#ExxonKnew</a>: <a href="https://t.co/ge57bXmHMQ">https://t.co/ge57bXmHMQ</a> <a href="https://t.co/m5LREgeSqO">pic.twitter.com/m5LREgeSqO</a></font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">— 350 dot org (@350) <a href="https://twitter.com/350/status/701138027498889216">February 20, 2016</a></font></p>

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<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The open letter argues, in light of the <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23ExxonKnew&src=typd" target="blank">#ExxonKnew</a> investigations, that Exxon has run afoul of AGU’s policy. In <a href="https://fromtheprow.agu.org/exxon-agu-and-corporate-support/" target="blank">response</a>, AGU first said it would keep the sponsorship because investigators have yet to definitively prove that Exxon funded denial, but the organization later said it would reconsider the issue at the AGU board of directors meeting in April.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Exxon’s sponsorship of AGU is a relatively contentious issue in academia. Some scientists see Exxon’s employment of geologists as sufficient justification for the relationship, since Exxon does perfectly respectable science in non-climate fields. But Exxon’s AGU sponsorship has been the subject of at least a little mockery in the deniersphere, with Anthony Watts making it a point to highlight in a post <a href="http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/12/17/a-side-of-the-agu-fall-meeting-sure-to-cause-some-alarmists-to-go-postal/" target="blank">this year</a> and <a href="http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/12/17/day-two-at-agu14-no-photos-allowed-but-lots-of-beer-and-big-oil-funding-flowed/" target="blank">last</a>.</font>

<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Whether or not AGU can afford to x-out Exxon’s sponsorship will be seen in April, but regardless, this represents yet another step in the ongoing effort to revoke Exxon’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_social_responsibility#Social_license" target="_blank">social license to operate</a>.</font>

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