In 2006, GAP began a new program -- Climate Science Watch (CSW). This successful operation serves as an education and advocacy project dedicated to holding public officials accountable for their use of climate science and related research in policymaking. CSW runs a popular blog that is prominently followed by climate scientists, reporters, and many others and has a nationwide and international audience. Current CSW objectives include:
- Rebuffing politically driven attacks on climate science and the climate science community in support of honest public engagement with its role in public policy. In response to the Climategate controversy over stolen e-mails and other attacks, CSW published original statements from key scientists, providing an important venue for the scientific community to intervene in opposition to a destructive and trumped up attack on its integrity. CSW has also been engaged in commentary on the role of political manipulation of climate science in shaping public opinion, and has called upon leaders in the administration to affirm their support for the climate science community and its role in informing domestic and international climate policy.
- Beginning with providing recommendations to the Obama transition team on undoing the damage done to the federal climate research infrastructure by the Bush administration, CSW has advocated for the reformation of the United States Global Change Research Program to restore its proper function and encompass new priorities. CSW has called for a reactivation of the National Assessment of Climate Change Impacts, which was suppressed by the Bush administration, and has called on the Obama administration to support long-neglected research on how climate change will affect human and environmental systems, ultimately increasing the relevance of federal climate research to society.
- In connection with USGCRP reform advocacy, CSW has called for the creation of a national program and federal coordination center to support federal, state, and local efforts to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Climate change is not a problem that can be solved in the sense of being stopped or its impacts entirely averted, but rather must be prepared for to minimize risk. Its management will require the development of an effective response strategy and an institutional capability for ongoing climate-related decision-making and action, starting with a robust federal strategy and strong leadership. CSW will continue to advocate for and report on the progress of appropriate federal action on national climate change preparedness.
