NASA chief condemned over climate stance

The President of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) has condemned remarks by the head of NASA that global warming is not an issue of pressing concern.

This image of the Earth taken from the moon threw into stark contrast the fragility of our planet. Now the NASA chief suggests we should take no action to protect our climate

Professor Michael Rowan-Robinson, also chair of the Astrophysics group at Imperial College, has invited NASA chief Dr Michael Griffin to withdraw comments he made on America’s National Public Radio (NPR).

During an interview with NPR, Griffin expressed doubts that global warming was an issue that humans could or should address. He said: 'I have no doubt that a trend of global warming exists. I am not sure that it is fair to say that it is a problem we must wrestle with.'

'To assume that it is a problem is to assume that the state of Earth’s climate today is the optimal climate, the best climate that we could have or ever have had and that we need to take steps to make sure that it doesn’t change.'

The comments have drawn widespread criticism, especially in the wake of the recent Stern Review, which suggested that limiting global warming was both necessary and possible.

Professor Rowan-Robinson said: 'I was disturbed to read the comments by the Head of NASA, Michael Griffin, on global warming and climate change. This is counter to the strong advice of the world’s climate scientists, expressed through the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, who have urged the world’s leaders to act swiftly to limit the rise in warming to no more than 2 degrees Centigrade.'

NASA sought to clarify Griffin’s remarks in a statement released later on the day of the broadcast. 'NASA is the world’s preeminent organisation in the study of Earth and the conditions that contribute to climate change and global warming. The agency is responsible for collecting data that is used by the science community and policy makers as part of an ongoing discussion regarding our planet's evolving systems.'

'In the statement, NASA emphasised that it has a responsibility to collect, analyse and release information and not to make policy decisions on climate change.

However, critics were swift to point out that whatever NASA’s official remit, taking such a position over what has been termed the most significant threat to humanity has implications on the global stage.

Professor Rowan-Robinson said: 'Europe’s space scientists, astronomers and solar system scientists, will be dismayed by Michael Griffin’s position and it will undermine their confidence in his leadership of NASA, an organisation with which the UK has a strong shared purpose. I call on Michael Griffin to withdraw these comments.'