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Published online 12 August 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/454808a
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Top climate-impacts programme shut
National Center for Atmospheric Research axes developing-world initiative.
The lay-off last week of a senior political scientist involved in helping poor countries prepare for climate change has exposed a stark division in opinions on the core purpose of a key US climate-research institution.
The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, says its hand was forced by several years of largely stagnant budgets.
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It is distressing to see funds unavailable for preventing large numbers of people from becoming environmental refugees. Further information on environmental refugees may be found at http://www.ecoearth.info/.
I did not know that the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) employed political scientists. Global cooling and the reluctance of the Sun to enter solar cycle #24 in a timely fashion may have opened the eyes of someone at NSF, or higher up the chain of command at NAS, to the danger of mixing experimental sciences with politics. http://myprofile.cos.com/manuelo09