Nature and the Occupancy of the White House. (October 26, 2012)

The journal Nature heads its lead editorial this week: In support for science and environmental issues, Barack Obama and the Democrats have a clear advantage over Mitt Romney and the Republican Party thereby being in agreement with the 68 US Nobel Laureates Endorsement of Barack Obama for a 2^nd Term as President.

Nature's editorialist concludes:

According to Romney: “There remains a lack of scientific consensus on the issue [of climate change] — on the extent of the warming, the extent of the human contribution, and the severity of the risk — and I believe we must support continued debate and investigation within the scientific community.” He has campaigned against international climate agreements and last month told the television programme Meet the Press that “I’m not in this race to slow the rise of the oceans or to heal the planet”.

His running mate has gone further to challenge climate scientists. After the release of e-mails in 2009 from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK, [Paul] Ryan wrote: “These e-mails from leading climatologists make clear efforts to use statistical tricks to distort their findings and intentionally mislead the public on the issue of climate change.” He also joined nearly all Republicans in the House of Representatives in 2011 to try to prevent any US funding of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Romney and Ryan have vowed to roll back some of Obama’s climate policies and would strip the EPA of its power to regulate greenhouse gases.

They have also promised to cut back sharply on new regulations and to require Congress to approve any major ones, which would effectively block agencies from setting important new rules. That requirement is so limiting that it will probably not come to pass, but it has helped to foster extreme views about government that could keep science agencies from carrying out their missions should Republicans sweep the November elections.

Over the past four years, Obama has demonstrated strong support for science and innovation, as well as policies that flow from research. Romney has not offered many details of his plans for science, but those he has released — and the recent record of his party — do not bode well for US science or its international partners.

Of course the Nobel Laureates and Nature are preaching almost entirely to the converted.