Consider this: For most of the last eight years, the American government has been unwilling to forthrightly acknowledge the science on global warming. Indeed, it edited much of the science out of government reports, calling it "not sufficiently reliable." Bush's Department of Energy director wanted to abolish the agency one year before he was asked to run it. Now, reports suggest that Steven Chu, director of the Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory and a Nobel prize winning physicist, will be tapped to head the DOE. We've gone from an administration that has lobbyists edit the words of scientists to an administration that appoints scientists to regulate the industries that fund the lobbyists. Even on a simply symbolic level, it's a tremendous change. And it won't simply be symbolic. Here Chu is breaking the issue down:
As Brad Plumer says, "great stuff." Related: For more, read Joe Romm, a former DOE employee, on Chu, and Brian Beutler, who was not a DOE staffer, on the implications for the DOE.
