Pretty much speaks for itself. It's nice to hear from somebody who isn't pushing a political agenda from one side or the other. His comment about the debate having become religified is absolutely true.
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/12/on-astronauts-nasa-and-climate-concerns/
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/12/on-astronauts-nasa-and-climate-concerns/
As you know, this is a subject which I feel has become so religified (having been converted to religious belief (personally created word) on both sides of the issue, that I assiduously avoid it altogether. I am not a climatologist (nor a meteorologist) and have no real scientific qualifications to comment on the substance of the debate.
And I suspect that the same goes for most of the signatories of this letter. And I suspect it would also apply equally to another poll, if one were to care to take it, of the hypothetical signatories to an analogous letter congratulating NASA for taking a courageous stand and urging it to speak even more strongly.
As you know Andy, this is a complex issue indeed. My personal policy is to reasonably minimize my carbon footprint, on the precautionary principle, not because I know CO2 is responsible for the apparent global temperature increase. But I would also opt not to break the bank in minimizing societal CO2 production. Were going to have to adapt to a warming world and I think more effort ought to be put into looking into rational strategies to that end.