From	Jonathan T. Overpeck	Date	Tue, 22 Jul 2003 16:49:31 -0700
To	Michael E. Mann
CC	Caspar Ammann, ray bradley, Keith Briffa, Tom Crowley, Malcolm K. Hughes, Phil Jones, Michael E. Mann, Jonathan T. Overpeck, Michael Oppenheimer, Tim Osborn, Kevin Trenberth, Tom Wigley
Subject	letter to Senate
Hi all - I'm not too comfortable with this, and would rather not sign - at least not without some real time to think it through and debate the issue. It is unprecedented and political, and that worries me. My vote would be that we don't do this without a careful discussion first. I think it would be more appropriate for the AGU or some other scientific org to do this - e.g., in reaffirmation of the AGU statement (or whatever it's called) on global climate change. Think about the next step - someone sends another letter to the Senators, then we respond, then... I'm not sure we want to go down this path. It would be much better for the AGU etc to do it. What are the precedents and outcomes of similar actions? I can imagine a special-interest org or group doing this like all sorts of other political actions, but is it something for scientists to do as individuals? Just seems strange, and for that reason I'd advise against doing anything with out real thought, and certainly a strong majority of co-authors in support. Cheers, Peck Dear fellow Eos co-authors, Given the continued assault on the science of climate change by some on Capitol Hill, Michael and I thought it would be worthwhile to send this letter to various members of the U.S. Senate, accompanied by a copy of our Eos article. Can we ask you to consider signing on with Michael and me (providing your preferred title and affiliation). We would like to get this out ASAP. Thanks in advance, Michael M and Michael O ______________________________________________________________ Professor Michael E. Mann Department of Environmental Sciences, Clark Hall University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA 22903 _______________________________________________________________________ e-mail: mann@virginia.edu Phone: (434) 924-7770 FAX: (434) 982-2137 http://www.evsc.virginia.edu/faculty/people/mann.shtml Attachment converted: Macintosh HD:EOS.senate letter-final.doc (WDBN/MSWD) (00055FCF) -- Jonathan T. Overpeck Director, Institute for the Study of Planet Earth Professor, Department of Geosciences Mail and Fedex Address: Institute for the Study of Planet Earth 715 N. Park Ave. 2nd Floor University of Arizona Tucson, AZ 85721 direct tel: +1 520 622-9065 fax: +1 520 792-8795 http://www.geo.arizona.edu/Faculty_Pages/Overpeck.J.html http://www.ispe.arizona.edu/