Scientist Asked To Remove ‘Climate Change’ From Grant Blames ‘The Ongoing Politicization Of Science’

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Scientist Asked To Remove ‘Climate Change’ From Grant Blames ‘The Ongoing Politicization Of Science’

A Northeastern University researcher who was asked to remove any reference to climate change from her Energy Department grant proposal said Monday that she had posted the letter publicly “because I found it to be a stark reminder of the ongoing politicization of science.”

Jennifer Bowen, an ecologist and associate professor at Northeastern’s Marine Science Center, had posted a letter Friday on her personal Facebook page from a DOE official that asked her to eliminate references to climate change in an application for federal funds. Bowen’s project aims to explore how environmental factors such as climate change affect the ecology of salt marshes, which serve as an important carbon sink.

“I have been asked to contact you to update the wording in your proposal abstract to remove words such as ‘global warming’ or ‘climate change,’” wrote an official at DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. “This is being asked as we have to meet the President’s budget language restrictions and we don’t want to make any changes without your knowledge or consent.” . . .

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