Sallie Baliunas and the Dangers of Think Tanks :: Global Warming

Sallie Baliunas and the Dangers of conceive of TanksPublic policy makers increasingly rely on the query of find armored combat vehicle scholars to guide their policy decisions. But who checks the accuracy of think tank scholar research? Unlike academician journal publishing, which follows a exact system of peer review and editorial oversight, think tanks publish tactile sensation pieces without regard to the peer review process. Their policy publications are not ground on pure academics, just now on a complex interaction between academic, political, and economic interests. In Washington, there is no time to contract on the academic details. As Eric Altermann points out in his book What magnanimous Media?, think tank scholars are expected to spend at least(prenominal) as much time networking with reporters and government staffers as on research.1 Efficient dissemination of reading is as important as the information itself in the think tank business of knowledge. Sallie B aliunas of the Marshall Institute fits Altermanns think tank scholar profile well. Regarding her involvement in the worldwide warming debate, she has spent less time on the scholarship of worldwide warming and more time advocating the idea that it is simply a myth. She is a senior scientist at the Marshall Institute, which supports her writing of articles against the Kyoto treaty (Bush skilful to oppose Kyoto treaty)2 and the promotion of the idea that global warming is a natural process caused by increased radiation from the sun (The sunshine Also Warms).3 though she has published relatively little in academic journals on the issue, articles such as these are numerous in nonprogressive political forums, such as the website TechCentralStation.com, where free markets meet technology.4 Though she is not considered a global warming expert by headmaster climate scientists, she is oft quoted by the anti-Kyoto folks as the expert part that proves global warming is a hoax (see any ar ticle by Charli Coon of the Heritage Foundation5 or by Chris de Freitas6). Her global warming research has been funded, in part, by corporate oil interests. Think TanksBaliunass linkup with think tanks does not make her scholarship automatically suspect. However, think tanks know in the grey area between scholarship and advocacy, and one must ask in which category Baliunas belongs. Think tanks cannot claim to be entirely unbiased, because the majority of their funding comes from corporations, whose interests are not usually only academic, but also economic. Baliunas is an Enviro-Sci Host for TechCentralStation.com, a website sponsored by AT&T, ExxonMobil, General Motors Corporation, Intel, McDonalds, Microsoft, Nasdaq, case Semiconductor, PhRMA, and Qualcomm.