Written by Think & Ask's Publisher
Jeffrey Allen Miller
jeffrey -at- thinkandask . com
Did you know that employees of the National
Weather Service (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NOAA) and NASA are forbidden to speak with the press unless the
interview is first approved from the top?
If a press interview is granted by Washington
officials (at the White House,) that NOAA meteorologist or NASA
scientist may be interviewed only if a public affairs officer is
present during the interview. Public affairs screens all questions
before agreeing to the interview.
This rule was begun during President George W Bush's administration.
So what. Who cares?
While I wouldn't attempt to speak about NASA,
as a veteran meteorologist (weatherman) I can add my two-cents about
NOAA employees, (although I suspect this professional assessment
applies to NASA as well.) Unlike other branches of the federal
government, where education and experience is not a hefty requirement;
NOAA employs highly skilled women and men who hold extensive academic
education and research experience. NOAA is not the typical bureaucratic
agency, which favors potential candidates for their skin color or "hire
her" memos from an elected official in Congress.
There is a common thread with us
weathermen...we love to talk, about weather.
We thrive on retrieving and reviewing data
and analyzing trends; our interest is peaked by developing storm
systems, daily records and extremes, and 30-year cycles. The year 2005
was, statistically speaking, one of the warmest years in a long time --
longer than any of you reading this story have been living. But what
does that mean? Is it a result of global warming? Was it a result of
normal cycles? Don't look to President Bush's administration to answer
those questions.
Nonetheless, a fringe group of outspoken
scientists have broken ranks and granted interviews, and at least two
scientists have been fired that we know of...for 'unrelated' reasons
the White House says. Climate expert (at NASA) Dr. James Hansen has
been asked to keep quiet by the top...because he does not agree with
the White House. He even went so far as stating during the 2004
presidential campaign, that he planned to vote for Senator John Kerry
(D-MA.) Hansen's contention is that global warming must be urgently
addressed by the United States.
On the other hand, Indur Goklany, of the
United States Interior Department, not only uses his work (federally
funded) e-mail to combat global warming theorists, he contends that
there is no reason to force reduction of so-called greenhouse gases,
because the additional prosperity brought on through unregulated
economic advancement allows us to take advantage of global warming
trends and adapt to any problems that could arise. Goklany is not
censored, simply because his views are supported by his employer: The
White House. Goklany adds fine print to his Department of the Interior
e-mail, which reads: The views expressed here are not necessarily those
of any branch of the United States government.
If you used your work e-mail to broadcast
controversial opinion pieces across the Internet, what would your
employer say?
NOAA however clearly states on its website
that we are in the midst of substantial global warming. Are greenhouse
gases increasing? NOAA says, "There is no scientific debate on this
point."
While NOAA does not say this, scientists in
the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia (on their government
sponsored websites) list projections of increased temperatures by year
2080 that equal or surpass those temperatures believed to have
supported dinosaurs. That is in 70 years, at a time when many of the
young readers today will still be alive.
The United States should be leading the
effort to understand --without a doubt-- what "greenhouse gas" means to
climate. That is simply not on our federal agenda.
Accurate data on global warming, or simply
truly reliable data, is roughly 30-years old. After all, when you don't
know what you are looking for its not always practical to measure
especially in the case of long-term global climate change.
For example: Up until 2003 it was said that
the largest hail stone in the United States had been 'around 7' inches.
Hail hit Potter, NE, on 6 July 1928...and held the record simply from
eyewitnesses and hearsay. But with more accurate data and the ability
to respond quickly to such an event in modern times, a 7-inch (19 inch
circumference) hail stone from Aurora, NE, was preserved on 22 June
2003. The hail stone was actually larger before it split on a rain
gutter and lost 40 percent of its mass. Aurora's hail stone will be
preserved indefinitely at a Boulder, CO, laboratory. It is given proof
that it existed and is the largest for the record.
The blizzard of 1888 -- also called the great
white hurricane -- leaves one to question whether it really did snow 50
inches in New York City. While undoubtedly the storm was severe, where
snow drifts really 50 feet high? (That is roughly five or six building
stories.) Well, again, even by National Weather Service records for the
March 1888 storm, they "estimated" and pictures from the day show
snowdrifts closer to 10 feet...nonetheless in modern times, due to the
ability of record keeping and instant video capture, it is very
unlikely that monitoring weather would be faulty.
In reading NOAA's analysis of global warming
the resounding thread from the research is: We need more information
and funding to predict trends. No one should debate that such a
conclusion is reasonable. There are too many variables to consider in
the global warming scenario: Landmass to ocean temperature changes;
cloud cover to heat absorption; increased snow at the poles, but
reduced glacial ice pack; less moisture inland, more moisture at the
coasts; diurnal and cyclical heating from the sun and its reaction with
trapped greenhouse gases; higher stability in the upper atmosphere
restricting heat caps and thus minimizing hurricanes. And...how all of
this actually fits in with the life-long cooling trend of this molten
fireball mass we know as earth.
A long-term research study by itself is a
full agenda, but remember that NOAA also has regular (daily) duties to
inform the public of weather trends and analysis. They are responsible
for bringing you the happy-peppy-people at the Weather Channel, for
without NOAA the Weather Channel would not exist.
Is NOAA's agenda possible when the White
House plans to cut its funding? For 2006 the federal government seeks a
reduction of 10 percent on NOAA research, and 9 percent across the
board for NOAA's total budget of $4.7 billion, according to the office
of management and budget of the executive office of the president.
(NOAA's budget also includes funding for oceanic and fishery
management, so not all monies go to the National Weather Service.)
Needless to say $5 billion is one/ one
hundredth of the White House's said costs for invading Iraq; or if you
prefer to measure the war's long term costs defined by
researchers Linda Bilmes and Joseph Stiglitz of $2 trillion, NOAA's
budget is a 25-cent piece from $100. Invading Iraq did nothing to
understand global climate.
With Fairbanks, AK, and most of Russia having
experienced (in 2006) their harshest winter in decades one might
logically assume: The White House might be right, there is no global
warming if the temperature is 45-degrees-below zero...so let's not
worry about temperature change.
But those examples today are where the true
definition of global warming is not defined to the masses. The majority
of the earth's surface is at the tropics. Even if that land mass at the
equator warms on average of a single degree and yet the poles drop
5-degrees, the temperature balances out globally in crude form. But
there should be no question with our knowledge and research of what is
possible, and yet, clearly there is a great divide keeping the United
States' quiet.
That division is caught-up in the same
stalled bureaucracy of fighting in Iraq,
protecting the homeland from
terrorism, Social
Security reform, and a federal deficit, which now is opening the
door for oil
exploration. Absolutely nothing is done, except for the creation of
a new branch of government called Homeland
Security, which also (now) runs the Federal
Emergency Management Agency FEMA.
We have sacrificed world leadership for a
hidden agenda at the White House. This sacrifice was enough for veteran
climatologist Hansen to speak out and risk his job -- alone.
Global warming by some accounts is a catalyst
for extremes. Fairbanks may also have a string of +90-degree days
during its summertime; maybe Dallas, TX, is enduring its warmest and
driest winter as a pre-cursor of what is yet to come. Dallas climate
could become that of Baghdad, Iraq; perhaps predictions
for Los Angeles of 30 inches or more per year of rainfall by year
2060 could be correct. Why don't we know? This data is coming from
Canada and the United Kingdom. The United States lacks the funding
support, and its government agencies lack the guts to unite and take a
stand against the White House.
Think & Ask's Publisher
Jeffrey Allen Miller
jeffrey -at- thinkandask . com
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Honors:
- Soroptimist Society International
- American Meteorological
Society
- Disabled Resources Center Inc.
- Condominum Association of Los Angeles
- Building Owners and Managers Association
Education:
- University of North Texas:
MA journalism, RTVF, English
- California State University
Long Beach:
BA speech communication, cross-cultural studies
Certifications:
- Landscape design
- Meteorology
- Website design
- Grief counseling
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- Jeffrey Allen Miller
(also known as Jeffrey Allen on radio) forever changed Southern
California's weather forecasting. Until the mid-1980s, regional
forecasts excluded microclimates and thus, left many residents of Los
Angeles uninformed about threatening or unusual weather.
He led the first
microclimate study in Orange County, CA, at the time it was the fastest
growing region in the United States. The National Weather Service took
note and expanded daily coverage beyond the City of Los Angeles to
include beach cities, coastal plain, and the foothills in daily
forecasts. They accepted Miller's extensive stringer program as part of
their daily data gathering family. For his efforts, Miller was awarded Meteorologist
of the Year, and became the youngest recipient of this award in the
United States. Miller donated results of the six year study to The Orange County
Register's library in 1994.
- "Weather or Not," was
Miller's weekly column in Orange County's (CA) the News
Post newspaper, summarizing historical weather patterns
and updating the community on air pollution. He worked with the City of San Juan Capistrano
to lead in the accuracy of reporting air pollution after state air
quality funds were cut.
- Using the broadcast
medium, Miller directed and produced localized weather reports for
Southern California on National Public Radio's affiliate KSBR in Mission Viejo. He
also co-hosted numerous magazine shows, and aired interviews with teen
actors from popular television shows and films like "Little House on
the Prairie," "Eight is Enough," and "E.T."
- In the mid-1990s Miller
(as Jeffrey Allen) joined KGBS talkradio in Dallas as chief
entertainment critic, presenting a unique approach to Dallas area
theater and film by focusing upon the local scene -- historically
overlooked by Dallas media.
- Miller "did time" at International Business
Machines (IBM) and owned numerous
roles: Webmaster, editor, communications manager, strategist,
e-commerce manager. He joined IBM in July 1995 and was able to avoid
the practice of layoff until January 2004 -- at which time his team of
49 (out of 110) were laid off as their jobs were "deflected" to India
or eliminated all together. He says that in time, the IBM experience is
likely to fade away all together, but the adjustment period --from a
manager of a $265 million business to layoff-- was not an easy
transition. Miller applied to 2,178 jobs before returning full-time to
journalism in January 2005.
- His career in print and
broadcast journalism did not prevent him from tackling stand-up comedy
in Dallas at "Comedy Corner," and to later co-produce and direct
a PBS documentary "AIDS in the Mass Media." His extensive
writing career finds him published in: The
Bangladesh Times, The Dallas Morning News, Dallas
Observer, The New York Times, The Los
Angeles Times, Parkhurst Publications, Sun Times publications,
Men's Journal, Dallas Men's
magazine and many others.
Miller's hometown --
San Juan Capistrano, CA |
- Community service is
everyone's responsibility, according to Miller whose volunteer efforts
span a wide range of responsibilities; from recording books on tape and
reading to blind students at California
State University Long Beach, to leading The Human Race 10k
in Los Angeles. The greatest community service challenge, Miller said,
was his role as Director of National Rape Awareness Day.
During the 1990s, Miller
gathered bipartisan support to have 24 April declared National Rape
Awareness Day, modelled after Texas Governor Anne Richards' similar
campaign during her administration. Texas' program was squashed by her
successor George W Bush. With much success, Miller worked with the
Clinton administration to secure 24 April as National Rape Awareness
Day; however, President George W Bush dropped the proposal several
months after entering the White House.
- As a side bar to his media
career, Miller is also a landscape designer by trade. He received
beautification accolades for numerous buildings in the Los Angeles area
from Tishman International,
Cushman & Wakefield, Atlantic
Records, and private management firms. But no commercial landscape
compares with the private residences he designed in the United States
and France, including his own breath-taking perennial garden in the
lower Hudson Valley of New York State.
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