Science debate 2008

[eridani]

I'm cross-posting this email to GD-P

Thanks for supporting ScienceDebate2008.

We have some exciting news: yesterday congressmen and scientists Vern Ehlers, R-MI and Rush Holt, D-NJ, agreed to co-chair our steering committee!

We have been making tremendous progress in convincing thousands of others as well. See selected endorsers of our initiative here. http://www.sciencedebate2008.com/www/index.php?id=7 The list includes Nobel laureates, university presidents, congresspersons, writers, and the leaders of many of America's major scientific organizations.

By working together, we are beginning to raise national awareness about the need for a presidential debate on science and technology policy:

Several of our articles have been syndicated in major news publications around the country http://www.sciencedebate2008.com/www/index.php?id=7, and

over 80 science and political bloggers have joined our coalition http://www.sciencedebate2008.com/www/index.php?id=9.

We are beginning discussions with a number of major institutions that have expressed interest in cosponsoring this event. If you are affiliated with an institution that may be interested, please encourage your president to contact us immediately. admin {at} sciencedebate2008.com

We will approach the campaigns with our proposal in the coming months. But first we must continue building public awareness of the need for a debate of this nature, and building our political strength.

That's where you come in. We'd like to offer a few suggestions of how you can help make our debate a reality:

1. If you are in academia, encourage your university president to sign on ASAP (several already have - scan the list for them) http://www.sciencedebate2008.com/www/index.php?id=7

2. Please encourage all other leaders of American thought, policy, engineering, or science to sign on as well.

3. Plan to attend your precinct caucuses (in states that have caucuses) and present this resolution requiring a presidential debate on science and technology policy - and ask others you know to introduce it at their caucuses as well. http://www.sciencedebate2008.com/www/index.php?id=13 To see if your state has a caucus, check this list. http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2008/chrnothp08.html Let us know where and when you introduced it.

Warmest regards,


The team at www.ScienceDebate2008.com

[eridani]

1. Update 2/12

On Friday Business Week ran this story on us. http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/feb2008/db2008028_503873.htm

Over the last several days heavy hitters like Intel Chairman Craig Barrett and former HHS Secretary Donna Shalala have signed on, as have numerous universities, including Stanford, Georgia Tech, Cornell, and several others.

Yesterday, Earth & Sky Radio began running this interview with one of our organizers around the nation.

http://www.earthsky.org/clear-voices/52221/shawn-lawrence-otto-on-science-debate-2008

But the big news is we have invited the candidates. And we've issued a press release. The debate is set for April 18 at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. That's four days before the Pennsylvania Primary. The New York Times, MSNBC, and others have picked up the story.

http://www.sciencedebate2008.com/www/index.php?id=21

In fact, just about the only people we haven't heard from are the campaigns. If you have contacts at the Clinton, Huckabee, McCain or Obama campaigns, please urge them to accept.


Please tell them this is a mainstream concern about the big policy challenges the next president and our nation are facing. We are doing this for the good of our nation, and we hope those who would lead it take the future of the American economy and job security seriously enough to come to Philadelphia. We hope they take having a discussion with American voters about climate change seriously enough to come to Philadelphia. We hope they realize that we as American innovators, business leaders, scientists and thought leaders, and as over 100 leading American universities and organizations, that we care about our nation's investments in science and math education, that we care about our broken healthcare system and our declining investments in basic research, that we care about scientific integrity, about clean energy, about the future of the oceans and about the biodiversity that secures life on our planet, that these are not arcane, quirky science questions , they are questions about American jobs, about the health of our families and businesses, about our children and the future of the planet, and we hope that those who would lead us them seriously enough to come to Philadelphia.

Thanks for being a part of this historic and important initiative. Finally, please consider making an online donation here to support our efforts.
https://www.thedatabank.com/dpg/335/donate.asp?formid=donate

The team at www.ScienceDebate2008.com

[eridani]

2. Update 2/25

http://cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=5&docID=news-000002672884

It wasn’t in primetime. In fact, it wasn’t broadcast at all. The audience wasn’t hand-picked to equally represent the candidates. But a weekend debate at the American Association for the Advancement of Science between science advisors to the Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama campaigns was strikingly similar to forums between the candidates.

A spokesperson for the AAAS said that the organization had put together the session “at the last minute” and that John McCain ’s science advisor had declined due to scheduling problems and that they had not received any reply to the invitation from the Mike Huckabee or Ron Paul campaigns

On lapels throughout the convention corridors were buttons emblazoned with “Science Debate 2008” . They’re the product of a campaign to urge a public debate “in which the U.S. presidential candidates share their views on the issues of the Environment, Medicine and Health and Science and Technology Policy.”







In response to the broad and growing interest in Science Debate 2008, the AAAS held a candidates forum in Boston last week and we got terrific coverage, though only two campaigns sent representatives. You can read about it here, and find other news stories on our home page.

Former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta told the candidates in a video last week that they need to come to Science Debate 2008 in Philadelphia - it's important to the future of our country and to the future of the planet.

You can see John Podesta's video here, along with videos to the candidates from John Porter, Neal Lane, Rita Colwell, and other high-profile supporters. We encourage you to embed these videos in your own site and to email the links to them widely. Check back frequently as we post more. http://sciencedebate2008.com/www/index.php?id=23

Over 100 major universities and other leading organizations have now signed on, as have the CEOs of leading tech companies including Intel, Texas Instruments and many others, over 70 university presidents, congresspersons of both major parties, present and former presidential science advisory committee members, and over 17,000 of America's leading scientists, engineers, executives, and concerned citizens. The list is astonishing.

All told, we now represent over 125 million American voters. From the health of the economy to the health of our families to the health of the planet, Americans understand what the candidates have yet to fully grapple with: issues of science and technology are critical to our future.

Despite the importance of this discussion to all Americans, we haven't yet heard back from the campaigns.

So we need your help. This is a unique moment in American history when you can truly influence the future direction of the nation and the world by helping us elevate science and technology in our national political dialogue.

If you run an organization, we need your office to contact the campaigns, direct them to the videos and the invitation, urge them to RSVP to this debate for the sake of America and the planet, and encourage your members to action.

If you are an individual, we need you to contact the campaigns directly and urge them to accept our invitation, which they can see on our site, in case they have lost their copies. We suggest you watch the videos for ideas of what to say, or borrow from the written statements. We also encourage you to write letters to the editor of your local paper of 200 words or less, telling people about Science Debate 2008 and urging the candidates to attend for the good of America.

Please email, call, and write the campaigns here:

Email [e-mail], call the Clinton campaign at [phone] and write to Hillary Clinton for President 4420 North Fairfax Drive Arlington, VA 22203

Email [e-mail], call the Huckabee campaign at [phone] and write to Huckabee for President, Inc. P.O. Box 2008 Little Rock, Arkansas 72203


Email [e-mail], call the McCain campaign at [phone] and write to John McCain 2008 P.O. Box 16118 Arlington, VA 22215


Email [e-mail], call the Obama campaign at [phone], and write to Obama for America P.O. Box 8102 Chicago, IL 60680

Thanks for being a part of this important initiative. Finally, please consider making an online donation here to support our volunteer effort.


The team at www.ScienceDebate2008.com

[eridani]

3. Update 3/5

Science Debate 2008

Now that March 4 is over, all eyes are on Pennsylvania, and the competition is cropping up from others who want the candidates' time for other debates. But some of the most influential names in science and policy are saying our debate is not only the first, but the most important:

All three remaining campaigns have now contacted us and are considering our invitation. They're starting to consider what you knew all along:

Any credible vision for a sustainable and prosperous, secure national future depends on a President's ability to capture the public's imagination on the major policy questions, questions like climate change and economic competitiveness in a global low-cost science and technology economy, like clean energy and education and healthcare and biodiversity and scientific integrity and the recently released Grand Challenges from our friends at the NAE. These questions are of great concern to the American public, and debating them will be an important way to win the moderate swing voters that will determine the outcome of this election. http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/

Please take a moment and do everything you can to encourage the candidates to attend Science Debate 2008, and to tell others about our initiative.

Email, call the Clinton campaign at [phone] and write to Hillary Clinton for President 4420 North Fairfax Drive Arlington, VA 22203 info {at} hillaryclinton.com

Email, call the McCain campaign at [phone] and write to John McCain 2008 P.O. Box 16118 Arlington, VA 22215 info {at} McCain08.com

Email, call the Obama campaign at [phone], and write to Obama for America P.O. Box 8102 Chicago, IL 60680 Info {at} barackobama.com

Our signers now represent over 125 million American voters, and thanks to you our issues are now being talked about by the media and the candidates and even the President. We want to see that continue. Please help, and please make a donation to support our effort. https://www.thedatabank.com/dpg/335/donate.asp?formid=donate


The team at ScienceDebate2008.com

[eridani]

4. Update 3/17

Every Nobel laureate we've spoken to has said the same thing: the next four to eight years are critical and the next president has the potential to determine the future health of all life on earth.

Last Tuesday Bill Gates testified before Congress saying that on the economic front, America "is at a crossroads" and will almost certainly become a second-rate economy without massive attention to science & engineering in schools and changes in government policies toward innovation.

http://www.sciencedebate2008.com/www/index.php?id=27

These are dire words from people who are normally cautious in language, and they are just two of the major questions that are getting virtually no discussion in our electoral process.

So on March 14, we held a high-powered press conference in Philadelphia, arguing that Hillary Clinton, John McCain, and Barack Obama have a moral obligation to debate these issues. It was attended by several TV and radio crews, print journalists, supporters and some terrific kids from a local science magnet high school. After all, they're the ones that are going to have to live with our failed policies.

Here's the video:
http://www.sciencedebate2008.com/www/index.php?id=22

[eridani]

5. Update 8/8

Lots to report as we continue our work to help elevate science and technology in the American political dialogue.

Innovation 2008 The presidential campaigns tell us they are preparing answers to the 14 key science questions of Innovation 2008 and will have something to us soon.

http://www.sciencedebate2008.com/www/index.php?id=35

If you can't wait, you can find handy comparisons of what is known on the AAAS site here and the SEA site here.

http://election2008.aaas.org/comparisons/posmatrix2.shtml
http://sharp.sefora.org/innovation2008/mccain-obama/

Viral Vids

To encourage responses to these 14 questions and to the 7 congressional science questions we codeveloped with SEforA, and to get the public more jazzed about all this, Science Debate public outreach director Darlene Cavalier of sciencecheerleader.com has gone viral. Check out her fun and funny video here and her CNN video here, and be sure to ask your congressional candidates to respond to the 7 questions. You can post your own web video to CNN at the site, encouraging the candidates to respond to our invitation. If you do, be sure to let us know!

http://sciencecheerleader.com/2008/08/science_debate_the_candidates_like_youve_never_seen_them/
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-55265?ref=email

Innovation 2008 Conference We are cohosting a major conference with our friends at the Center for Science, Technology, and Public Policy at the University of Minnesota, called Innovation 2008: Renewing America Through Smarter Science & Technology Policy, and focused on the presidential transition. Visit the conference site here, and please save the dates of October 20 and 21st. Science Debate 2008 supporters Peter Agre and Ira Flatow will deliver the keynotes, and supporters Andy Fire, Lawrence Krauss, Russ Lefevre, Chris Mooney, Genie Scott, Susan Wood, Mary Woolley, and many others will be presenting on a variety of topics important to the next administration.


City Club in Cleveland Astrophysicist Lawrence Krauss, one of our six founders, will be speaking at the City Club in Cleveland on August 13 at noon, about the Science Debate initiative and what we have learned about the structure of American news and the political and institutional impediments we have been working to turn around so that science can be restored as an important part of the American political dialogue. This program will be broadcast on public radio in selected areas. You can find out more information or purchase tickets here, and you can tune in to hear the broadcast or download a podcast after the event from here.

Supporting our work Please make an online contribution to help elevate science in the U.S. elections!