Today, in an address to the Carnegie Institution for Science (timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Sputnik), Hillary rolled out her science agenda. After some strong rebukes to the Bush administration for its "war on science," she offered this course of action:
Expand human and robotic space exploration and speed development of vehicles to would replace the space shuttle.
Launch a space-based climate change initiative to combat global warming.
Create a $50-billion strategic energy fund to research ways to boost energy efficiency and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
Comply with a legal requirement that the executive branch issue a national assessment on climate change every four years. She would also expand the assessment to reflect how U.S. regions and economic sectors are responding to the challenges posed by climate change.
Name an assistant to the president for science and technology, a position that was eliminated in the Bush White House.
Re-establish the Office of Technology Assessment.
Sounds pretty good, even if it’s disconcerting that the space-based climate change initiative appears higher up than boosting energy efficiency. Let’s hope that was just a hat tip to Sputnik.
