Union of Concerned Scientists

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Union of Concerned Scientists
(UCS)
logo
founding 1969
founder Kurt Gottfried
Seat Cambridge, Massachusetts , United StatesUnited StatesUnited States 
main emphasis Science for a healthy planet and safer world
Action space Global
people Kathleen Rest, Kenneth Kimmell
sales $ 37,297,004 (2017)
Members over 200,000
Website ucsusa.org

The Union of Concerned Scientists ( UCS ; German for " Association of Concerned Scientists ") is an American scientific association that advocates disarmament and environmental protection.

Emerging from a teach-in , it was founded in 1969 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by scientists and students. Its headquarters is located in Cambridge ( Massachusetts ). According to its own information, UCS has more than 250,000 members, both proven scientists and private individuals, who support the goals of the association.

Viewpoints and areas of responsibility

The Union of Concerned Scientists is a non-profit ( "non-profit") interest group, whose main tasks the fight against pollution , the degradation of the arsenal of nuclear weapons , a ban on space weapons , the federal law regulating certain biotechnologies , the species protection and measures against climate change belong. The UCS also supports research on renewable energies , low-pollutant transport and sustainable agriculture . The UCS does not speak out against the use of nuclear energy in principle, but advocates strict safety regulations.

The organization also opposes the cap on tax rebates for the development of hybrid vehicles , to which it has dedicated its own website called Hybrid Center . The UCS is against the genetic manipulation of livestock and advocates the non-therapeutic use of antibiotics because this harbors the risk of resistance .

One of the fundamental objectives it says on the website of the association: "The UCS combines independent scientific research with civil activities, to develop innovative, practical solutions and responsible changes in government policy, the practice of companies and in the purchasing decisions of consumers to effect."

Kurt Gottfried , a former senior staff member at CERN, was Chairman of the UCS Board of Directors from 1999 to 2009; he is succeeded by James J. McCarthy. Currently (as of January 2017) Anne R. Kapuscinski is the first woman to hold this position. The President is Kenneth Kimmell, Executive Director Kathleen Rest.

The magazine Catalyst , which is free for UCS members, appears twice a year .

history

It was founded in 1969 by students and employees from various faculties of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). One of the co-founders was the physicist and later Nobel Prize winner Henry W. Kendall .

In 1977, UCS supported a Scientists' Declaration on the Nuclear Arms Race, which called for an end to the arms race , the cessation of nuclear tests and the end of the installation of nuclear weapons in the USA and the Soviet Union .

In 1984 the organization received the Bruno Kreisky Prize for services to human rights . In response to the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) in the reign of Ronald Reagan launched the UCS the petition to Appeal to Ban Space Weapons (An appeal for a ban on space weapons), the more than 700 members of the National Academy of Sciences , including 57 Nobel Prize winners joined.

In 1992, a statement by Kendell on the urgency of protecting the environment was signed by 1,700 scientists, including the majority of Nobel Prize winners in science. In its 1997 submission, A Call to Action , UCS called for ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by the US. The petition was signed by over 1,500 scientists and 110 Nobel Prize winners .

In February 2004 the UCS published the report Restoring Scientific Integrity in Policymaking (restoring scientific integrity in the formation of politics), which attracted media attention. This report criticized the "politicization" of science by the administration of US President George W. Bush . For example, the government has amended highly alarming reports from the US Environmental Protection Agency on global warming and appointed members to scientific advisory boards based on their political views rather than their scientific experience. Kurt Gottfried accused the government of engaging in practices that were fundamentally in conflict with the spirit of science and its methods, and of ignoring grave risks to the nation's long-term living conditions. The report was accompanied by a letter in which leading scholars expressed concern about these practices. Over the next four years, 15,000 scientists and engineers signed the declaration. In July 2004, in an addendum to its report, the UCS accused the Bush administration that reports on the open-cast mine in West Virginia were improperly altered and that "highly qualified" candidates for government positions such as Nobel Prize winner Torsten Wiesel because of their open criticism of the politics of the Bush administration had been rejected.

John Marburger , Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy , dismissed the UCS report as "biased" and politically motivated and in an official statement dismissed the criticism as "wrong" ”And“ Distortion ”back. The UCS called these allegations "unjustified" and later pointed out that the Bush administration was silent on the allegations itself.

Since October 2004, in response to “a changing political climate”, the association has been creating a “ Scientific Integrity Program” , in which scientific integrity is analyzed and defended against politically motivated influence.

In December 2008, the USC presented a ten-point plan for the new US administration of Barack Obama , which, in addition to the demand for clean air and safe drugs, is primarily about transparency and the unhindered dissemination of scientific knowledge.

In April 2011, after the catastrophic accident in Fukushima , the UCS published documents of the American nuclear regulatory authority NRC ( Nuclear Regulatory Commission ). The UCS had requested their release on the basis of the Freedom of Information Act . These are mainly e-mails and memos that are part of an internal NRC report. This examines a scenario at two American nuclear power plants in the states of Pennsylvania and Virginia: What happens in the event of a complete, prolonged power failure? The power failure in Fukushima resulted in several explosions and three core meltdowns .

The USC also published various reports and analyzes of what went on in Fukushima , written by David Lochbaum and David Wright .

Publications

  • The Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices: Practical Advice from the Union of Concerned Scientists. Three Rivers Press, 1999, ISBN 0-609-80281-X (Chapter 1 as PDF ( Memento from May 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive ))

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ UCS Celebrates 40 Years Working for a Healthy Environment and a Safer World ( Memento from April 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ Union of Concerned Scientists: Founding Document: 1968 MIT Faculty Statement
  3. ↑ Hybridcenter.org - a project of the Union of Concerned Scientists
  4. ↑ UCS Board Members. Union of Concerned Scientists, accessed January 28, 2017 .
  5. ↑ UCS Leadership. Union of Concerned Scientists, accessed January 28, 2017 .
  6. ^ Union of Concerned Scientists: Catalyst
  7. ^ Union of Concerned Scientists: Scientist Statement: Scientists' Declaration on the Nuclear Arms Race
  8. ^ Union of Concerned Scientists: 1985 Appeal by American Scientists to Ban Space Weapons
  9. ^ Union of Concerned Scientists: 1992 World Scientists' Warning to Humanity
  10. ↑ Union of Concerned Scientists: World Scientists' Call for Action (1997) ( Memento June 20, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) ( Internet Archive )
  11. ^ Text ( memento of September 21, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) with a list of the supporting Nobel Prize winners
  12. ^ Restoring Scientific Integrity in Policymaking: The Bush Administration's Misuse of Science . February 2004
  13. ^ The New York Times : Scientists Say Administration Distorts Facts . February 19, 2004
  14. ↑ Los Angeles Times : White House Accused of Science Bias . February 19, 2004
  15. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung : Serious allegations - US researchers defend themselves against Bush . March 9, 2004
  16. ↑ Telepolis : On the Decay of the Art of Political Lying . February 23, 2004
  17. ^ The New York Times : Scientists Accuse White House of Distorting Facts . February 18, 2004
  18. ^ Neue Zürcher Zeitung : Concerns about science in the USA ( Memento of March 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive ). May 19, 2004
  19. ^ Union of Concerned Scientists: 2004 Scientist Statement on Restoring Scientific Integrity to Federal Policy Making
  20. ↑ Spiegel Online : USA: 10,000 researchers protest against harassment by the Bush administration . December 14, 2006
  21. ↑ Union of Concerned Scientists: Scientific Integrity in Policy Making: Further Investigation of the Bush Administration's Misuse of Science (PDF; 366 kB). July 2004
  22. ↑ Wired : Scientists: Bush Distorts Science . February 18
  23. ↑ The Chronicle of Higher Education: How Sound Is Bush's "Sound Science"? ( Memento of May 16, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) March 3, 2004
  24. ^ Statement of the Honorable John H. Marburger, III. On Scientific Integrity in the Bush Administration (PDF; 215 kB). April 2, 2004
  25. ^ The Washington Post : Science Not Being Distorted, White House Aide Says . April 3, 2004
  26. ^ Union of Concerned Scientists: Scientific Integrity
  27. ↑ Union of Concerned Scientists: New Year's Resolutions for the New Administration (PDF; 56 kB). December 2008
  28. ↑ Spiegel Online : Change of power: US researchers long for the Obama era . December 20, 2008
  29. ↑ spiegel.de April 8, 2011: Authority worries about US nuclear reactors
  30. ↑ Internal NRC Documents Reveal Doubts About Measures to Ensure US Plants Survive Fukushima-Type Events ( Memento of April 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  31. ↑ All Things Nuclear: Archive ( Memento from June 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (English)