NASA Chief 'Not Sure' Climate Needs Action

Whole chapters in the scientific tome on climate change -- about how greenhouse gases are fueling a rise in global temperatures, the various impacts, and recently, the unexpected and even alarming speed at which those changes are taking place -- have been written by NASA scientists. So it's surprising, to say the least, when Michael D. Griffin, the chief of NASA, told NPR that he was "not sure" climate change is a problem society needs to wrestle with. James Hansen, one of the nation's leading -- and most outspoken -- climate scientists, who not surprisingly gets his paychecks signed by Griffin, called his boss's statements "mind boggling." It's ironic, too, that Griffin's interview came on the same morning that Griffin's boss -- that is, the President of the United States -- staked a claim in the climate action arena, saying that we have to take the issue "seriously" by holding a summit of leaders from the world's biggest greenhouse gas producers, according to a story in the June 1 Los Angeles Times.