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Earth Science ! – Science Diplomacy



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Earth Science ! – Science Diplomacy




They also contribute to U.S. scientific and technologic development: According to the National Science Board's 2008 Science and Engineering Indicators, 47 percent of full-time doctoral science and engineering faculty in U.S. research institutions were foreign-born. Finally, some types of science--particularly those that address the grand challenges in science and technology--are inherently international in scope and collaborative by necessity. The ITER Project, an international fusion research and development collaboration, is a product of the thaw in superpower relations between Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President Ronald Reagan. This reactor will harness the power of nuclear fusion as a possible new and viable energy source by bringing a star to Earth. ITER serves as a symbol of international scientific cooperation among key scientific leaders in the developed and developing world--Japan, Korea, China, E.U., India, Russia, and United States--representing 70 percent of the world's current population. The recent elimination of funding for FY08 U.S. contributions to the ITER project comes at an inopportune time as the Agreement on the Establishment of the ITER International Fusion Energy Organization for the Joint Implementation of the ITER Project had entered into force only on October 2007. The elimination of the promised U.S. contribution drew our allies to question our commitment and credibility in international cooperative ventures. More problematically, it jeopardizes a platform for reaffirming U.S. relations with key states. It should be noted that even at the height of the cold war, the United States used science diplomacy as a means to maintain communications and avoid misunderstanding between the world's two nuclear powers--the Soviet Union and the United States. In a complex multi-polar world, relations are more challenging, the threats perhaps greater, and the need for engagement more paramount. Using Science Diplomacy to Achieve National Security Objectives The welfare and stability of countries and regions in many parts of the globe require a concerted effort by the developed world to address the causal factors that render countries fragile and cause states to fail. Countries that are unable to defend their people against starvation, or fail to provide economic opportunity, are susceptible to extremist ideologies, autocratic rule, and abuses of human rights. As well, the world faces common threats, among them climate change, energy and water shortages, public health emergencies, environmental degradation, poverty, food insecurity, and religious extremism. These threats can undermine the national security of the United States, both directly and indirectly. Many are blind to political boundaries, becoming regional or global threats. The United States has no monopoly on knowledge in a globalizing world and the scientific challenges facing humankind are enormous. Addressing these common challenges demands common solutions and necessitates scientific cooperation, common standards, and common goals. We must increasingly harness the power of American ingenuity in science and technology through strong partnerships with the science community in both academia and the private sector, in the U.S. and abroad among our allies, to advance U.S. interests in foreign policy.

Earth Science ! – Competitiveness Module


Cuts to earth science kill competitiveness

House Committee SSTD 11 (Science, Space, and Tech Democrats, 2011,

http://democrats.science.house.gov/committee-report/committee-report-title) JPG



The budget resolution that these Views and Estimates are intended to inform is being developed even while the FY 2011 budget remains in play.  The House consideration of the FY 2011 budget has been marked by severe cuts to important research and development (R&D) initiatives in order to meet arbitrary fiscal goals.  The end result of those cuts, if enacted into law, would be thousands of layoffs and furloughs among the best and brightest of our scientists and engineers; curtailment of critical research activities to protect the public from environmental hazards; fewer innovative technologies to enable the industries of the future; and serious damage to our core scientific and technological capabilities. The President’s FY 2012 budget request, on the other hand, recognizes that even in these challenging economic times, we need not—and should not—sacrifice our future for the sake of crippling cuts to a small fraction of the total federal budget.  With vision and perseverance, we can be both fiscally responsible and make the necessary investments to keep the American economy competitive in the coming decades while keeping our people and our environment healthy.
US technological leadership and economic competitiveness is key to hegemony
Khalilzad 95 (Zalmay, fellow at RAND, “Losing the moment? The United States and the World after the Cold War?” Washington Quarterly, volume: 18, Spring) HD
The United States is unlikely to preserve its military and technological dominance if the U.S. economy declines seriously. In such an environment, the domestic economic and political base for global leadership would diminish and the United States would probably incrementally withdraw from the world, become inward-looking, and abandon more and more of its external interests. As the United States weakened, others would try to fill the Vacuum. To sustain and improve its economic strength, the United States must maintain its technological lead in the economic realm. Its success will depend on the choices it makes. In the past, developments such as the agricultural and industrial revolutions produced fundamental changes positively affecting the relative position of those who were able to take advantage of them and negatively affecting those who did not. Some argue that the world may be at the beginning of another such transformation, which will shift the sources of wealth and the relative position of classes and nations. If the United States fails to recognize the change and adapt its institutions, its relative position will necessarily worsen.



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