Dear Colleagues,

   Please find attached a call to action in response to the budget cuts
we learned about at this week's NSF GEM workshop.  The Agency
presentations triggered a strong and immediate response from the
community in light of the urgency and gravity of the situation.   As an
outcome of the impromptu GEM community town hall lunch meeting, there
emerged a collective decision for a call to action, including both near
term letter writing and visits to Congresspeople, and a longer term
effort to establish a better organized community advocacy effort.

    The attached files include:

(1) A summary of the minutes of the Town Hall meeting; the last page
denotes the action items from that meeting.

(2) Speaking points that were recommended for community use in letter
writing, contact information, as well as suggestions on letter writing

(3) The NSF GEM report given by Ray Walker

(4) The NOAA GEM report given by Howard Singer

(5) The NASA Heliophysics GEM report given by David Sibeck (on behalf of
Mona Kessel)  Of particular concern are the dramatic cuts being imposed
in the final months of FY13, as well as continuing deep cuts in FY14 and
beyond that will cripple our discipline.

(NOTE: Agency people are copied here only to keep them informed and for
them to comments on matters of clarity regarding facts, not to solicit
their advocacy.)


   Given the short fuse, there has not been time for deep discussion of
these issues, but there is consensus that we should respond loudly,
firmly, yet coherently, underscoring the importance of our science to
the Agencies and to the Nation.  The speaking points are culled directly
from the recent Decadal Survey and thus represent community consensus.
We recommend remaining positive about the discipline and not denigrating
other disciplines.

  Bob/Eric - please pass this email along to GEM/heliophysics
colleagues on the various mailing lists.  I would ask Ian to pass this
along to the GEM students who he is working a letter with, and Drew to
his group of young professionals doing the same.    Larry and Tom will
carry this message along to the CEDAR community this weekend and Nicky
and Paul have volunteered to engage also with the SHINE community, as
Len will likely as well.

Sincerely,
 - Harlan (on behalf of Dan, Len, and many others)
-- 
___________________________________________
Harlan E. Spence
Director, Institute for the Study of Earth,
   Oceans, and Space and Prof. of Physics
Morse Hall, Room 306
University of New Hampshire
8 College Road
Durham, NH 03824-3525

Phone: 603-862-0322
Fax:   603-862-1915

http://www.eos.unh.edu/Faculty/Spence
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