Dirty work at the Green Crossroads - Maybe?

An interesting blog article but can it be believed? On both sides of the Global Warming are big Money and Countries. One quote below says that some of the figures are well out.

Figures in the final draft of the UN’s fourth five-year report on climate change show that the previous report, in 2001, had overestimated the human influence on the climate since the Industrial Revolution by at least one-third. Also, the UN, in its 2007 report, has more than halved its high-end best estimate of the rise in sea level by 2100 from 3 feet to just 17 inches. It suggests that the rate of sea-level rise is up from 2mm/yr to 3mm/year – no more than one foot in a century. UN scientists faced several problems their computer models had not predicted. Globally, temperature is not rising at all, and sea level is not rising anything like as fast as had been forecast. Concentrations of methane in the air are actually falling…

Another view of the report is taken from some comments on the PB.Com website from Colm

While most of the article can be dismissed as selective quoting and spin (I’ll back that up in a longer post if necessary), the quote from the appendix about changing scientific content is disturbing. However, it is for the opposite reason that Monckton/Phillips contend.

The IPCC have decided to try to keep everyone on board, including governments with a vested interest in down-playing climate change (oil-rich nations and the USA). It’s harder to argue that any government has a strong vested interest in talking up climate change. By its nature it’s already a conservative report (in order to keep almost the entire scientific community on board) and this only increases that effect. The USA more or less has power of veto on statements it particularly dislikes.

Is it worth changing scientific content in this way (even if the changes are generally more of emphasis rather than factual) to be a truly global report? I can see the argument, but as a scientist, I would say definitely not. There’s no excuse for the spin Monckton/Phillips have put on it though.

So there it is Global Warming - As clear as Mud.



Melanie Phillips’s Diary » Dirty work at the green crossroads