An Easy 100,000 Dollars?

... or a fool and their 15$ parted?

I see via Deltoid that JunkScience is offering $100,000US for anyone who can prove the theory of Anthropogenic Global Warming. The problems?

• there is no such thing as proof in these kinds of scientific theories
• JunkScience explicitly states they are the sole and subjective arbiter of all terms and conclusions
• they want proof of the difference in global social, economic and environmental effects between two possible futures 100 years away!

I don't think they even take themselves seriously, it is just a cheap way to provide another shallow talking point.

Climate Chaos Labrats

What if the world were a cage of lab rats and GHG emmissions an accumulation of fecal matter? Blogger ThrobGoblin lays it all out for you here.

This is one of 13 panels that tell the whole amusing story!

Real Science Journalism

(via fellow Vancouverites DesmogBlog)

Tony Jones does an excellent job of exposing the fraud that is Albert Einstein....er, I mean Martin Durkin (I always get those two mixed up!), the producer of The Great Global Warming Swindle. You can watch his entire interview on YouTube in two parts, embedded below.

Suffice it to say, you won't ever hear this kind of reality based journalism on US mainstream news programs.

If there were any sharks left to jump

If there were any sharks left for Bob Carter to jump, he would have jumped them with this article on fellow climate ostrich Jennifer Marohasy's blog. Like most of the denialist campaign, he no longer even pretends to argue the science, (because of course every last word of the IPCC reports has been completely demolished so many times before, right?) merely verbally masterbates about what a buffoon Al Gore is, how the mindless flocks of human sheep tremble and how the oh-so-powerful and rich climate scientists manipulate all of us.

Nothing new or noteworthy, really. But the punchline is worth the multiple showers you'll want after reading it all, because he actually places Martin Durkin in the same company as "Charles Darwin, Wilhelm Roentgen, Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Robin Warren-Barry Marshall and their like". Martin Durkin an Albert Einstein.

I kid you not!

More irrefutable proof that this man has nothing to say you could not fabricate.

Just in Case There was any Doubt....

Just in case you thought that E. G. Beck actually has any integrity...

Monbiot's Final Response to Alexander Cockburn

George Monbiot calls it quits with a final response in his ongoing debate with Alexander Cockburn. Cockburn finally produced his "references" and of course it is not scientific publication, it is the usual frequently debunked bunk. It is also completely devoid of logical argument and is instead a laudry list of opinion from the usual suspects.

The whole exchange is archived here.

Dramatic and Emphatic National Academies Statement

Michael Tobis has been stamping his feet quite a bit since a few days ago about the recent publication of a new Joint Statement of the National Academies [PDF] of all the G8 countries.

Why? Because it is both emphatic in nature and invisible to the press. He highlights these four points:

• "Our present energy course is not sustainable."
• "Responding to this demand while minimizing further climate change will need all the determination and ingenuity we can muster."
• "The problem is not yet insoluble but becomes more difficult with each passing day."
• "G8 countries bear a special responsibility for the current high level of energy consumption and the associated climate change. Newly industrialized countries will share this responsibility in the future."

It is hard not to see it as an urgent call to action (these are scientists, remember) so Tobis wonders out loud why no one seems to be talking about it. Good question.

Climate Response Blog

For anyone interested in some live blogging on the climate change issue or anyone in the London scene, there was this comment from Rohit Bhargava at the Climate Response Blog.

You might also be interested in a live blog happening around now around the Corporate Climate Response event in london. The Climate Response Blog is an ongoing real time conversation from an event that is part of the Green Power conferences. Throughout the day we are blogging, posting video interviews, and updating a photo gallery of participants and conversations.

They'd love your comments on this effort.

More Bunk from Beck

(no, this is not about me!)

Over at Real Climate they have a debunking of another whooper from E. G. Beck. Just as he did with his ludicrous CO2 reconstruction, Beck tries to take science forward by putting the gears in reverse (is this really what a modern day Galileo would do?).

But even better than that, he apparently has to resort to good old fashioned fraud too. Read the details.

Reasic debunks Crichton's "Aliens Cause Global Warming" Speech

In case anyone out there actually thinks Michael Crichton has intelligent things to say about the Global Warming issue, I recommend reading Reasic's recent post that steps through Crichton's many assinine arguments presented in a speech from a few years ago.

It is pretty long, but such an effort should at least be skimmed through!

Thanks for the good work, Reasic.

Don't get behind!

Michael Tobis has been busy with 10 posts in the last 4 days. Don't get too far behind!

Hot times in the Solar System

There is an interesting and entertaining column by Oliver Morton on Nature's news website about the continuing use by climate science contrarians of climate change on other bodies in the solar system. I have a couple of "Talk to a Sceptic" guide entries on that (see here for the newest version of the Mars and Pluto canard) as well as some artwork that takes its inspiration from on of the more obscure versions of this talking point.

Oliver Morton's article is full of great lines and clear rebuttals and methodically goes planetoid by planetoid showing the lack of substance "skeptics" so readily embrace. For example:

• Pluto is still warming from its ~80 year summer
• Triton's warming southern hemisphere is just in its hottest orbital position
• Mars is experiencing changing albedo, probably due to dust storms

He also make the very good point that given "climate is always changing", in any random look around our solar system you should expect to find a handful of warming climates.

For his conclusion he writes:

What's saddening is that people should miss what these various phenomena really have in common — their explicability. They show that our ideas of atmospheric physics are applicable and useful on bodies that range from the tiny (Pluto, the atmosphere of which is hardly worth mentioning) to the gigantic (Jupiter, the atmosphere of which outweighs a hundred solid Earths).

And computer models based on the ones used to study the climate on Earth provide results even when applied to the hugely different conditions on Mars. That is truly impressive.

So what these disparate observations actually tell us is that the scientific community — the scientific community that enjoys a firm consensus on the causes of Earthly climatic change — has a fairly impressive grasp of the fundamentals of how weather works elsewhere, as well. It's a rather inspiring insight. But it is not the lesson that climate sceptics want their readers to learn.

Word.

Why Truth is Losing Ground

Micheal Tobis has a blog now (well, an active one now!) and he has a thoughtful article on truth and the perception of truth here.

Like almost everything he writes, it is well worth reading and I am glad to see him placing his considered essays somewhere more prominent than comment #83 on a marginally related RealClimate post!

I will add In It For the Gold to the sidebar shortly...

Swindled

RealClimate explains why UK TV Channel Four's recent "documentary" "The Great Global Warming Swindle" is actually self describing in its title, rather like the Junk Science website. For a revolting glimpse into how they get scientific voices to support their falsehoods read a letter to the station from one of their scientist interviewees. Money quote here:

Never before, however, have I had an experience like this one. My appearance in the "Global Warming Swindle" is deeply embarrasing, and my professional reputation has been damaged. I was duped

Sad, really. Reminds me of one of the "60 climate scientists" who signed that letter to the PM of Canada, he too said he was duped.

Putting pop-culture to good uses

RealClimate has an excellent post today on the differences between studying today's climate versus paleoclimate research. They make a very nice use of some pop-culture, specifically CSI and Cold Case, two crime scene investigation dramas. It relates to a couple of articles in the Guide here:

• If we can't figure out the past, how can we know about the present
• The climate is always changing
• It has been warmer than this before
• This is just a natural cycle

Go have a look, it is one of their more accessible pieces, no technical know-how required, no brain straining equations to parse!

Another week of GW news - February 11, 2007

Courtesy of H.E.Taylor, here is this week's GW news roundup
(skip to bottom)

Let's start with a chuckle:

• 2007/02/09: ERabett: C. (for climate) Jive Rumorton is unhappy...

Some late IPCC commentary:

Click here to read more

• 2007/02/10: GristMill: [Dessler] Op-ed on the IPCC and climate change
• 2007/02/10: DeSmogBlog: Presenting the IPCC For (Not Quite) Dummies!
• 2007/02/07: Nature: Special Report: From words to action
• 2007/02/07: Nature: [Editorial] Light at the end of the tunnel
• 2007/02/10: WSWS: Scientists conclude global warming is "unequivocal"
• 2007/02/08: CliProg: Summary of the IPCC Summary, Part II
• 2007/02/08: CliProg: Summary of the IPCC Summary for Policymakers, Part I
• 2007/02/07: NewYorker: Hot Topic [Elizabeth Kolbert on AR4]
• 2007/02/08: BSD: One more in the Misinterpretation of the IPCC Parade
• 2007/02/08: GristMill: IPCC: Mercury and sea levels rising
• 2007/02/08: Stoat: AR4 SPM sea level proves more interesting than expected
• 2007/02/07: TerraDaily: UN Warns Of Natural Disasters Linked To Global Warming
• 2007/02/08: CSM: Key players react to the IPCC global warming report - A collection of statements from from around the world -- including environmental advocates and oil companies
• 2007/02/04: TLC: What the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report Missed
• 2007/02/07: CliProg: IPCC: Mercury and Sea Levels' Rising
• 2007/02/07: WorldChanging: After the Climate Breakthrough: What Do We Do Now?
• 2007/02/07: IPSNews: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
• 2007/02/05: CSM: In wake of latest climate report, calls mount for global response
• 2007/02/06: GristMill: Why the IPCC bomb was a dud
• 2007/02/06: GristMill: IPCC: Warming oceans are cause for worry
• 2007/02/07: CSM: Reports on global warming lag behind the science - The newest UN-sponsored assessment left out research that suggests more dire climate change.
• 2007/02/06: HuffPo: Why the IPCC Bomb Was a Dud
• 2007/02/05: CliProg: Behind the Scenes of the IPCC
• 2007/02/05: GristMill: Global warming outlook 'more dire' than IPCC report
• 2007/02/05: Stoat: Its not too late - its later than we think! [AR4]
• 2007/02/05: WorldChanging: More Thoughts on Climate [post IPCC]
• 2007/02/05: WaPo: Global Warning - The world's scientists agree, again, that climate change is a big problem
• 2007/02/05: PlanetArk: US Urges 'Global Discussion' on UN Warming Report
• 2007/02/05: PlanetArk: Reactions to UN Climate Panel Report
• 2007/02/05: SciDaily: Strongest Evidence Yet Of Human Link To Global Warming, Expert Says
• 2007/02/05: CBC: Inuit hope climate change report strikes a chord
• 2007/02/05: PlanetArk: Insurers Welcome UN Climate Panel Report
• 2007/02/05: PlanetArk: Global Warming Demands Global Effort - Brazil
• 2007/02/05: OilChange: Chavez Urges Action on Climate
• 2007/02/05: Reuters: Global warming to hit poor worst, says U.N.'s Ban Ki-moon

Norway has released the design of that doomsday seed vault in the Arctic:

• 2007/02/09: BBC: 'Doomsday' vault design unveiled
  The final design for a "doomsday" vault that will house seeds from all known varieties of food crops has been unveiled by the Norwegian government. The Svalbard International Seed Vault will be built into a mountainside on a remote island near the North Pole. The vault aims to safeguard the world's agriculture from future catastrophes, such as nuclear war, asteroid strikes and climate change. Construction begins in March, and the seed bank is scheduled to open in 2008.
• 2007/02/09: PhysOrg: Architectural plan revealed of doomsday arctic seed vault
• 2007/02/09: WorldChanging: Unveiling the Doomsday Vault Design
• 2007/02/09: SciDaily: Agricultural Noah's Ark: Doomsday Seed Vault In Arctic To Outlast Major Sea Level Rise And Permafrost Warming
• 2007/02/09: France24: 'Doomsday vault' to resist global warming effects

Virgin Airline's Richard Branson announced a $25m reward to save Earth:

• 2007/02/09: BBC: Branson launches $25m climate bid
  Millions of pounds are on offer for the person who comes up with the best way of removing significant amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson launched the competition today in London alongside former US vice-president Al Gore. A panel of judges will oversee the prize, including James Lovelock and Nasa scientist James Hansen. Sir Richard said humankind must realise the scale of the crisis it faced. "The Earth cannot wait 60 years," he said at the news conference. "I want a future for my children and my children's children. The clock is ticking." He said if the planet was to survive, it was vital to find a way of getting rid of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. He said he believed offering the $25m (£12.5m) Earth Challenge Prize was the best way of finding a solution.
• 2007/02/09: Guardian(UK): Virgin boss offers $25m reward to save Earth
• 2007/02/09: NSU: $25 million prize offered to capture carbon - Could you invent the best device for absorbing greenhouse gas?
• 2007/02/09: WaPo: $25 Million Offered In Climate Challenge - Tycoon Hopes to Spur Milestone Research
• 2007/02/09: ABC(Au): Branson, Gore launch carbon cutting prize
• 2007/02/09: NewScientist: $25 million prize for greenhouse gas removal
• 2007/02/09: PhysOrg: Scientists to Vie for $25M Climate Prize [Branson]
• 2007/02/09: JEB: Branson pickle
• 2007/02/09: TreeHugger: Branson Offers $25 Million to Remove Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide
• 2007/02/09: Telegraph(UK): Branson offers millions to save the planet
• 2007/02/09: Yahoo: Virgin's Branson offers $25 mln global warming prize
• 2007/02/09: CBC: Branson offers $25M prize to fight climate change
• 2007/02/09: OilChange: Branson Offers Millions to Save Planet

The Greenland melt sped up, and then slowed down to normal, confusing some:

• 2007/02/09: BostonGlobe: Study finds puzzle in Greenland glacier melt
• 2007/02/08: SciMag: [report] Rapid Changes in Ice Discharge from Greenland Outlet Glaciers by Ian M. Howat et al.

I am glad CH4 levels are currently stable, but...:

• 2007/01/31: ViveLeCanada: Methane now bubbling from Beaufort Sea - Methane hydrates decomposing

In the hurricane wars:

• 2007/02/08: Wunderground: Hurricane research flights grounded [due to lack of funds]
• 2007/02/09: PlanetArk: Debate Storms on Possible Warming-Hurricane Link
• 2007/02/07: ABC(Au): Cyclone Nelson brings rain, little damage

It's getting warmer:

• 2007/02/09: PhysOrg: 2006 Was Earth's Fifth Warmest Year
• 2007/02/09: Yahoo: January world's hottest on record: Japan
• 2007/02/06: France24: China sweats in warmest temperatures on record

Meanwhile on the el Niño front:

• 2007/02/05: Wunderground: Florida's tornadoes and El Niño
• 2007/02/08: NOAA: El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion
• 2007/02/08: JFleck: Adios, El Niño

More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2007/02/10: Globe&Mail: Dangerous [tropical] fungus [cryptococcus gattii] thrives on West Coast
• 2007/02/09: DeSmogBlog: The Pain In Spain Is Mainly -- Due to Global Warming
• 2007/02/09: OilChange: Inuit Accuse US of Destroying Their Rights
• 2007/02/07: Eureka: Risk of [rotifers (zooplankton)] extinction accelerated due to interacting human threats
• 2007/02/02: WaPo: Global Warming Poses Health Threats
• 2007/02/05: Yahoo: Vietnam highly vulnerable to climate change: expert
• 2007/02/05: PlanetArk: Spain Suffering Worst Drought ever - Tagus Water Board
• 2007/02/05: PlanetArk: Melting Glaciers, Sinking Isles: Warming Hits India
• 2007/02/05: PlanetArk: Bangladesh Faces Bleak Future from Global Warming
• 2007/02/05: PlanetArk: Climate Change, Human Pressure Shrink Lake Chad
• 2007/02/05: PlanetArk: Global Warming Threatens Australia's Barrier Reef

And then there are the tropical/boreal forests:

• 2007/02/06: Eureka: Human's ecological footprint in 2015 and Amazonia revealed
• 2007/02/06: GristMill: Canadian Boreal Forest

Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2007/02/11: Yahoo: Tokyo sets snowless record

And speaking of floods & droughts:

• 2007/02/06: BBC: Climate change 'affecting' China
  At least 300,000 people in north-west China are short of drinking water because of unseasonably warm weather, which officials link to climate change.
• 2007/02/06: Guardian(UK): 340,000 left homeless after floods engulf Jakarta
• 2007/02/05: AFP: Indonesian rescuers battle to reach flood victims [29 dead, 350,000 homeless]
• 2007/02/05: PlanetArk: Climate Change Forces Australian Farmers to Nurture Land
• 2007/02/05: PlanetArk: Drought Scars Australia's Land and Farmers

The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2007/02/11: IndiaDaily: Hyperinflation in food and energy and deflation in everything else -- the new world economic order -- how can you deal with it?
• 2007/02/05: BWeek: Food vs. Fuel - As energy demands devour crops once meant for sustenance, the economics of agriculture are being rewritten

Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2007/02/09: ABC(Au): Amazon technique aims to reduce greenhouse gases

And on the carbon sequestration front:

• 2007/02/10: Globe&Mail: Piping the [CO2] problem underground
• 2007/02/09: Yahoo: Greenhouse gas ocean burial can start Feb 10
  International rules allowing burial of greenhouse gases beneath the seabed enter into force on Saturday in what will be a step toward fighting global warming, if storage costs are cut and leaks can be averted. The new rules will permit industrialists to capture heat-trapping gases from big emitters such as coal-fired power plants or steel mills and entomb them offshore -- slowing warming while allowing continued use of fossil fuels. "Storage of carbon dioxide under the seabed will be allowed from February 10, 2007 under amendments to an international agreement governing the dumping of wastes at sea," the U.N.'s International Maritime Organization (IMO) said in a statement.
• 2007/01/31: RI: The best method of carbon sequestration [leave the carbon in the ground]
• 2007/02/07: MIT: Storing carbon dioxide below ground may prevent polluting above
• 2007/02/08: GCC: [MIT] Study: Saline Aquifers Can Provide Safe Storage for CO2
• 2007/02/08: SciDaily: Storing Carbon Dioxide Below Ground May Prevent Polluting Above
• 2007/02/07: PhysOrg: Storing CO2 below ground may prevent polluting above
• 2007/02/07: Eureka: Cold storage solution for global warming? University researchers suggest CO2 be frozen in underground reservoirs

While on the adaptation front:

• 2007/02/08: SciDaily: Adaptation To Global Climate Change Is An Essential Response To A Warming Planet
• 2007/02/07: PhysOrg: Adaptation to global climate change is an essential response to a warming planet
• 2007/02/07: TruthOut: Dutch May Build Offshore Breaker Islands in Response to Global Warming
• 2007/02/07: Eureka: Adaptation to global climate change is an essential response to a warming planet

Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2007/02/07: CliPast: Low-frequency oscillations of the Atlantic Ocean meridional overturning circulation in a coupled climate model by M. Schulz et al.
• 2007/02/07: CliPast: Summer temperature trend over the past two millennia using air content in Himalayan ice by S. Hou et al.
• 2007/02/06: CliPast: Linking glacial and future climates through an ensemble of GCM simulations by J. C. Hargreaves et al.
• 2007/02/06: CliPast: On the variability of return periods of European winter precipitation extremes over the last three centuries by A. Pauling & H. Paeth
• 2007/02/06: CPD: Variations in air and ground temperature and the POM model: results from the Northern Hemisphere by R. N. Harris
• 2007/02/06: CPD: Climatic conditions for modelling the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets throughout the ice age cycle by A. Abe-Ouchi et al.
• 2007/02/08: SciMag: [report] Rapid Changes in Ice Discharge from Greenland Outlet Glaciers by Ian M. Howat et al.

Before we get into politics, there was some science done:

• 2007/02/09: SciDaily: Break-up Of Antarctic Ice May Expose Marine Life To More Sunlight And Alter Food Chain
• 2007/02/08: Eureka: UTSA researchers examine effects of global warming on Antarctic
• 2007/02/07: TerraDaily: From Greenhouse To Icehouse: New Clues On Ancient Climate Shift
• 2007/02/07: Eureka: Study shows largest North America climate change in 65 million years [during the 400,000-year Eocene to Oligocene transition, 33.5mya]
• 2007/02/06: MBARI: Methane bubbling through seafloor creates undersea hills
• 2007/02/05: Eureka: World's oldest rocks show how Earth may have dodged frozen fate of Mars
• 2007/02/05: Eureka: Ancient rocks show how young Earth avoided becoming giant snowball - Carbon dioxide may have acted as planet's 'thermostat' since earliest times
• 2007/02/05: SciDaily: Ancient Rocks Show How Young Earth Avoided Becoming Giant Snowball

William had some fun with Svensmark:

• 2007/02/11: Stoat: Revenge of the killer cosmic rays from hell

The Pielke Fan Club is doing just tickity-boo:

• 2007/02/07: ERabett: The Rabett shatters his New Years Resolution...
• 2007/02/04: ERabett: The muddle has moved...

Not much followup to Chirac's proposal for a new UN agency:

• 2007/02/07: PlanetArk: French Climate Plan May be Distraction - UN Official
  Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat, said a study last week by leading scientists blaming human activities for global warming should spur governments to curb greenhouse gas emissions. "The main priority is for political leaders to start coming to grips" with global warming, he told Reuters after a 46-nation appeal led by French President Jacques Chirac on Friday to create a new, powerful UN Environmental Organisation.

Yet another meeting is scheduled:

• 2007/02/07: PlanetArk: Britain to Host Climate Change Economics Meeting

Meanwhile on the emissions trading front:

• 2007/02/09: FTimes: Billions lost in Kyoto carbon trade loophole
  Billions of dollars are being wasted in the international carbon trading system owing to a loophole in the Kyoto protocol, according to a study to be published on Thursday in the journal Nature. A few Chinese factories and carbon traders were making large profits by exploiting the regulations in the protocol surrounding a potent greenhouse gas, HFC-23. By installing cheap equipment, the companies could gain "carbon credits" which they could sell for hundreds of millions of dollars.
• 2007/02/07: ABC(Au): Carbon trading scheme 'should be considered'
  The Federal Government has released a discussion paper on introducing a carbon emissions trading system
• 2007/02/07: C4: Carbon trading 'not cutting CO2' - some carbon trading schemes rich countries pay into, may not be adding to global cuts in emissions
• 2007/02/07: PlanetArk: China Eyes Summer Launch for Carbon Credit Exchange
• 2007/02/07: OilChange: China Plans Carbon-Trading Scheme
• 2007/02/06: Guardian(UK): Tony Blair at the liaison committee - Tony Blair tells MPs why carbon rationing isn't on the cards
• 2007/02/06: GristMill: More myths about carbon offsets
• 2007/02/06: TreeHugger: Carbon Exchange in Beijing
  China and the United Nations are working together to establish a carbon trading exchange in Beijing. This would establish the Chinese capital as a center for the multibillion-dollar global trade in carbon credits. The Beijing exchange is to be set up as part of a carbon finance initiative agreed upon by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) with the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology and the Nation Development and Reform Commission.
• 2007/02/07: ABC(Au): Govt to release carbon trading paper
• 2007/02/06: IPSNews: No Getting Around Emissions Caps, Experts Say
• 2007/02/06: PlanetArk: Australia Softens Stand on Carbon Trading

The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2007/02/09: TruthOut: Global Warming's Simple Remedy
• 2007/02/09: OilDrum: WSJ writes that gas taxes make sense
• 2007/02/07: GristMill: Climate 'realism' demands carbon tax
• 2007/02/06: WaPo: Global Warming's Simple Remedy
• 2007/02/05: TheAge: A tax for our future - A carbon levy would be more effective than an unwieldy emissions trading system
• 2007/02/05: TimesUnion: Tax carbon emissions to save the Earth

That EU carbon tax proposed to bring the US around is raising questions:

• 2007/02/06: TruthOut: Must Business Be Ecological?
• 2007/02/05: TreeHugger: Chirac Renews Call for Carbon Tax on US

While on the American political front:

• 2007/02/10: BSD: Bush Administration just reports - we're responsible for the decisions
• 2007/02/10: GWW: Cheney's money talks of an inconvenient truth
• 2007/02/09: Yahoo: Carmakers to Calif. attorney general: drop suit
  Six major automakers told new California Attorney General Jerry Brown that their lawyers were ready to discuss improving vehicle fuel efficiency but that he should dismiss the state's greenhouse gas damage suit. But the automakers so far have given no indication that they will drop the industry's suit against California's tailpipe emissions rules.
• 2007/02/08: ENS: Pelosi: Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Emissions Cuts Needed
• 2007/02/09: CSM: What the world needs now is to reduce carbon emissions - In the US, states may lead the way in proposing tougher standards
• 2007/02/09: TruthOut: Inuit Accuse US of Destroying Their Way of Life With Global Warming
• 2007/02/09: DeSmogBlog: Ill winds passed during Congressional hot-air debate
• 2007/02/09: TreeHugger: Catholic Bishops Send Climate Letter To US Congressional Leaders
• 2007/02/09: PlanetArk: Global Warming Tussles Boil at White House, Capitol
• 2007/02/09: PlanetArk: US Energy Secy Tells Congress 'no' to Emissions Cap
• 2007/02/09: CCM: Tony Snow Gives Up the Game [US pol]
• 2007/02/08: CCM: Hill Report: "A Committee of the Future," and a Rep. From the Past [US pol]
• 2007/02/09: NYT: Pelosi Backs Restrictions on Heat-Trapping Gases
• 2007/02/09: BostonGlobe: No change in political climate
• 2007/02/08: Yahoo: Congress eyes legislation to fight climate change
• 2007/02/08: TreeHugger: Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker Calls US "Delinquent" On Climate Change
• 2007/02/07: Yahoo: Pelosi settles battle over climate panel
• 2007/02/07: Asia Times: Bush's annual hot air emission [SOTUA]
• 2007/02/06: TheHill: Pelosi, Dingell reach deal
  Ending a three-week long turf war, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.) have reached an agreement on the parameters of the select committee on global warming.
• 2007/02/05: TruthOut: The Most Important Thing You Can Do to Stop Global Warming [US pol]
• 2007/02/05: TruthOut: Why Are EPA Libraries Closing?
• 2007/02/05: HuffPo: Past Time for Action, Mr. President

After the speeches, several people have taken a look at what is actually in the budget:

• 2007/02/09: TechRev: White House Budget to Cut Energy Research
• 2007/02/07: TCE: A Quick & Dirty Summary of Dirty Bush's Budget
• 2007/02/06: GristMill: Budget reality trumps energy security rhetoric

The WhiteHouse released an open letter on climate change:

• 2007/02/07: WhiteHouse: Open Letter on the President's Position on Climate Change
• 2007/02/08: CCM: Rewriting History, and Lying to the Public [WH letter]
• 2007/02/07: TerraDaily: White House Issues Rare Letter Defending Record On Warming
• 2007/02/07: TruthOut: Holding Bush to Account for Climate Lies, Neglect

Is there a prize for ignorance?

• 2007/02/11: TP: Rep. Rohrabacher: Global Warming May Have Been Caused By "Dinosaur Flatulence"

We have House & Senate Committees galore:

• 2007/02/10: CSW: House Oversight Jan. 30 hearing follow-up: Witness testimony and archived Webcast
• 2007/02/10: CSW: House Oversight Jan. 30 hearing follow-up: News coverage
• 2007/02/07: CSW: Rick Piltz testimony before the Senate Commerce Committee
• 2007/02/06: CSW: Senate Commerce Committee hearing Feb. 7 on "Climate Change Research and Scientific Integrity"
• 2007/02/05: WSWS: Scientists report rampant political interference in climate research
• 2007/02/05: CSW: Gore to testify on Climate Change
• 2007/02/04: CSW: House Science Committee to hold IPCC hearing

The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

• 2007/02/10: FramingScience: Global Warming Concerts to Catalyze World Action
• 2007/02/08: TruthOut: Gore Defends Chinese Position on Fighting Global Warming
• 2007/02/08: DeSmogBlog: Gore-a-palooza
• 2007/02/08: Yahoo: Gore climate documentary to be shown in Portuguese schools
• 2007/02/08: FTimes: Climate change concerts 'to dwarf Live Aid'
• 2007/02/08: GreenOptions: Al Gore To Launch Climate Change Concerts This July
• 2007/02/07: GristMill: Gore on TV and mass communication

Meanwhile in the UK:

• 2007/02/07: ABC(Au): Blair wants world project to tackle climate change
  British Prime Minister Tony Blair says he is working towards the launch of major international clean energy project to combat climate change.

Meanwhile in Europe:

• 2007/02/09: PlanetArk: Slovakia Sues EU Commission over CO2 Limit Cut
• 2007/02/09: PlanetArk: EU Climate Goals Support Long-Term Carbon Market
• 2007/02/06: PlanetArk: EU Commission Approves Slovenia's Carbon Plan
• 2007/02/05: BBC: Barroso raps Germany over carbon
  European commissioners have criticised Germany for challenging a cap on its industrial CO2 emissions in 2008-12. A German minister threatened legal action last month after the commission cut Germany's emission allocation in the EU carbon trading scheme. Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said it would be "unfair" to tailor allocations to countries' wishes. Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said Germany had to put its "nice speeches" into practice. "If Germany blocks, the rest of Europe doesn't play along. And if Europe doesn't play along, neither does the rest of the world," he said in a weekend interview.

A tussle between EU car manufacturers and the Environment Commission regarding allowable emissions of CO2 played out this week:

• 2007/02/09: PlanetArk: Reaction to EU Proposals for Car CO2 Output
• 2007/02/08: Guardian(UK): Brussels to cap car emissions - CO2 from new vehicles must fall by 20% in 5 years
• 2007/02/07: NSU: Europe declares greenhouse limit for cars - Compromise plan follows tussle between environmental and industrial lobbies
• 2007/02/08: ABC(Au): EU seeks mandatory car emissions curbs
• 2007/02/07: EUO: EU sets world's toughest CO2 emissions cap for cars
• 2007/02/07: NewScientist: Limits on vehicle emissions proposed by Europe
• 2007/02/07: PlanetArk: Activists, Car Firms Unhappy with EU Emission Plans
• 2007/02/07: Yahoo: EU proposes 25 percent cut in new car emissions
• 2007/02/07: OilChange: EU Bows to Car Lobby on Pollution Limits
• 2007/02/07: BBC: Car firms attack pollution plans - European car makers have described plans to force them to cut back on harmful exhaust emissions as "unbalanced" and "damaging".
• 2007/02/07: ABC(Au): EU seeks mandatory car emissions curbs
• 2007/02/07: BBC: The European Commission is proposing forcing carmakers to make an 18% cut in CO2 emissions from new cars by 2012
• 2007/02/06: BBerg: Porsche Rails at Emissions Caps That Favor Ghosn's Smaller Cars

Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2007/02/10: ABC(Au): Labor welcomes [Branson] prize for global warming solution [& uses it to take a swipe at the Howard Government]
• 2007/02/11: Mercury(Au): CSIRO's horror climate forecast
  Heat waves that kill thousands, gigantic bushfires and regular 100-year storms are part of a frightening new climate change forecast for Australia. A leaked CSIRO report into the impact of global warming predicts a century of climatic horrors for Tasmania and the rest of Australia. The doomsday scenario will form the basis of the Australian chapter in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, the Federal Government's key stocktake on global warming due for release in April.
• 2007/02/10: ClimateArk: Australia: Climate of fear drives Prime Minister's conversion
  Call me a narky old cynic, but I can't help thinking that the Prime Minister's new-found interest in global warming has a lot to do with his plummeting opinion poll ratings and very little to do with a sudden, sinking conviction at Kirribilli House that the end of the world might be more nigh than we would like.
• 2007/02/08: ABC(Au): Turnbull, Garrett debate climate change

• 2007/02/09: GWW: Turnbull vs. Garrett in the great climate change clash
• 2007/02/09: TreeHugger: An Eventful Week in Australian Climate Change Debate
• 2007/02/07: ABC(Au): Labor pounces on PM's climate change gaffe
  The Opposition is using the Prime Minister's mistake in Question Time yesterday to attack the Government's climate change credentials. John Howard told Parliament the jury is still out on the degree of the connection between greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.
• 2007/02/07: ABC(Au): Parties trade barbs on green credentials [Rudd & Howard]
• 2007/02/07: GWW: Climate change heavyweights duke it out [Garrett vs. Turnbull]

An Australian carbon trading system is being debated:

• 2007/02/08: ABC(Au): NFF [National Farmers Federation] 'disappointed' at exclusion from carbon trading scheme talks
• 2007/02/08: ABC(Au): States, territories may establish own carbon emissions scheme
• 2007/02/09: SMH: [Australian] States sign on to carbon trading scheme
• 2007/02/07: ABC(Au): Industry must have carbon trading input: PM [Howard]
• 2007/02/08: SMH: Emissions group missed the real issue
  The Emissions Trading Task Group's issues paper, released yesterday, poses a series of questions about the nature of a domestic - and global - emissions trading scheme. The terms of reference given to the group were misplaced, since the overriding aim was to preserve Australia's competitive advantage created by its wealth of fossil fuels and uranium. Rather, the group should have been given much broader terms of reference with the aim of reducing carbon dioxide emissions to 60 per cent of the 1990 level by 2050. Putting a price on polluting the atmosphere with carbon dioxide, which comes from burning fossil fuels, is undeniably the first step in reaching an emissions reduction target.
• 2007/02/07: ABC(Au): Industry [The Minerals Council of Australia] urges global co-operation on carbon trading
• 2007/02/05: TerraDaily: Australia Says Emissions Trading Needed To Fight Global Warming
• 2007/02/05: ABC(Au): PM says carbon trading part of climate change solution
• 2007/02/05: ABC(Au): PM [Howard] 'considering' carbon trading, rules out tax
• 2007/02/05: PhysOrg: Australia must place a price on carbon emissions to fight climate change, PM John Howard said Monday

Meanwhile in China:

• 2007/02/09: PlanetArk: China CDM [Clean Development Mechanism] Growth not Enough to Tackle Emission Rise
• 2007/02/07: PlanetArk: China is Set on Curbing Fossil Fuels -- Climate Chief [Qin Dahe, chief of the China Meteorological Administration]
• 2007/02/07: PlanetArk: UN Doubts China Will Overtake US on Carbon by 2009
• 2007/02/07: PlanetArk: N.W. China Drought Dries up Water Supplies
• 2007/02/06: PhysOrg: China to Research Global Warming
  China will spend more to research global warming but lacks the money and technology to significantly reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are worsening the problem, a government official said Tuesday.
• 2007/02/06: PlanetArk: China Preparing National Plan for Climate Change
• 2007/02/06: PlanetArk: Key Facts About China and Climate Change
• 2007/02/05: Reuters: Key facts about China and climate change

A couple of the BRIC nations told the west to butt out:

• 2007/02/07: PlanetArk: China Says Global Warming in Hands of Wealthy Nations
• 2007/02/06: FTimes: China blames the west for global warming
• 2007/02/07: GirlEconomist: Everyone's Problem [China, US & GW]
• 2007/02/07: BBC: Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva has accused developed countries of failing to do enough to fight against global warming
• 2007/02/06: Reuters: Brazil's Lula blasts rich nations on climate
• 2007/02/06: CanWest: China says global warming in hands of wealthy nations

It is significant that in the last 6 months in Canada, Great Britain,

and Australia, the political parties are falling all over themselves

trying to convince voters how green they are.

In Canada, the average lifetime of a minority government is 17 months or so, and as the Conservatives pass 13 months, the rumours of elections are hot and heavy with a bevy of green issues in the air:

• 2007/02/10: ClimateArk: Canada: Tug-of-war brewing over Kyoto
• 2007/02/09: CNW: Leading Climate Change and Energy Experts Map Out Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plan For Canada
• 2007/02/09: CanWest: Kyoto bill may force election - Government would be tied to stringent targets

While carbon trading, a carbon tax and a regulatory system battle for PR traction in the neocon perception of the public mind, the specific issue of the Alberta oil sands looms:

• 2007/02/10: TStar: Oil industry finds hot rock resource - Geothermal energy could replace natural gas in powering processes used to extract oil from bitumen.
• 2007/02/09: InfoShop: Water Rights for Sale in Alberta
• 2007/02/08: Globe&Mail: Oil patch girds for battle with Ottawa - Fears grow Conservatives may unveil tough new policies on taxes, emissions
• 2007/02/08: Yahoo: Canada oil output to rise 9 pct in 2007: regulator
• 2007/02/07: PlanetArk: Canada Sees its Greenhouse Gas Emissions Soaring
• 2007/02/05: TStar: The coming green industrial revolution
• 2007/02/09: BCLSB: A National Carbon Trading Market?
• 2007/02/08: BBerg: Canada Not Studying Carbon Tax, Baird Tells Lawmakers

And minority neocon PM Harper continues his inaction:

• 2007/02/11: BCLSB: The Tories Are Like A Plate of Fried Veggies: Green On The Outside, Oily On The Inside
• 2007/02/09: TCE: The Greenest Thing About Baird Is His Tie
• 2007/02/01: PoliWatch: Limbaugh loves Harper's Kyoto letter
• 2007/02/07: CanWest: Ottawa's hands tied on greenhouse-gas reduction

How to choose between the various GHG reduction strategies:

• 2007/02/08: EnvEcon: Explaining least cost greenhouse gas reductions
• 2007/02/06: IHT: Economist Paul Volcker says steps to curb global warming would not devastate an economy
• 2007/02/08: OilChange: Climate Change Will Boost Economy, Says Bank [Barclays Capital]
• 2007/02/07: BtP: Solutions to Global Warming: Rich Countries Pay Poor Countries
• 2007/02/06: TruthOut: Who's Funding Global Warming? Find out which banks are part of the problem, and which are part of the solution...
• 2007/02/07: TreeHugger: Subsidizing Climate Change

As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2007/02/06: FramingScience: Global Warming Coverage Last Week Contributed Only 5% to Total News Agenda
• 2007/02/05: Stoat: Methane fireballs tear across the sky

The power of the right-wing-media-machine is amply demonstrated:

• 2007/02/06: FramingScience: Two Americas on Global Warming:
  95% of Congressional Dems Polled Accept Man-Made Global Warming Compared to Only 13% of Congressional GOP
• 2007/02/05: GristMill: Opinions without borders. Not quite. [Can vs US poll numbers]
• 2007/02/05: TP: POLL: Only 13 Percent Of Congressional Republicans Believe In Man-Made Global Warming

The issue of how climate change is framed has arisen:

• 2007/02/09: EJN: Reframing Global Warming While Equating Skeptics with Holocaust Deniers
• 2007/02/10: JFleck: Kids Today [Framing GW]
• 2007/02/09: DeSmogBlog: Communications professor says framing the issue is key to winning climate-change struggle
• 2007/02/09: CCM: Framing Global Warming
• 2007/02/09: FramingScience: This Is Your Earth. This Is Your Earth On Carbon Emissions: Ellen Goodman on the Framing of Climate Change

Here is something for your library:

• 2007/02/10: CliProg: Chapter Eight Excerpt [_Hell and High Water_]: Peak Oil, Energy Security, and the Car of the Future
• 2007/02/08: GristMill: Book review: George Monbiot's Heat

Developing a new energy infrastructure is the fundamental challenge of the current generation:

• 2007/02/05: AltEnergy: Seeing Red: Palm Oil Biodiesel
• 2007/02/11: BBC: UK wind power reaches milestone - The UK has become only the seventh nation in the world to have more than two gigawatts (GW) of operational wind power capacity.
• 2007/02/08: MIT: MIT experts foresee sustainable ethanol production
• 2007/02/06: OilDrum: US News and World Report looks at Ethanol
• 2007/02/07: CSM: Mining heat from the earth? New technology shows promise
• 2007/02/05: ABC(Au): Pig poo methane to generate power
• 2007/02/05: GristMill: Ethanol: clutching at the public purse
• 2007/02/05: TreeHugger: Compact Solar Concentrators Ready For Installation in California
• 2007/02/05: TechRev: Algae-Based Fuels Set to Bloom - Oil from microorganisms could help ease the nation's energy woes
• 2007/02/05: PlanetArk: Global Wind Energy Market Grew 32 Pct in 2006 - VDMA [German Engineering Federation]

The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2007/02/06: Guardian(UK): Firms told to cut CO2 or leave FTSE4good

The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2007/02/11: GWW: Back to reeducation camp for global warming ex-skeptic [Ronald Bailey of Reason Mag]
• 2007/02/10: PCortex: Pat Sajak: Gl_b_l W_rm_ng D_n_ _ r (_ssh_l_!)
• 2007/02/07: TCE: Conflict of Interest at U. of Virginia [Michaels]
• 2007/02/10: Deltoid: Bolt Train Wreck
• 2007/02/06: DeSmogBlog: National Post Defames Scientist as "Denier"
• 2007/02/08: DeSmogBlog: Ball's Self-promotion Presumptuous Twaddle
• 2007/02/08: Deltoid: Bailey corrects mistake, Bolt does not [AR4 SPM sea levels]
• 2007/02/07: TP: Right Wing Uses Erroneous CNN Report To Smear Gore
• 2007/02/07: Deltoid: Misinformation from Lomborg
• 2007/02/07: Deltoid: Super-duper-pathological Denial
• 2007/02/07: RealClimate: WSJ Editorial Board: Head Still Buried in the Sand
• 2007/02/07: TDT: Delaware scientist's [Legates] view on climate change criticized - Ties to big oil, industry-funded lobbies draw fire
• 2007/02/07: KGW: Global warming debate spurs Oregon title tiff [George Taylor, State Climatologist & denier]
• 2007/02/05: N3xus6: The 59cm myth (with an appearance of "the global warming has ended" myth)
• 2007/02/04: ERabett: While everyone was chasing after the new SPM boyfriend...
• 2007/02/05: Mirror(UK): Attacks on Global Warming - A Right-Wing think tank funded by oil firms will today try to rubbish claims of climate change
• 2007/02/05: DeSmogBlog: In the company of creationists and flat-earthers
• 2007/02/04: DeSmogBlog: National Post Finds New Denier
• 2007/02/05: Deltoid: Monckton on the SPM
• 2007/02/04: Deltoid: Ron Bailey, climate sensitivity, and projected temperature increases
• 2007/02/05: RealClimate: Fraser Institute fires off a damp squib
• 2007/02/04: EnergyBulletin: Global warming myths and lies
• 2007/02/06: BBC: Stern assumptions 'implausible'
  The Stern report into climate change is based on "implausible" economic and scientific assumptions, former Chancellor Lord Lawson has told MPs.

The AEI/AR4 imbroglio came in for some late commentary:

• 2007/02/10: ERabett: As it happened...[AEI/AR4]
• 2007/02/09: SPGCC: Update on AEI and AR4 Brouhaha
• 2007/02/07: SPGCC: AEI and the AR/4 --- update
• 2007/02/08: GristMill: Update on the AEI and AR/4 brouhaha
• 2007/02/06: BSD: Reading the AEI and Exxon tea leaves on global warming
• 2007/02/05: WaPo: AEI Critiques of Warming Questioned - Think Tank Defends Money Offers to Challenge Climate Report

Exxon gets the attention it deserves:

• 2007/02/10: WaPo: Exxon Mobil Warming Up To Global Climate Issue
• 2007/02/08: BBerg: Exxon Says Action Needed Now to Combat Global Warming
• 2007/02/08: HuffPo: Exposing ExxonMobil, Part II by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Then there was the usual news and commentary:

• 2007/02/10: Yahoo: G7 finance ministers make little headway on climate: Germany
• 2007/02/09: TCE: Good News Friday in Three Parts
• 2007/02/07: VDM: Viridian Note 00488: Sublime Climate
• 2007/02/10: MSNBC: Global Warming: Get Used to It
  Even if we adopted the most far-reaching plans to combat climate change, we would still watch greenhouse gases rise for decades.
• 2007/02/10: ZMag: Big Enviro Groups "Holding Back" Anti-Warming Movement - Some critics call the best mainstream proposals too little, too late
• 2007/02/07: WaPo: Global Warming and Hot Air [Samuelson]
• 2007/02/10: HuffPo: The greening of America?
• 2007/02/09: CliProg: "Today We Have a Planet That's Smoking!"
• 2007/02/09: GristMill: Simple answers to simple questions
• 2007/02/09: GristMill: We're all Planetary Engineers now
• 2007/02/07: GPM: Polar Bears on Parade -- Are polar bears going to save the planet from global warming?
• 2007/02/07: GristMill: Some apropos words
• 2007/02/07: DeSmogBlog: The Hockey Stick Lives
• 2007/02/08: DailyIndia: Study: New focus on global warming needed
• 2007/02/06: Slate: You're Getting Warmer -- The new statistical rhetoric of climate change
• 2007/02/06: Yahoo: World's churches go green and rally to cause
• 2007/02/06: GristMill: New Tom Paine piece on climate politics
• 2007/02/05: GristMill: The 'two sides' of the climate debate
• 2007/02/06: TomPaine: Going For Broke On Climate Change
• 2007/02/05: TerraDaily: Climate Change Has Driven World To 'Critical Stage'
• 2007/02/06: PlanetArk: Be Responsible, UN Climate Panel Head [Rajendra Pachauri] Urges India
• 2007/02/06: PlanetArk: Environment Ministers Meet [in Kenya] After Climate Warning
• 2007/02/06: Yahoo: Turkey prepares action plan on climate change [focusing mainly on economising water]
• 2007/02/05: TruthOut: Game Over on Global Warming?
• 2007/02/05: CanWest: Climate shift fires public's green interest
• 2007/01/21: DDEN: Is All CO2 Equal? Part 4 - Space Shifting
• 2007/01/19: DDEN: Is All CO2 Equal? Part 3
• 2007/01/17: DDEN: Is All CO2 Equal? Part 2
• 2007/01/13: DDEN: Is All CO2 Equal? Part 1

And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:

• Climate Institute - Protecting the balance between climate and life on earth
• IPCCFacts: The facts surrounding the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
• EJN: Environmental Journalism Now
• SPGCC: Science and Politics of Global Climate Change
• Fight Global Warming - Environmental Defense
• LDEO: Persistent drought in North America: a climate modeling and paleoclimate perspective
• ScienceBlogs
• CCM: Chris C. Mooney (new URL)
• Deltoid - Tim Lambert (new URL)
• Stoat
• UK RoyalSociety: Climate change documents
• Ross Gelbspan: The Heat is Online
• Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
• EESI: Climate Change News
• CMDL:NOAA: CCGG: Carbon Cycle Greenhouse Gases Group
• EESI: Environmental and Energy Study Institute
• EESI: Climate Change News
• SPARC: Science Policy Assessment and Research on Climate
• Global Warming Factsheets
• Global Climate Change

--regards--

-het

PS. You can access the previous postings of this series here

--
"The scientific debate is over. It now becomes an economic and political debate over how to deal with the problem of global warming."
-Spencer Weart, director of AIP's Center for History of Physics

Global Warming: http://www.autobahn.mb.ca/~het/enviro/globalwarming.html
GW News: http://www.autobahn.mb.ca/~het/enviro/gwnews.html
GW News Archive: http://www.autobahn.mb.ca/~het/enviro/gwna.html
H.E. Taylor http://www.autobahn.mb.ca/~het/

Policy advocate, or human being?

Roger Pielke Jr has another posting complaing about how the IPCC is not policy neutral despite its stated objectives, and therefore not an "honest broker" of the science of climate change. He offers this quote as support:

I hope this [forthcoming IPCC] report will shock people, governments into taking more serious action as you really can't get a more authentic and a more credible piece of scientific work.

from Rajendra Pachauri, the IPCC director.

I commented over there that his accusations of some sort of hypocrisy rest entirely on the assumption that everyone shares his definitions and I do not think that most people consider statements like "we should take serious action" to be advocating a policy at all.

Quite rightly Roger asked me how I would define "policy neutral". So, because I wrote a lengthy reply to that and would like to keep it handy, I thought I would reproduce it here. ("You" refers to Roger, of course)

I daresay "policy neutral" is one of those concepts where the only possible comprehensive definitions for it in its most abstract meaning render it a useless term. That is to say, the purest definition - having no preferences for any policy over any other and even no preference for any goals or set of goals over any other - is one that no living breathing human being could conceivably subscribe to. It requires having no values, no aspirations, no ethics.

So to avoid defining such a term out of a useful existence, policy neutral can only have meaning within a specific context. For example, if you are sitting at a meeting and there are five proposed policy options on the table and you have no preference of one over any other, you are policy neutral within this context.Now, of coures, the five that were on the table must have come from somewhere, but to be policy neutral, and human, you must already be looking at a limited set of options.

So let me try to bring this into its specific context here. I believe that one can be policy neutral even though they believe that climate change is an urgent problem that needs to be dealt with. Someone could be policy neutral because they have no particular convictions about how addressing climate change should be done: nuclear energy, CO2 sequestration, drastic lifestyle changes, combinations of approaches, etc.

I believe that I am not alone in thinking this way, and in fact it is you who need to "come to grips" with what others mean by policy neutral. The way you have defined and use this term (I have no doubt that it is consistent with your field's usage btw) means that the simple desire to avoid large scale human suffering makes you a policy advocate.

This is really splitting semantic horsehairs while the fossil fuels burn.

I am sure I will be following up on that over there...

Who said this?

"TV weathermen are truly the last of the independent scientists"

If you know whose pearl of wisdom that is, then I don't need to tell you about the current firestorm in the climate blog world. Eli Rabbet has a detailed timeline with all the links. I first heard of it here at Prometheus but some details seem a little different from the story Andrew Dessler tells. In short, a blogger at the Weather Channel says weather men who share there willful ignorance of climate change science ("it's not real", "it's natural", "the UN wants to take over the world") should maybe have their American Meteorlogical Society credentials revoked. She makes the reasonable point that they are in a position of authority because they have been granted these credentials and should not abuse that responsibility. Mark Morano and Rush Limbaugh sick their attack dogs on her and the post is instantly flooded with some 1600 cantankerous comments!

I only posted about it because I found the quote above to be rather hilarious. This does not mean I have any inherent direspect for meteorologists in general or TV weathermen in particular, but please! "Truly the last of the independent scientists??" C'mon!

(Oh, BTW, the answer is Mark Marano.)

Andrew Revkin's latest

As anyone who circulates anywhere in the climate blogosphere is undoubtedly aware, Andy Revkin wrote a piece in the NYT (non-subscription link!) very recently about a "new middle ground" in the climate debate. The main point being this is a refreshing and new voice of reason between two irrational extremes ("we will all die", versus "warming? what warming?"). Since I am so slow off the mark to bring it up, much of what I might have said has been already. So in brief, with acknowledgments to those who beat me too it, are some thoughts, in no particular order:

• Real Climate did a post which is a good starting point and with which I pretty completely concur. The middle ground is the IPCC consensus, very few serious scientific voices have strayed from it.
• I am very grateful to all the excellent work Andy Revkin has contributed to the otherwise poor showing from the main stream media on this issue. The NYT in general deserves some acknowledgment as well. The only weakness of this article is probably from the need to make a newsworthy event out of a slow general trend. It is also on shaky grounds because it really the media reporting on itself. The media shapes the debate much more than does the reality of the issues, so how to now report on the debate changing its character?
• the phrase "non-skeptic heretic" is unfortunate and definately not climate debate neutral, as I said in comment #3 on Roger Pielke Jr.'s blog.
• David Roberts is pretty much right on the money WRT his comments about RP Jr, in my opinion. Coining this phrase was more self-serving and/or self-flattering than anything else. He is however too hard on Revkin who is deeply inside of a fatally flawed system.
• Andrew Dessler makes an important point about the distinction between the political debate and the scientific debate. This distinction, or rather the lack of keeping it in mind, muddies much of many of the discussions of this article and its issues.
• James Annan makes the tongue-in-cheek point that since everyone else is slightly off to one side or another from him, he is in fact in the middle. The serious point being that dividing a spectrum of opinion and values into boxes, especially just three (too hard, too soft, just right!) is not the Path to Enlightenment.
• The whole notion of a two-sided debate (from which this "reasonable" middle ground then emerges) is an artifact of the mainstream media's misguided notion of balance. (h/t to Bob Ward on RC)
• There is no moral equivalence between the exagerations of the "alarmists" and the obfuscations and distractions of the denialists, so again the notion of "middle" is inappropriate. David Roberts makes this point in another RC comment.

I did not read these other blog threads, but they are there and surely interesting: Tim Lambert, Matthew Nesbit, Chris Mooney and John Fleck