Climategate shows the need for openness by scientists | Environment | The Observer. "Like it or not, this [demand for openness] indicates a transformation in the way science has to be conducted in this century. " That, say many, will be the lasting legacy of the independent review published last week into the controversial emails between climate scientists that were stolen from the University of East Anglia and posted online.
Scientists were cleared, as expected, of any fiddling of the figures to exaggerate the case for global warming. But the review heavily criticised them and the university for consistently blocking access to data and failing to recognise the risk such secrecy posed to the "credibility of UK climate science". It is now possible to assess the damage. The scientific evidence – showing that the world is warming fast due to human actions and presents a clear future danger – remains untarnished. But if there was no great global warming conspiracy, why did the leaking of the emails last November become such a PR disaster? Science Story | Climategate and the Need For Greater Scientific Openness. Copenhagen climate change blah blah.
Sorry, this felt a bit rushed and PollyFillaesque, I hope it’s vaguely interesting… Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 12 December 2009 So as we career towards a mediocre outcome in Copenhagen, why do roughly half the people in this country not believe in man-made climate change, when the vast, overwhelming majority of scientists do? It certainly predates the leaked emails (on which there is surely nothing more to say).
Firstly we have the obvious psychological issues. We’re predisposed to undervalue adverse outcomes which are a long way off in the future, especially if we might be old or dead soon. We’re inherently predisposed to find cracks in evidence that suggests we should do something we don’t want to do, hence the enduring appeal of stories about alcohol being good for you, and policy initiatives have hardly helped on this front. This is exacerbated, of course, because climate science is difficult. And they knew that. Exxon's Climate-Victim Candles | The Yes Men. Impostors posing as ExxonMobil and National Petroleum Council (NPC) representatives delivered an outrageous keynote speech to 300 oilmen at GO-EXPO, Canada's largest oil conference, held at Stampede Park in Calgary, Alberta, today.
The speech was billed beforehand by the GO-EXPO organizers as the major highlight of this year's conference, which had 20,000 attendees. In it, the "NPC rep" was expected to deliver the long-awaited conclusions of a study commissioned by US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman. The NPC is headed by former ExxonMobil CEO Lee Raymond, who is also the chair of the study. (See link at end.) In the actual speech, the "NPC rep" announced that current U.S. and Canadian energy policies (notably the massive, carbon-intensive exploitation of Alberta's oil sands, and the development of liquid coal) are increasing the chances of huge global calamities. "We've got to get ready.
"We're not talking about killing anyone," added the "NPC rep. " Living Planet Report. Climate Savers Computing - Home. IPCC Final Report.