N.Y. Times Editorial Praises Work of National Academy of Sciences

The New York Times, in an editorial published today, said it hoped the U.S. Senate was paying attention to new National Academy of Sciences studies that focused on the folly of putting off governmental action on climate change any longer.

Wrote the Times: "We hope the reports will jolt the United States Senate into moving forward on an energy and climate bill. They provide an authoritative rebuttal to skeptics in the Senate and industry who have pounced upon small errors in the 2007 report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to suggest that the whole thing is a hoax."

The editorial quoted the research as saying: "Climate change is occurring, is caused largely by human activities, and poses significant risks for a broad range of human and natural systems." Added the Times: "The reports acknowledge that while the magnitude of these risks -- sea level rise, drought, disease, the destruction of marine- and land-based ecosystems -- are difficult to predict, society would be wise to move swiftly and aggressively to minimize them."

The scientific study noted that from 2012 to 2050, the U.S. should produce no more than a total of 200 billion tons of GHG, and "ideally considerably less. The longer we wait to begin reducing emissions, the academy adds, the harder and more costly it will be to reach the target. It recommends putting a price on emissions as well as investments in energy efficiency, alternative fuels and developing cleaner technologies."

Researcher Mann Defends Climate Change Science After Attacks

Climate scientist Michael Mann dismissed criticism of the validity of research pointing to the danger of climate change as failing to disprove the link between GHG emissions and increasing temperatures, USA Today reported today. The Penn State scientist said his colleagues prematurely believed that they had convinced the general public of link and that they had definitively established various conclusions about climate.

Mann said the climategate controversy posed the risk of "creating doubt in the minds of the public" about the need to cut GHG emissions "when there really shouldn't be any." He argued that various mistakes in published climate research and forecasts were akin to "a typo on page 225" of the owner's manual for a car, and "nothing has fundamentally changed" about the grounds for linking emissions to climate change.

Mann was quoted as saying: "If we don't act on this, it's not a failure of science. It's our failure as a civilization to deal with the problem." Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., commented of growing doubts in climate science: "People are waking up to how all these scandals have shot holes through the global warming propaganda."

U.N. to Set Up Blue Ribbon Panel to Review IPCC Climate Findings

The United Nations has selected the InterAcademy Council to review the work of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to determine if the results were flawed, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The study, due to be unveiled in August, is a reality check on a report that led to a Nobel Peace Prize, but has most recently led to controversy when the analysis was deemed faulty.

Robbert H. Dijkgraaf, co-chair of the InterAcademy Council, told the Journal that a particularly delicate task will be to pick who participates in the review. Wrote the newspaper: "The council needs people who have knowledge of climate science but aren't too close to the IPCC." Dijkgraaf was quoted as saying: "Clearly you cannot be the reviewer and the reviewed at the same time." But people involved in previous IPCC reports could serve on the review committee, he said.

Yesterday, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., called for the resignation of IPPC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri, on the basis of his role in overseeing the work. The Washington Post today reported that U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said: "Let me be clear: The threat posed by climate change is real. Nothing that has been alleged or revealed in the media recently alters the fundamental scientific consensus on climate change, nor does it diminish the unique importance of the IPCC work." Sen. James M. Inhofe, R-Okla., said: "This is only half the battle. A legitimate inquiry must look back and examine the science in the assessment reports, and not just the mistakes that have been uncovered thus far."

The New York Times described Dijkgraaf as a Dutch physicist and mathematician. It said the study would be financed by the United Nations but will operate wholly independently. He was quoted by the Times as saying: "Our job is to ensure quality of IPCC reports in the future. We enter this process with no preconceived conclusions."