cc: "Pierre Bessemoulin" , "Phil Jones" date: Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:20:10 +0100 from: "Leslie Malone" subject: Re: in today's news - Washington Times story relevant to IPCC to: "Thomas C Peterson" I will read this with pleasure, Tom, thnx :-) it makes me think WMO web page could use some FAQs with responses, based on scholarly efforts such as this. Leslie >>> Thomas C Peterson 3/14/2008 2:11 PM >>> Yes. One of the problems Phil and I continually face is how much time should we spend refuting nonsense versus moving our own work forward. One effort I made on the former is addressing what is the 7th most common argument by global warming skeptics, namely that all climatologists believed in global cooling in the 1970s so the present global warming view represents a flip-flop. Attached for your late night entertainment, Leslie, is our response to that one issue. Regards, Tom Leslie Malone said the following on 3/14/2008 8:58 AM: Thanks to you both - Phil, the new science article is great to have in the back pocket. Appreciated! I knew the Times was not the Post, but did not know who owned it - yikes! Regardless, these stories, whether credible or not, and however fair or biased, look much the same to the unwary public out there. The Internet makes sure we have it all. And our news subscription makes sure all WMO staff get it too :-) Oh well - see you in April - I look forward to it Cheers leslie >>> Thomas C Peterson [1] 3/14/2008 1:31 PM >>> Thanks, Leslie. I'll second Phil's comment but also mention that there are two newspapers in Washington. The Post which is a rigorous, solid paper. And the much smaller Times which was started by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon and has a distinct slant in its news. [2]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Times I try not to pay too much attention to what it says other than to know that such comments are out there. Tom Phil Jones said the following on 3/14/2008 8:18 AM: Leslie, There are loads of these sorts of stories. I had an email last night from Tom Peterson, about a recent paper in JGR. He kept on using the word baloney. This seems the most apt term to use here also ! Attached is a better one. It explains what IPCC is and does. I'll be at AOPC again April 20-25. Cheers Phil At 11:55 14/03/2008, Leslie Malone wrote: Hi, folks this was in today's news feeds - thought you might want a copy for posterity. I dare say there are hundreds like this Leslie Climate panel on the hot seat More than 20 years ago, climate scientists began to raise alarms over the possibility global temperatures were rising due to human activities, such as deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels. To better understand this potential threat, the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations created the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988 to provide a "comprehensive, objective, scientific, technical and socioeconomic assessment of human-caused climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation." [3]http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080314/COMMENTARY/7 [4]Prof. Phil Jones Climatic Research Unit Telephone +44 (0) 1603 592090 School of Environmental Sciences Fax +44 (0) 1603 507784 University of East Anglia Norwich Email [5]p.jones@uea.ac.uk NR4 7TJ UK Thomas C. Peterson, Ph.D. NOAA's National Climatic Data Center 151 Patton Avenue Asheville, NC 28801 Voice: +1-828-271-4287 Fax: +1-828-271-4328 -- Thomas C. Peterson, Ph.D. NOAA's National Climatic Data Center 151 Patton Avenue Asheville, NC 28801 Voice: +1-828-271-4287 Fax: +1-828-271-4328