In a historic move, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released the expert review comments and responses to its latest assessment of the science of climate change. The IPCC report is the primary source of data for Al Gore’s movie and book titled “An Inconvenient Truth.”

Many of the comments by the reviewers are strongly critical of claims contained in the final report, and are directly at odds with the so-called “scientific consensus” touted by Gore and others calling for immediate government action. For example, the following comment by Eric Steig appears in Second Order Draft Comments, Chapter 6; section 6-42:

“In general, the certainty with which this chapter presents our understanding of abrupt climate change is overstated. There is confusion between hypothesis and evidence throughout the chapter, and a great deal of
confusion on the differences between an abrupt “climate change” and possible, hypothetical causes of such climate changes.”

“It is now abundantly clear why Al Gore will not accept our debate challenge. The supposed scientific consensus on global warming is pure fiction. Hopefully, the public release of comments and responses will enable the debate over global warming to turn to facts and less fiction,” stated Joseph Bast, president of The Heartland Institute, a national nonprofit think tank based in Chicago.

Makes you think James Taylor probably got it right in the article ST linked.

It’s the delta, or change, that is important, talking about absolute magnitudes is either disingenuous or ignorant, and is usually the sign of someone desperate to preserve a favored viewpoint despite all contrary evidence. If solar output increases X%, it increases X% no matter what the difference. Sure Pluto is a frozen ball, but it doesn’t mean increases won’t have effects, to claim so is ridiculous.

But it’s also part and parcel of the typical AGW proponents usual approach, strong correlation in any other cause other than CO2 is just a “coincidence” while extremely weak correlation with respect to CO2 levels and temperature is “proof” requiring massive changes to the world to save us all. Bah. Hypocrisy at it’s finest.

I wish Mr. Gore well in his efforts to have a successful concert and I hope that the careers of the entertainers prosper.

I do have some problems with some of Mr. Gore’s statements regarding comparisons to other planetary bodies. He is walking a thin line doing comparisons with Venus and Mercury and opens himself up to a host of arguments. Can you just hear Jay Leno: “News flash from Venus – SUVs are no longer allowed on the streets of the cities in Venus.” He also gives credibility to others to discuss the warming on other planetary bodies (which I have also blogged about).

Also, what happened to Mr. Gore’s claims of calamity if we don’t do dramatic changes? There was a little bit here but I would have expected more.

But hey, maybe Taylor identifies some science that Gore got wrong. Let’s see, Taylor writes:

For example, Gore claims that Himalayan glaciers are shrinking and global warming is to blame. Yet the September 2006 issue of the American Meteorological Society’s Journal of Climate reported, “Glaciers are growing in the Himalayan Mountains, confounding global warming alarmists who recently claimed the glaciers were shrinking and that global warming was to blame.”

The September 2006 issue of the Journal of Climate does contain a paper about Himalayan Glaciers, but Taylor’s quote is a fabrication. What the paper actually says is:

The observed downward trend in summer temperature and runoff is consistent with the observed thickening and expansion of Karakoram glaciers, in contrast to widespread decay and retreat in the eastern Himalayas. This suggests that the western Himalayas are showing a different response to global warming than other parts of the globe.

The problem is, if you follow the links, you find that Tim is quoting from the abstract, not the paper.

Apparently Tim’s never read the paper, but that doesn’t stop him from making accusations about its content.

Doesn’t pretending to know what’s in a paper without reading it bother you, Tim? Or is that just SOP for leftists?

When climate cranks came to whine about ExxonMobil’s alleged corporate irresponsibility and try to get the company to accept the Gospel of Global Climate Change according to Al Gore, the oil behemoth’s bosses told them to go fly a kite in a wind farm.

Expect a new public relations assault on the evils of Big Oil.