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UK Physicists on Climategate

Intolerance, sub prime stats, wider enquiry needed

The case for man-made warming

The establishment view is made in several submissions.

Occasional maverick Hans von Storch teams up with Myles Allen to emphasise that despite the appearance of malpractice, everything’s really alright:

"Unfortunately, this debate sometimes goes so far as to question a key result of climate science: that the climate system has unequivocally warmed over the past century and most of the recent warming is very likely caused by human activity," they write, in a surprisingly equivocal statement.

The government’s chief scientific advisor John Beddington makes a similar point, reeling off a list of examples that show a warmer climate. Critics have already picked up on one of these: Beddington's claim that "global sea level has increased by about 10 cm in the last 50 years". The GWPF points out that seal levels rose 10cm in the previous 50 years too. (The rate of sea level rise shows no acceleration at all, and even a slowing since 1910. See here).

Benny Piesar’s submission highlights bullying emails from the leaked archive, in which US academic Michael Mann (of Hockey Stick notoriety) expressed the hope that damages arising from any libel action would close a sceptical journal, and silence two academic critics. "Maybe the resulting settlement would shut down E&E and Benny [Piesar] and Sonja [Boehmer-Christiansen] all together! We can only hope, anyway," Mann wrote.

Sonja Boehmer-Christiansen’s own contribution highlights how the global warming has relied heavily on institutional support.

She writes: “climate science was generously funded and required to support rather than to question these policy objectives." One paragraph might chime with academic researcher readers in a number of fields. She notes:

Some university research units have almost become wholly-owned subsidiaries of Government Departments. Their survival, and the livelihoods of their employees, depends on delivering what policy makers think they want. It becomes hazardous to speak truth to power.

(It isn't just related to environmental issues, but anything policy makers identify as a Big Campaign. Compliant research magically pops up to support the case. See the alcohol and health 'debate' for a good example.)

The full list can be found here. Hearings start at 3pm today. ®

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