Science’s Credibility: Science under attack

'Climategate' had an impact on the credibility of science

This blog also points readers in the direction of other material that may be of interest

The BBC’s Horizon series turns to the integrity of science and why public trust in scientific theories has been eroded. Watch for yourself (UK users only).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/y4yql/

The section when ‘climategate’  story breaker James Delingpole is interviewed is interesting and rather exposes the way that political views have infiltrated the media reporting science. James Delingpole has since complained of being ”intellectually raped” on Horizon during the interview with Nobel prize-winner Sir Paul Nurse.

The refusal to acknowledge that climate change is still agreed upon by scientific consensus, and in any other field that would be enough, highlights the entrenched views of sceptics who themselves aren’t entirely honest (Climate sceptic ‘misled Congress over funding from oil industry‘), and political motivation. The Telegraph, the paper that broke the story, is a strictly conservative paper and therefore having views similar to those of republicans in the USA (Why Republicans Deny Climate Change).

It is the public that suffers from this bias reporting that is normally reserved for political opinion and not scientific work.

Science must improve its relationship with the media to become more transparent to gain the confidence of the public and ensure that only facts are published and not interpretations of facts which invariably become muddled.

Related Articles

• The TV interview that tied James Delingpole’s tongue | James Randerson (guardian.co.uk)
• Official inquiries into the ‘Climategate’ scandal ‘unsatisfactory’ (nwoandsecretsocieties.wordpress.com)
• Watch: Denier James Delingpole admits he can’t do science (liberalconspiracy.org)
• ‘I want to be remembered for the science’ says Phil ‘Climategate’ Jones to chorus of titters (blogs.telegraph.co.uk)
• Official inquiries into the ‘Climategate’ scandal ‘unsatisfactory’ (telegraph.co.uk)

Reflection on 2010: The climate stories

So now its the new year and resolutions have already fallen by the wayside it seems like a good time to look back at what has happened over the last year.

It began with the coldest winter (Dec-Feb) here in the UK since 1978-79, while there were record high temperatures in Russia as Moscow sweltered in 38.2C heat, the warmest for 91 years, causing drought and the warmest summer on record. The year ended with floods in Queensland, Australia that are currently submerging much of the city of Brisbane.

NOAA’s map of significant events for last year (click image for large view)

What to say to sceptics… list of responses

I stumbled across an article at climateprogress.org that put a smile on my face. It listed all the common misconceptions and general rubbish that the ill-informed regurgitate after hearing it in the popular press and the simple responses.

The original post is available here. This post gives simple explanations of common sceptic arguments but for more information I would recommend looking at the sites in my links section or SkepticalScience.com.

Sceptic Ripostes

	Sceptic Argument	One Liner	Paragraph
1	“It’s the sun”	In the last 35 years of global warming, sun and climate have been going in opposite directions	In the last 35 years of global warming, the sun has shown a slight cooling trend. Sun and climate have been going in opposite directions.

What is the UK doing about Climate Change?: Nottingham Declaration

In the UK we are decided that climate change is an issue worth dealing with. With countless world leading scientists based here delivering top research to further validate the expanding evidence.

So now the facts are decided its time for the policy makers to do something about it and that means politicians…. never the fastest of movers unless they are saving their own skin.

While the UNFCCC attempts to get all parties to agree on a global emissions reduction policy other work has been going to prepare for such an agreement. In the England one of the most significant statements has been made by local authorities  and comes in the form of the Nottingham Declaration.

Major players in climate change: IPCC

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the single most important organisation for the assessment of climate change but who are they and what do they actually do?

The IPCC is a body established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to “provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic consequences”. Simple?

What they do is bring together experts in every single imaginable area of earth sciences and ask the question is the climate changing and if so what happens if it continues.

2010 So Far is Joint Warmest on Record



This year is set to be one of the warmest globally on record as a report from the United States states it is currently tied with 1998 as the warmest on record for the first eight months of the year.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have published their latest monthly ‘State of the Climate’ analysis from the National Climatic Data Center for the month of August. The main finding of this report is that globally the first eight months of 2010 have tied with the same period in 1998 for the warmest combined land and ocean surface temperature on record. What’s more this summer (June–August)  was the second warmest on record globally after 1998, and last month was the third warmest August on record.

Hello world!

Welcome to my WordPress.com blog for budding environmentalists and those with more in-depth knowledge alike. This blog will bring you some of the most important news stories about the environment in a reader friendly way focusing on climate change and also the weather.

Over the coming months I will provide a commentary on the breaking news stories across the world providing useful summaries that everyone can understand. In addition to this I will add in the occasion weather fact based article to give everyone more pub ammo on Britain favourite topic of conversation.