For the first time in its history, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) — a panel of 2,500 of the best climate scientists in the world — accepted on Wednesday that it had made a huge goof-up in its fourth assessment report on climate change and withdrew its assertion that the Himalayan glaciers ran the risk of being wiped out by 2035.
- IPCC retracts 2035 alarm on Himalayan glacier melt, The Times of India, 20 Jan 2010
Not surprising at all. The level of hysteria that has been whipped up around climate change / global warming (starting with the famous Al Gore Powerpoints) was never consistent with the measured tone of scientific research. It was always clear that there was something else going on here and whatever it was, it was never science.
Meet the world’s top destroyer of the environment. It is not the car, or the plane,or even George Bush: it is the cow.
A United Nations report has identified the world’s rapidly growing herds of cattle as the greatest threat to the climate, forests and wildlife. And they are blamed for a host of other environmental crimes, from acid rain to the introduction of alien species, from producing deserts to creating dead zones in the oceans, from poisoning rivers and drinking water to destroying coral reefs.
- Cow ‘emissions’ more damaging to planet than CO2from cars, The Independent, 10 Dec 2006
Such shallow claims were merely alarmist in nature and clearly over simplify the immense complexities of our planet’s ecosystem. This is, by definition, pseudo-science. Add to that these statements that all Himalayan glaciers will melt by 2035, and there is nothing more left to say about these chaps.
Unfortunately, the guy who seems to be leading the global warming charge is an Indian (his partner-in-Nobel Prize Al Gore has dropped off the global warming map after his initial blitzkrieg), and he seems to be brazenly unconcerned about this whole thing:
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change chairman R K Pachauri on Saturday termed as a “human error” the findings in its report about melting of Himalayan glaciers, but ruled out his resignation on the issue.
Pachauri, who is under attack from various quarters over the IPCC’s 2007 report that said the glaciers in the Himalayas will disappear by 2035 due to global warming, said the mistake was “unfortunate”.
“I have no intention to of resigning from my position. I have a task. I am going to complete the Fifth Assessment Report,” he told reporters here.
…
“There are huge problems on climate change. Climate change is not limited to Himalayan glaciers. Rational people will continue to repose faith in IPCC,” he said.
- Pachauri admits mistake in IPCC report, rules out resignation, The Times of India, 23 Jan 2010
Pachauri’s tone is exactly the same as those of Indian babu’s who pretty much are not accountable to anybody for anything. It completely lacks the sense of rigor that is the hallmark of Western science.
And his statements about “rational people” reposing “faith” in IPCC is amazingly revealing of the man and his mind. He first invokes the “Emperor’s New Clothes” syndrome to hide his nakedness and then proceeds to take science to the same plane as religion by invoking faith in lieu of scientific rigor!
And there are accusations floating around that this man is running a thriving business fueled by the global warming scare his own IPCC generates! [Questions over business deals of UN climate change guru Dr Rajendra Pachauri]
With such a man as its spokesperson, the global warming campaign has pretty much lost all credibility.
Which is not a bad thing at all!