Several outlets jumped out with advance word today that the UN is set to unveil an independent  panel that will check the way the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change sizes up global warming. Just guessing here – but one suspects that the effort by the InterAcademy Council (umbrella group to national academies around the world) will be solid; one suspects also that unless it decides global warming is a fraud, the results will have no impact on doubters who figure that if the panel’s membership has outstanding experts and they give the IPCC any kind of pass, that just means they all along were in on the “scam.”

If and when that happens, the challenge for reporters will be to pay close attention to the reviewer’s credentials and analytical data process, and to compare those with the tools employed by any who reject the panel’s eventual findings.

Advance Stories:

• Wall St. Journal – Jeffrey Ball: U.N. to Announce Reivew of Climate Panel ;
• AP  – Seth Borenstein: Outside science academies to review warming panel ; (LATE ADDITION – Update here following the announcement today).
• Reuters – Gerard Wynn: UK academy aids study to regain climate data trust ;
• Times (UK) Ben Webster: UN to review errors made by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ;

Somewhat Related Astrology News:

• Washington Post (blog) Stephen Stromberg: Climate-change deniers take a lesson from anti-evolution activists ; This is mostly about climate change deniers, not the supposed alliance with anti-evolutionists (a camp that includes young-Earth creationists who might not like evoking “natural cycles” when their Earth is too young to have had many of those). Main reason to read it: its link to a  South Dakota state legislature resolution that declares global warming theory is just a theory ergo is probably all made up …. and anyway other known causes of climate change include astrological factors. It seems unlikely this is just because one elected rep’s staffer had a brain cramp and accidentally equated astronomy to astrology. More than three dozen legislators signed off on that as co-sponsors.

- Charlie Petit

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 at 1:11 pm and is filed under Science Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.