Criticizing 'climate science'

I responded to an op-ed by Mark Buchanan in the San Diego Union-Tribune on 9/25 as follows:

Mark Buchanan puts up straw men in his article (“Uncertainty on climate is a sign of good science,” September 25), one an anonymous friend who claims that “global warming couldn’t possibly be caused by humans.” The other is skeptics who savaged the upcoming report, “as if trying to be accurate was an offense.” If these exist at all, they are certainly what some call “outliers” – i.e., very rare.

 

The IPCC report and the process through which it is produced is roundly criticized, however, for good reasons, the main one being that the IPCC has become so politicized as to be practically useless. A good summary of the problem was well expressed by Roger Pielke, Jr., this way: “A difficult question for the climate science community is, how is it that this broad community of researchers -- full of bright and thoughtful people -- allowed intolerant activists who make false claims to certainty to become the public face of the field?” I’m not accusing Mr. Buchanan of being one of the “intolerant activists,” but he might want to be careful about who associates with.