Tim Lambert (deltoidblog AT gmail.com) is a computer scientist at the University of New South Wales.
In the olden days to become a distinguished climate scientist you had to work hard, do lots of research and publish it in good journals. Now there's a quicker method. Put out a press release.
The International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC) has been denied the opportunity to present at panel discussions, side events, and exhibits; its members were denied press credentials. The group consists of distinguished scientists from Africa, Australia, India, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The scientists, citing pivotal evidence on climate change published in peer-reviewed journals, have expressed their opposition to the UN's alarmist theory of anthropogenic global warming. ...
Taylor continued, "For example, ICSC scientist Dr. Vincent Gray recently published Unsound Science by the IPCC, which proves the main claims by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are scientifically unsound. Dr. Gray is an expert reviewer for the IPCC and has submitted more than 1,800 comments on IPCC reports. He is an expert on the IPCC methodology and published Spinning the Climate.
You might think that with the reference to "peer-reviewed journals" above that Gray published "Unsound Science by the IPCC" in a peer reviewed journal, but no, it just means that it was posted on the web somewhere. "Expert reviewer for the IPCC" doesn't mean that they asked him to review material -- all it means is that he asked to see the draft report. The only real requirement to be a reviewer is to sign an agreement not to publicly comment on the draft. And yes, he submitted a vast number of comments on the draft IPCC reports, for example:
Insert afer "scenario" "even when some of them are patently ridiculous"
Like most of his comments this was rejected because he provided no basis for his suggested change. After reading a hundred or so of Gray's comments, I think the IPCC scientists who politely responded to each and every one of his 1,800+ suggestions, really really deserve their share of the Nobel.
If this post seems familiar to you, it may because I've recycled parts of my post from last year on the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition. That's because the International Climate Science Coalition is a recycling of the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition. They are run by the same group of New Zealanders and use many of the same scientists (Vincent Gray, Bob Carter, David Bellamy etc). Although they registered the domain for their web site last year (around the same time as they registered the one for the NZCSC), they've only just created a website -- Google hasn't even indexed it yet.
If you look at the ICSC delegation to Bali, you'll find that their spokesman is Christopher Monckton and that the only one they have who claims to be a climate scientist is David Archibald, author of The worst climate science paper ever of all time anywhere.
Fortunately, apart from the shameless hacks at the Investors Business Daily, the media has ignored the ICSC. Some bloggers are more easily fooled, with Glenn Reynolds, for example, accusing the UN of crushing dissent.
Environment
Comments
Is anyone ever "asked to serve as an external reviewer" for the IPCC? McKitrick has made this claim.
If you look at the denialist comments in the reports, you tend to find that each one has usually contributed several hundred, which allows them (coincidentally?) to argue that the consensus is not as firm as you have been led to believe--"20% of comments do not fall within consensus!" That kind of thing.
Posted by: bigcitylib@hotmail.com | December 10, 2007 1:18 PM
I followed your link and read some of them. Holy crap. A typical exchange goes like this:
Nobel, hell. I'm putting these foilks up for canonization.
Posted by: jre | December 10, 2007 2:31 PM
s/foilks/folks/
Posted by: jre | December 10, 2007 2:34 PM
Is this the guy referred to by such sources as Fox News as "the climate researcher who shared the Nobel Prize with Al Gore?"
Posted by: mark | December 10, 2007 3:06 PM
Good find, Tim. The ICSC site looks a tad more professional than the NZCSC, which would suggest some funding. Highly unlikely to have come from NZ, and given that the Heartland Institute has been issuing press releases, might their money be involved? I think we should be told.
Posted by: Gareth | December 10, 2007 3:21 PM
There's a few good examples of Vincent Grey's work in the comments here
Some of them are actually laugh out loud funny. That said, no one in their right minds should actually listen to him, let alone allow him to "present".
Posted by: ChrisC | December 10, 2007 4:27 PM
Almost makes me embarrassed to be a Kiwi. That said, I enjoyed reading through the comments Vincent Gray left. "Rejected. No basis for the assertion" seems to be the most common reply from the lead authors.
Posted by: Tony | December 10, 2007 5:49 PM
Looks like the Heartland Institute is planning its own climate change conference.
http://bigcitylib.blogspot.com/2007/12/deniapalooza-climate-skeptics-plan.html#links
Posted by: bigcitylib | December 11, 2007 6:20 AM
Look over on the left hand side of the ICSC website. One of their "must read" sites is Roger Pielke Sr.
Ya' know. You can't run a denialist site without featuring someone from the Pielke clan....
Posted by: Thom | December 11, 2007 9:51 AM
Roger Pielke Jr. finally jumped the shark and has paired up with Stephen McIntyre.
http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/prometheus/archives/disasters/001288agupowerpointwith_.html
Posted by: Thom | December 11, 2007 10:47 AM
re: "The worst climate science paper ever of all time anywhere". A little off topic, but I haven't seen any new postings by NEXUS6 for quite some time. Anyone know why?
Posted by: KenH | December 11, 2007 11:10 AM
Gareth,
Do you know the difference between numerical climate modeling and blind statistical inference? I amazes me, that your background is a wine author (no difference from one who cleans toilet), but you went on local NZ National TV to talk about climate science, where you aired the likely scenario for the next 100 years. God, you have pooh poohed Ken Ring in the past for the same ridiculous climate projection, but now you're doing exactly what Ken Ring is doing. FFS, stick to what you're good at and that is writing children story, and don't try to veer off to an area where you have no clue to its core methods (climate numerical modeling). Get some real study in climate modeling before you blow out hot air to the public.
Posted by: Falafu1u Fisi | December 11, 2007 1:37 PM
My, what a diatribe. I suspect it says a lot about FF.
For the record, I've never written a children's story (though I do have a couple of ideas...).
PDF Edition of Hot Topic now available, for anyone who wants to compare my take on climate science with Ken Ring's.
(And FF, if you want to comment on the book or my views, please do so at Hot Topic).
Posted by: Gareth | December 11, 2007 3:20 PM
Neal Boortz - who broadcasts 33 hours a week where I live - also cited the ICSC as evidence of suppression. http://boortz.com/nuze/200712/12072007.html#press
Today he's linking to this.
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/global_warming/2007/12/10/55974.html
Funny how these sorts don't believe every scientific magazine in the country, virtually every scientific body on the planet, or the scientific literature; but NewsMax runs a story saying what they want to hear and that's good enough for them.
Posted by: Hume's Ghost | December 11, 2007 4:48 PM
Tim Lambert, bless you.
This may be the only place I can go to where people won't tiptoe around what a hack and an axe-grinder McIntyre is, and what a gross fraud ClimateAudit is. Shark, indeed.
Posted by: Marion Delgado | December 11, 2007 6:29 PM
Funny how these sorts don't believe every scientific magazine in the country, virtually every scientific body on the planet, or the scientific literature; but NewsMax runs a story saying what they want to hear and that's good enough for them.
Now THAT line's a keeper.
Best,
D
Posted by: Dano | December 11, 2007 7:42 PM
News flash - Christopher Monckton publishes on climate change. ... Well, in The Jakarta Post at least. Apparently, "the shore-dwellers of Bali" can relax because "the IPCC has deliberately, persistently and prodigiously exaggerated not only the effect of greenhouse gases on temperature but also the environmental consequences of warmer weather." But the Bali inhabitants may have to worry if the climate change conference participants insist on making "heroically stupid decisions". I wonder if the The Jakarta Post publishers are amazed at the scoop that they got.
Posted by: Ex-drone | December 11, 2007 10:43 PM
I see the Jakarta article describes the Viscount thusly:
"The writer is an international business consultant specializing in the investigation of scientific frauds."
Posted by: John Mashey | December 12, 2007 6:36 PM
"The writer is an international business consultant specializing in the investigation of scientific frauds."
Typo in the Jakarta article; I believe it's spelled I-N-S-T-I-G-A-T-I-O-N.
Posted by: QrazyQat | December 12, 2007 9:53 PM
Speaking of V Gray, I hope someone can shed some light on the "600 Dr. Grays" referred to here:
"Dr. Gray is the last person the politicized UN wants speaking," [Heartland Institute Senior Fellow James M.] Taylor noted. "He single-handedly debunks the entire alarmist theory. And there are more than 600 Dr. Grays trying to be the voice of reason and science. All are being censored."
[The press release is here: http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=22401]
To end my comment, I was going to paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, but really I just want to know where all those sceptics are hiding and could one of them please come and sub for Vincent Gray? The poor man is clearly over-worked.
Posted by: Tony | December 13, 2007 5:17 AM
In fact, he's beside himself -- 600 times! Boom-chuk
Ah, thank you, thank you. I'm here all week.
Posted by: Tony | December 13, 2007 5:24 AM
Don't worry KenH, I'm still around.
Posted by: Nexus 6 | December 13, 2007 6:30 AM
The only possible way people aren't avoiding Gray like a scientific leper would be if they are focusing on the first draft comments, where he had a few accepteds at first and later on as well.
I didn't do any analysis on it. Did anyone else have as many rejecteds as him? As many that added "wrong" or "incorrect?" Especially in the 2nd draft?
Those really do accumulate at an impressive rate.
Posted by: Marion Delgado | December 19, 2007 6:40 PM