Daily Archives: November 26, 2010

by Judith Curry

Documenting, understanding and predicting climate variability and change is an issue of substantial scientific and socioeconomic importance.  The IPCC put forth a strategy for assessing the science that is based upon reducing uncertainty and building a consensus.  This consensus was used to convince the public and policy makers of the IPCC’s scientific findings, which were linked with the UNFCCC treaties and policies to urge action on carbon stabilization.  The partial success of this strategy was reflected by the award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize to the IPCC.

Failures of this strategy in terms of the actual science are to overly focus the science on one aspect of the climate problem, marginalize dissenting voices, polarize the scientific community, and alienate a large segment of the educated public who have the desire, interest, logic, and often the mathematical and physical science skills to understand and even contribute to the science.

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