Royal Society - 'Climate Change' - London school of Economics - manipulated computer models

Source: Times Online

"Our mission is to advance public and private action on climate change through rigorous, innovative research." --London School of Economics

Royal Society and climate change
To avoid further misunderstanding about the causes and consequences of climate change, the Royal Society should now open up its debate to the public

Sir, Your report that a small group of Fellows of the Royal Society have forced the UK’s national academy of science into a possible retreat on climate change is a further indication of the shambolic way in which researchers are allowing so-called “sceptics” to confuse the public about the huge risks from emissions of greenhouse gases (“Scientists’ rebellion forces Royal Society to accept climate change scepticism”, May 29).

In December 2009, the Society published a statement that concluded: “It is certain that greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels and from land use change lead to a warming of climate, and it is very likely that these greenhouse gases are the dominant cause of the global warming that has been taking place over the last 50 years.”

However, you quoted two Fellows of the Royal Society whose comments have now raised doubts about whether the Society stands by its recent clear statements on climate change. These Fellows, an electrical engineer and a metallurgist, are advisers to a lobby group that was set up by Nigel Lawson to promote scepticism about climate research, but they have not indicated what exactly it is that they reject about the work of atmospheric physicists and other climate scientists.

To avoid creating even further misunderstanding about the causes and consequences of climate change, the Royal Society and its Fellows should now open up their internal debate to the public, and clarify whether the criticisms made by the “sceptics” have any validity.

Bob Ward
Policy and Communications Director, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment