To go along with our previous coverage of the newest report on global warming by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Guardian in the U.K. is reporting that the American Enterprise Institute is offering $10,000 each to any scientist willing to undermine the I.P.C.C.'s report. The AEI is funded by... drumroll... ExxonMobil.

Again, according the the Guardian, "The AEI has received more than $1.6m from ExxonMobil and more than 20 of its staff have worked as consultants to the Bush administration. Lee Raymond, a former head of ExxonMobil, is the vice-chairman of AEI's board of trustees." And, they also offered travel expenses. "The letters were sent by Kenneth Green, a visiting scholar at AEI, who confirmed that the organization had approached scientists, economists and policy analysts to write articles for an independent review that would highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the IPCC report."

I think that they were kind of cheap on this one. I mean, if they made $1,252.54 every second last year, they could have ponied up more than that! A measly ten seconds of their time (in profit) to each scientist. For shame.

Tad Murty, Nigel Lawson and David Bellamy, all of whom believe that humans do not contribute anything to global warming, all are to be in London on Monday to refute the findings of the I.P.C.C. The Guardian reports that this London meeting is being paid for by ExxonMobil as well.

If you don't believe in global warming, or don't think that humans have anything to do with it... remember: despite the fact that I don't disagree with the findings of the I.P.C.C., I'm just reporting the news, I don't write it.

Related:

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• Guess who made $1,252 a second, every second last year?

[Source: The Guardian]

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - a group of hundreds of scientists and representatives of 113 governments, formed by the United Nations in 1988, has released their first of four reports on global warming this year. The last set of reports was concluded in 2001. This group of scientists is generally considered "the voice of the world" on global warming. Scientists from the U.S. are included in the group. According to their own web site, the report was "produced by some 600 authors from 40 countries. Over 620 expert reviewers and a large number of government reviewers also participated". Here is a direct quote from the report, courtesy of the AP, which I found on Yahoo:

"The observed widespread warming of the atmosphere and ocean, together with ice-mass loss, support the conclusion that it is extremely unlikely that global climate change of the past 50 years can be explained without external forcing, and very likely that is not due to known natural causes alone." According to the report, "very likely" means "over 90% sure".

The report, which is to be made available today, and can be read here (via pdf) is the strongest language that the scientific group has ever used, and it points to the burning of fossil fuels as a main culprit. Before you dismiss this report, be aware that this group is said to be rather skeptical. According to Andrew Weaver of the University of Victoria, "There's no question that the powerful language is intimately linked to the more powerful science. It's very conservative. Scientists by their nature are skeptics."

Apparently, all of the scientists quickly agreed that "attributing global warming to man-made burning of fossil fuels and connecting it to a recent increase in stronger hurricanes" was a no-brainer, as this was not a point of contention among any of them. China had the loudest resistance to including fossil-fuel burning in the report. The U.S. scientists were not said to have any problem with that.

Please, add your comments. I know that this is controversial, try to be reasonable whichever side you choose to believe. Remember how important of an issue this is to the entire world.

Related:

• Is Washington pressing scientists to downplay global warming? Congress to investigate
• Editorial: So, since "global climate change" is official now...

[Source The I.P.C.C. via Yahoo]

Earlier this month the Royal Society, Britain's premier scientific academy, sent a letter (PDF) to Esso, ExxonMobil's U.K. branch, to demand that the oil giant withdraw support for organizations that undermine scientific evidence supporting the theory of global warming. The Royal Society conducted a survey which found that last year, ExxonMobil distributed $2.9 million to 39 of these think tanks and lobby groups. Groups on the list include the International Policy Network, which is headquartered in London, and the George C. Marshall Institute, based in Washington DC. The letter states that these organizations have "misrepresented the science of climate change by outright denial of the evidence".

The letter also takes aim at ExxonMobil's official claims that the "gaps in the scientific basis" make it very difficult to blame climate change on human activity. The Royal Society says that these claims are not consistent with scientific literature and misrepresent the science of climate change.

Bob Ward, the senior manager of policy communication at the Royal Society and the letter's official author, said, "It is now more crucial than ever that we have a debate which is properly informed by the science. For people to be still producing information that misleads people about climate change is unhelpful. The next IPCC report should give people the final push that they need to take action and we can't have people trying to undermine it."

The IPCC is the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Their next report, due in February of next year, is expected to say that the Earth's temperature could increase higher than previously thought.

The actual letter can be found here (PDF).

[Source: Guardian via Energy Bulletin]