Rajendra Pachauri: Climate scientists face 'new form of persecution'

[IDemo]

IPCC chair accuses politicians and sceptics of portraying scientists as 'criminals' through attacks on their credibility

The head of the UN's climate change panel has accused politicians and prominent climate sceptics of "a new form of persecution" against scientists who work on global warming.

In a strongly worded article published on the Guardian website, Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), hit out at those in "positions of power and responsibility" who try to portray "dedicated scientists as climate criminals".

Pachauri also accused critics who have used an error in the 2007 IPCC report to question the scientific basis of climate change of "an act of astonishing intellectual legerdemain ". Scientific knowledge of climate change, he says, is "something we distort and trivialise at our peril".

Pachauri's comments come after repeated attacks on the credibility of the IPCC following the high-profile discovery of a mistake about melting Himalayan glaciers in its report. The mistake has prompted calls for Pachauri to resign and forced the IPCC to convene an international panel of experts to review the way it operates.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/26/rajendra-pachauri-climate-science-persecution

[Bigmack]

1. Thanks for telling it

like it is, Dr. Pachauri, and thanks for this post. Ms Bigmack

[NecklyTyler]

2. Pachauri is being targeted by the deniers

The resignation of Pachauri has become a focal point for deniers. They smell blood in the water and would like nothing better than to smear and ruin the reputation of a person who is trying to help ever body

[joshcryer]

3. Deniers are relentless.

[DCKit]

4. Bill Maher got into it on Friday's show with one of the panel - don't recall her name.

I was sitting here thinking "Don't these people have access to ANY rational sources of information?"

I thought it was kind of rude, but he did ask something along the lines of "Do you read?"