tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6448149162776456569.post7235377135997364314..comments2024-03-04T03:41:00.002-05:00Comments on Skeptic's Corner: "The Other Side Of The Story"Jerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06458118248590461987noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6448149162776456569.post-45577096110083342122010-02-13T15:03:04.511-05:002010-02-13T15:03:04.511-05:00A RESPONSE BY JACK D. IVES to “The Other Side of t...A RESPONSE BY JACK D. IVES to “The Other Side of the Story” as posted on the Skeptic's Corner on February 1, 2010 <br /><br />"It is more from carelessness about truth than from intentional lying that there is so much falsehood in the world." Samuel Johnson, 1778 <br /> <br /><br />The latter part of the discourse “UN IPCC Rotting from the Head down” devotes a surprising amount of text to my supposedly being “a towering figure in the field.” My response is prompted by the need for some explanation and correction. <br /><br />I cannot agree that either Dr. Hasnain or Dr. Pachauri must NECESSARILY have had access to my earlier publications. My primary contention in writing the sections that were quoted was that scholars, such as Dr. Hasnain, WERE REPORTED to have made doomsday-like predictions. It appears that he has denied responsibility for such remarks, claiming that he was misquoted. <br /><br />There are several similar and related remarks in the news media. For instance, Fred Pearce quoted Dr. John Reynolds (New Scientist, 2002 –MELTDOWN) to the effect that “ . . . the 21st century could see hundreds of millions dead. . .” due to the outbreak of glacial lakes in the Himalaya and Andes. I understand that Dr. Reynolds claimed that he had been misquoted. Another example should suffice. I came across two inflammatory reports as far back as 1999 that threatened “... an enormous disaster waiting to happen ... Five million people could die ...” when Lake Sarez in the Tajikistan Pamir Mountains breaks through its landslide dam and “... blast[s] a trail of destruction a thousand miles...” downstream (Pearce, 19th June, 1999, NEW SCIENTIST; Burke, 20th June, 1999, THE OBSERVER). These reports were published a few days before the investigating team of geophysicists, engineers, geologists, and geographers returned from Lake Sarez and held a press conference in Geneva. The 20-plus journalists who attended all accepted the team’s findings – that the risk of catastrophic outburst was minimal. <br /> <br />The operative phrases in the above blog are surely: so-and-so WAS REPORTED to have said or, so-and-so WAS QUOTED as ...” <br /><br />The silliness of writing that all the Himalayan glaciers could melt by 2035 should be self-evident: it would likely cause an undergraduate in physical geography or geology to laugh. Do not journalists have an obligation to check their STORIES, especially when they may have an impact on the lives of a large number of innocent people? Today, many journalists appear to have unlimited license. <br /><br />One small correction. I was NOT the UN’s chief spokesperson on the occasion (November 2001) when the International Year of Mountains (2002) was announced at UN headquarters in New York. The chief spokesperson was the Secretary-General of UNESCO. I had been asked to represent Prof. Dr. Hans van Ginkel, Rector of United Nations University, who was unable to attend. <br /><br />While I deplore the inclusion of the infamous prediction, 2035, and related errors in the IPCC (2007) report, it is regrettable that they have been used in an attempt to damage so much outstanding work. For the record, I have never been a member of an IPCC panel; I have not even known the names of any panel members until recently. Nor is it surprising to me that I was not invited to participate. The “paper trail”, however, remains incompletely traced. <br /><br />But we must also be cautious of the dangers of mischievous journalism. <br /><br />Jack D. Ives, Ottawa, CanadaAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18144713609264100355noreply@blogger.com