back to article Custard pie activist slams IPCC 'grey literature' habit

Mark Lynas, the climate activist who once threw a custard pie into the face of Bjorn "Skeptical Environmentalist" Lomborg, has found himself under fire from other climate activists. Earlier this week it emerged that a report on renewable energy for the IPCC had drawn heavily on an earlier paper authored by Greenpeace activist …

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  1. Ian Stephenson
    Mushroom

    5...4...3...2...1...

    Frothinggreenies are go!

    1. h4rm0ny

      Re: 5...4...3...2...1...

      Depends what you mean by "greenie", really. You see to me, it means someone who cares about the environment. And being a very pro-nuclear person, slightly skeptical about AGW and caring about the environment you can understand my not liking Greenpeace being perceived as representative of environmentalists generally. There are many of us who consider ourselves environmentalists who get extremely annoyed with Greenpeace. I like what they do to try and stop whaling. I like that they campaign against GM crops (although I am against them for reasons of patenting of food, dangers of reducing genetic diversity and environmental damage due to more potent herbicides / pesticides and Greenpeace are often against them because they think it will directly harm your health). But when it comes to the climate and energy production, Greenpeace really doesn't seem to be very good for the environment. Frothing, yes. Green, not entirely.

      1. Ian Stephenson
        Black Helicopters

        greenie != someone who cares about the environment

        Fair do's to your interpretation, but to me a greenie is politically motivated not environmentally.

        You are not a greenie, you are a person who cares about the environment.

        I recycle because I hate waste (Our household of 3 generates about 1 binbag of landfill waste per fortnight) and fill the blue bin in the same period, plus 1trip to the tip^H^H^H recycling centre per month to get rid of those tetrapak's that the recycling collection won't take but the tip will.

        I am also pronuclear (see other posts)

        I am VERY skeptical about AGW as reported (yes climate is changing, planet earth is a dynamic system, yes humankind has had an effect - we are part of a dynamic system, are we to blame? no idea, take out all of the other inputs to the system and let's see, is taxation the way to go? NO! Is that piece of research valid? Let's see how it was paid for, whether it was correctly reviewed and if the results are repeatable.)

        I am a meat eater - though I believe if you are going to kill an animal, have decency to use it all (anyone who wears a fur coat should be willing to eat the rest of the animal - mink fillet anyone?)

        My apologies if you thought I was classifying you within the category of political slime I call frothinggreenies.

  2. Yamal Dodgy Data
    Devil

    Just more proof of the eco-activist+renewables corporate corruption complex

    There needs to be a full investigation of the share ownership of all the renewables’ companies in Europe and links to environmental groups.

    One example of this is the interest of the WWF and other organisations in carbon offsets;

    (Two ex-WWF executives now control the UK’s Met. Office)

    In Italy there has been a Mafia investigation into the Calabrian interests of one company,

    a renewables’ subsidiary of which has as Chairman the person in the upper house of the UK Parliament who then oversaw the CRU climategate whitewash.

    Nothing so shapes a person’s judgement as their own personal interest.

    If you want to implement a program that will make you a billion dollars, make sure the head of the approval process stands to make 10 million if it is approved.

    Then of course to find the highest level of corruption, investigate how Cameron's own father-in-law stands to profit from the green scam.

    1. TeeCee Gold badge
      FAIL

      Re: WWF

      Ah yes, that mob.

      Originally the World Wildlife Fund, then the WorldWide Fund for Nature (now airbrushed from history at their site) and now "just the WWF" according to themselves.

      If anyone wanted to know whether it was the animals or the politics that they really cared about, that says it all for me.....

      1. Just Thinking

        WWF

        Didn't they dabble in wrestling too, a while back? Or something.

    2. gef05

      Err...

      So we are all at the mercy of Big Green, huh?

      Good luck with that.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Facepalm

    Think I got lost

    Dumping totally unrelated images in the middle of an article?

    Am I on cracked.com or something?

  4. Sam Liddicott

    I like the comparison

    I like the comparison with court jesters

    1. Britt Johnston
      Unhappy

      NGOs no jesters

      they keep using the same punch-line, and it isn't even funny.

  5. nyelvmark
    Facepalm

    EU gravy train

    What on earth made us think it was a good idea?

  6. Jnemo

    Missing from the article...

    Any discussion as to whether the conclusions of the report were correct. Isn't that part important?

    1. CmdrX3
      Childcatcher

      It may very well be correct

      Which is exactly the point he was trying to make, because the fact that the argument is being reviewed by the exact same people that are making the argument that any results even if they are correct will be looked at with suspicion because they weren't reviewed by impartial people. Personally I don't buy the climate change nonsense so I guess I'm what they have now labelled a "denier" which many nutcases in the climate movement would quite happily equate to a Nazi, which I'm fine with as long as I can label them "delusionists"

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        RE: It may very well be correct

        I've seen a commenter pull a Godwin before, but this appears to be a Godwin that was pulled by a character that exists entirely within a comment.

    2. Greemble
      Boffin

      Peer review

      This is the process used to decide is a report is correct or not.

      In this case the peer review was lead by the author of the original report - Guess what... it was found to be absolutely correct!

    3. Notas Badoff
      Holmes

      Yes, but the _article_

      was about the process, the people and procedures, behind the report, which must be considered first.

      If the contents were POOMA then surely you don't want to do an in-depth smell test of the findings?

    4. asiaseen

      No, not in context

      The article was dealing solely with the corruption involved in producing the report.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        FAIL

        RTFA

        Try reading to the end next time - you won't be caught out posting a comment when you've only read half the article. The words "Next page" are useful to remember. Or if that's too complicated, look for an arrow pointing right.

        I clicked on the picture of the glove puppet and the headline Governments pay hippies to lobby them - a fair summary of the corruption described here.

        Follow the money - round and around and around.

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Boffin

      Define "correctness"

      The report said renewables can supply most of our energy requirements in 2050, IF we go back to the Stone Age and nobody ever washes or travels.

      Maybe that's "correct" - but it's not going to happen: even in a Greenpeace activist's wildest dreams.

      You seem to have missed the story somewhat. The IPCC uses biased Greenpeace and WWF hippie activists to produce misleading propaganda, when it's supposed to present pols with a range options. The taxpayer is then mugged so more propaganda can be produced to lobby for useless and unviable technology, so the taxpayer can be mugged all over again.

      Sooner or later this carousel stops.

      1. Ken Hagan Gold badge

        Re: Sooner or later this carousel stops.

        Seen the reports from Greece this week? Notice the German vote against nukes?

        The carousel will run out of money in the next year or two. The lights will start going out nearer the end of the decade. Jesters are fine for entertainment, but you can't build a system of government around them. At least, not for long.

  7. Hope Spirals

    @CmdrX3

    I do 'buy' the climate change stuff - but I agree with you here.

    What is wanted is proper peer reviewed science so that we can have a proper peer reviewed response.

    Bear with me while I presume we have a problem. Then we're going to need a solution and that'll cost - us the tax payers. Watching the subsidies going into a spiral of self congratulatory back patting/scratching helps no one.

    Well except those with an axe to grind.

    1. Eddy Ito

      An axe to grind

      Ok, I prefer a 3 1/2 lb half peeling axe but any axe will do. First, don't use one of those high speed electric grinders as you'll just overheat it and lose the temper of the blade, ruining the axe. A pedal grinding wheel with a water drip is probably best if you can find one but a file and hand whetstone will do. Ok, keep your nose to the grindstone and put on a 25 - 30 degree convex grind. Don't worry if you've got a single bit axe, just put your haft and edge on the table and if the edge touches about 1/3 from the heel, you've got the hang of it.

      Axe grinding, part art and part science. The best part is there's nothing better than having your peers review your work and find it of high quality. Perhaps if the folks involved in climatology took the same pride in their work as the axe grinders I know, there wouldn't be a problem. Then again maybe that's the difference between confidence and arrogance.

    2. Stumpy
      Flame

      The big problem with that ...

      The real big problem though is that Climate Change / Global Warming has now become such a quasi-religious ground for so many loons that the chances of getting any real, unbiased science out of any area remotely related with the subject is almost nil. Even those scientists performing real, unbiased research are likely to find themselves subject to the ravings of those who refuse to see anything other than their own rabid view of the subject when it comes to peer reviews of their documents.

      ... flame because ... well, we'll need to keep warm somehow when the next ice age comes knocking (soon if you believe the research...)

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    ho's who in the zoo

    "The perspective missing here is that NGOs are now the establishment, their views chime perfectly with those of the elite."...

    OK I'll bite. Who are the élite' and what, exactly, is élite'about them ?

    1. Blarkon

      Code Word

      "Elite" is a right-wing code word for "Liberal" or "Progressive". Sarah Palin and Glen Beck are always talking about the elites. The author is missing his calling in not working for a News Corporation publication.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Code Word

        Reading too much into this.

      2. Ken Hagan Gold badge

        Re: Code word

        In UK politics, it is a left-wing code word for anyone who achieves high standards and then goes on to enjoy the rewards that this brings.

        Almost universally, it is a code word for anyone who is better off than me for reasons that I consider unfair.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        WTF?

        @Code Word

        In America - maybe, but even there you'd be reading too much into it. In a UK publication I think you're not only imaging something that isn't there, you're bringing along your own prejudices along with it.

        elite

        Pronunciation:

        /eɪˈliːt, ɪ-/

        noun

        1 a group of people considered to be superior in a particular society or organization:

        the country's educated elite

        There may have been others before Orwell who talked about words being redefined to destroy not just their meaning, but also the concepts behind them, but Orwell's work is one of the most famous. Well it might not be in the same context, but here you are doing your part to redefine the word elite because some political groups with an axe to grind find the word to be awkward. They would prefer to be seen as one of the people but they cannot argue that the best of the best should not be the ones to manage a country and that presents them with a logical paradox. So they set about to change the meaning of the word and in that way it cannot be used in argument against their own ambitions. When someone argues that the elite of their fields should run the country what instead will be heard is that 'liberals' should run the country ...

        So well done, you're doing Glen Beck's work for him.

      4. Russ Williams
        Mushroom

        Re: Code Word

        No, it's a simple recognition that the SW1 bubble - especially the front benches on both sides - are from upper/middle class backgrounds, privately-educated, with a significant proportion of Oxford PPE graduates, and little or no experience outside of politics.

        This is not representative of the population at large, it's not even representative of ex-Oxbridge Old Boys, but it is a distinct self-appointed ruling class which answers only to itself. You may have noticed this in the way that policies are formulated.

        Personally, I disagree with the term "elite", since they're not, but "unnacountable groupthinkers, nepotists and cronyists" is too long to use in a Tweet.

  9. Oninoshiko
    Joke

    in fairness (to "peer reviewing" ones self)

    maybe Sven Tenske is schizophrenic!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Schizophrenia is more about hallucinations than split personality.

      But I can understand how seeing things that aren't these would come in very handy for his job.

  10. Mr Young
    Joke

    Greenpeace?

    Don't the French know what to do with that sort of thing? And just where the bloody hell is my clean,free energy resource anyway?

  11. Gordon 10
    FAIL

    In fairness

    Although this is expressly directed at the green lobby it's not a green problem.

    There are many areas of govt funding where both the "scientific" argument is poorly peer reviewed and the govt pays lobbyists to argue for more funding.

    The global warming bandwagon is just the most recent of many.

    It's the process of science and government that's at fault - the particular reason is almost irrelevant as long as the merry go round keeps moving.

    That's not to say I don't have problems with the climate change debate.... Just that the issue Andrew has written about is far more fundamental that that.

    1. FoolD
      Thumb Up

      Career Lobbyists

      >> The global warming bandwagon is just the most recent of many.

      Putting climate change to one side (there are many other examples - smoking, diet, etc) the crux of the issue - and it is especially prevelant in the EU system but also at a national level - is that NGOs that lobby the government can end up being funded by the very same government. This is a conflict of interest and often creates a cyclic dependency where the organisation pushes for more influence and control in order to get more funding, ad infinitum.

      The fact that they use such blatant bad science and get away with it severely damages the reputation of science itself.

      Adding a high level of transparency of the funding for these NGOs would go a long way to highlighting the problems. To fix them we need to start by breaking the government-funding cycle and have proper - independent - scientific analysis of their claims.

  12. binner
    Paris Hilton

    el tit

    please can we have a popcorn icon for all AGW/denier type article ?

    It would also be useful for iphone/ipad vs android et al articles as well.

    BTW for the uneducated like myself what does "pull a Godwin" mean ?

    Google failed to illuminate me

    Paris cos google illuminates her

    1. hamsterjam
      Headmaster

      Google misses...

      ...Wikipedia gets the rebound.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law

      1. binner
        Thumb Up

        a1

        thanks muchly

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    Since when did

    the World Wrestling Federation care about green energy?

  14. SysKoll
    Thumb Up

    Nice article

    I find disturbing similarities between IPCC and Family Radio, the religious organization that "predicted" the end of the world for May 21. At least, in FR's case, the end-of-world antics are only originating from the founder, and many staff members pretend that they don't hear him. The IPCC, on another hand, revels in catastrophism.

  15. bugalugs

    Some very dodgy science

    According to

    http://www.cmar.csiro.au/research/capegrim_graphs.html

    Southern Hemisphere atmospheric CO2 has increased approx 18% since the mid-seventies.

    According to figures here

    http://www.bitre.gov.au/publications/65/Files/fuel_sales_web.xls

    Australia burned approximately 3 times the amount of liquid fuels in 2010 than it did in 1977.

    So an increase in annual fuel use rising to 300% of the 1977 figure can only be correlated to an overall 18% increase in atmospheric CO2 , this completely disregarding undoubted similair increases in solid fuel use ( Garnaut's calculations indicate that amounts to about 3 times liquid fuel use )

    mmmmmm

    1. Tim Parker

      @bugalugs

      "Some very dodgy science"

      How appropriate.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      WTF?

      RE: Some very dodgy science

      bugalugs you genius

    3. John Hughes
      FAIL

      Australia is the only place in the southern hemisphere?

      And liquid fuel is the only source of CO2

      Who's dodgy here?

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Many NGOs and truth

    it would seem are strangers. Even when contrary evidence is available they choose to squawk PR their way to dominate the agenda with their self serving policy and belief based evidence... It's clearly not enough to let the unvarnished evidence stand on it's own. The principal of the squeaking wheel getting the grease is obviously a part of their operating strategy.

    The IPCC is a bubbling cesspool of vested interest presided over by a charlatan who'se survived multiple exposure as a till dipper, he's like Sepp Blatter....

    The "public" ( academics, charidees) and private "eco" sectors are colluding to milk this for every penny - nauseating.

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