Tim Ball has published a series of articles on how a political agenda overwhelmed and took over climate science in the creation of global warming hysteria. His latest is here.
I have never met Dr. Ball personally but knew him by reputation as a fellow Canadian academic and respected climate scholar long before the controversy over global warming. So I have watched with interested at attempts to smear him as a reaction to his leading position in speaking against the falsehoods he sees in the AGW hypothesis. In the fight for climate realism, he is probably one of the two most prominent Canadians.
The other leading Canadian is Steve McIntyre, well known to readers of this blog for his award winning site, Climate Audit. Unlike Tim Ball, Steve McIntyre did not have a tenured professorship at his back and he has borne a double dose of abuse for not only questioning the scientific validity of the basis of global warming dogma but for having the temerity to do so as a non-tenured academic -- well we can't just have anyone question science can we now!
For many, the name Steve McIntyre will be familiar. Less clear for them, will be the basis for his refutation of the mainstay of the AGW hypothesis, the infamous 'hockey stick' graph and the provenance of the claim that today's climate is characterized by unprecedented warm temperatures. Recently, McIntyre was invited to speak at Ohio State University and a PDF of his talk is available here. It is an excellent summation of the events, the controversy and the science behind the AGW dogma. It also serves as a template for the extensive series of posts and discussions on Climate Audit on the themes arising from an audit of some of the essential science underpinning claims for AGW.
It remains an indictment on the established model of journal publication and peer review within academia that a blog was the vehicle for uncovering some of the more inconvenient truths behind the AGW myth. Climate Audit, and other such quality blogs, signal the value that the blogosphere has for intellectual discussion and the development of understanding. I would only urge that blogging become more recognized and valued within the merit system that drives the academic career model.
