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OT: Moorabal/Lal Lal wind farm 22-May-2009 At 7:07:08 PM wombly

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I've done quite a bit of research into how the climate system works (i.e. a phd and a
couple of years as a postdoc researcher. I've mostly studied ice sheets and their
response to past climate change, based on field evidence). From what seen/heard/found
out/read evan is pretty much on the money, but i thought it's worth adding a few
comments.

#1 most of the researchers i've met that are directly involved with the IPCC are some of
the brightest scientists I know. They would have absolutely no problem getting funded
for whatever sort of research they might want to do. that they are focussing on climate
change indicates that they see it as a problem.

#2.the projections of the IPCC are based on models, which might not be 100%
accurate. However, to paraphrase one of the guys who puts them together (Andy
pitman, of UNSW if you want to hear from the source) 'of all the global climate models
that have been generated by any of the major groups around the world, not one of them
shows that pumping a smegload of CO2 into the atmosphere will either cool the globe or
have little or no effect'

#3. As evan has mentioned, the findings of the IPCC are really, really, really
conservative, as they are watered down by the various interest groups. in the field that i
have some authority on (i.e. ice sheet melting/sea level change) there are a whole lot of
instabilities that we see in the real world that aren't well captured by the models, and
have simply been left out of the final findings and summaries because of the
uncertainties involved. My understanding is that this is also the case in many other
fields, so it's likely that we already have some idea that CC will be a whole lot worse
than the IPCC is predicting.