The New Zealand
Climate Science Coalition

http://www.climatescience.org.nz

8 May 2008 For immediate release

Greenpeace wrong – yet again

Claims by the New Zealand arm of Greenpeace that five scientists have been misrepresented in being included in a list of 500 cited in a report on global warming, beg at least two questions and two observations, according to Terry Dunleavy, secretary of the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition.

“The first obvious question is why nothing has been heard from the vast majority of the other scientists?

“The second question is why does Greenpeace continue to resort to purely ad hominem attacks? It can only be because they wish to avoid any discussion of the science of climate change, especially at a time when there has been no warming since 1998 in spite of continuing increases in the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which are claimed to cause dangerous warming, and even more especially following predictions last week from European scientists that any further warming is unlikely until at least 2015.

“The first observation is that the Greenpeace mouthpiece has grossly misrepresented what Owen McShane said yesterday in his evidence to the Parliamentary Select Committee conducting hearings on the Emission Trading Bill. Owen did not say climate change is a hoax. What he did say can be viewed in full on the Coalition’s website:
http://www.climatescience.org.nz

“The second observation is that, yet again, Greenpeace has rushed into print without checking facts. The paper that Dr Salinger and others is complaining about did not list them as supporters of anti-global warming views, but as scientists who have in the past published papers containing views inconsistent with claims about alleged global warming. For instance, Dr Salinger’s NIWA media release of 30 August 2005, under a heading: “New Zealand glaciers continue to recover” that began:
“Glaciers in New Zealand’s Southern Alps gained ice mass again in the past year. Fifty glaciers are monitored annually by the National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research (NIWA).”
http://www.niwa.cri.nz/news/mr/2005/2005-08-30-1

“Scientists who publish research are accustomed to having their works cited in other research papers, and there is surely an obligation on those whose research is at public expense not to object to their work being so cited. In this instance, the article being complained about did state explicitly that not all the scientists in the list are skeptical of anthropogenic global warming. The presence of alarmists in the list was, I understand, a major point of compiling the list.

“As Owen McShane has often pointed out, in this day and age, he has got used to the fact that his published work appears on web pages all over the world without anyone seeking his consent. Some post to praise and others to vilify. What makes Dr Salinger and the others immune?,” concluded Dunleavy

ENDS