Watts Up With That?

I have been invited to give a presentation at the International Climate Change Conference in New York City today. My presentation is titled:

A Hands-On Study of Station Siting and Data Quality Issues for the United States Historical Climatology Network

It will be a much updated version of the presentation I gave at Dr. Roger Pielke’s conference in August 2007 at UCAR.

Sunday night was opening registration and a welcome reception. There are over 500 attendees, and nearly 100 presentations being given.

I was surprised to learn that Al Gore had been offered an opportunity to address this conference, and his usual $200,000 speaking fee and expenses were met, but that he declined.

I also know that invitations went out to NASA GISS principal scientists Dr. James Hansen, and Dr. Gavin Schmidt weeks ago as evidenced by their writeup of the issue on their blog, RealClimate.org a week or so ago.

They have declined the formal invitation sent, even though it would be easy for them to attend, given that NASA GISS is located just a few blocks away at Columbia University.

Since recent polls indicate that about 50% of Americans remain unconvinced that global warming is a serious issue, it would seem this would be a perfect place for Mr. Gore, Dr. James Hansen, and Dr. Gavin Schmidt to bridge the crevasse.

I am truly disappointed that Mr. Gore in particular has chosen to ignore that half of the population, and this conference that speaks to that half. Therefore I hope Dr. Hansen, and Dr. Schmidt will reconsider and walk the few blocks or hop a taxi to attend.

I will be the first to welcome them, I’ll even pick up cab fare. This is not a hostile group here, but one with questions and ideas. I know it is often difficult to face opposing views, but I think the importance attached to the issue calls for statesmen like Gore and leading scientists like Hansen to make an effort to address those who want to look beyond what is seen published in the main stream media.

UPDATE: Several people have asked to see the slide show that I presented at the ICCC on Monday.  I have uploaded it to my server and you can see it here. Click on the first title slide to start, then see the arrow controls to advance etc.