Many people wondered why I would travel halfway across the world to attend the Cook and Mann lectures. The answer to that question is: I decided to come on a whim (I also had not visited the UK since I started blogging) hoping that other more valuable meetings could occur. As I pointed out in my posting last Saturday there was little if anything new in the Cook lecture on Friday night and I don’t expect much new in the Mann lecture either. But, I also pointed out the importance of face-to-face communications in overcoming walls that can be built up in electronic communications.
There has been one other meeting thanks to the foresight of Nicholas Lewis and others; an extraordinary dinner meeting occurred on Sunday night, September 21st, at his home in Bath, UK. In attendance was a nearly equal balance of climate scientists and climate skeptics, some of whom were also scientists.
The photo of that Sunday night meeting is shown below.
Starting with the front row from left to right we have: Prof. Paul Valdes, of Bristol University, Prof. David Whitehouse of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, David Holland independent climate and FOIA researcher, Prof. Ed Hawkins researcher at Reading University, myself, Prof. Ted Shepherd of Reading University, Prof. Tamsin Edwards, researcher at Bristol University. Top row from left to right: Prof. Richard Betts of the Met Office, Marcel Crok, Dutch freelance science writer and initiator of climatedialogue.org, David Rose of the Mail on Sunday newspaper, Prof. Michael Kelly of Technology at Cambridge University, and Nicholas Lewis independent climate scientist and our gracious host.
The evening’s discussion was spirited and in-depth, covering topics of climate sensitivity, scientific publishing, science policy, the surface record, and finding agreements amongst ourselves on the various topics that we discussed as well as many of the topics that are in contention.
Since the venue was under Chatham House Rule, I am not at liberty to discuss any of the particular conversations that I was involved with nor will I discuss the conversations of others. However, with prior approval of all participants involved we’ve all agreed to bending the rule slightly to show the photo and name the participants. I think it is important to do so, because I cannot recall any similar meeting. Our goal is to lead by example.
More than anything this meeting demonstrated that a group of people with diverse ideas and some levels of distrust due to heightened rhetoric can come together and have an intelligent, polite, and enlightening discussion. I felt it important that this historic meeting be noted and to let it serve as an example of cooperation and hope for more future meetings so that we can understand each other better.
I was honored to be there and I thank you all for your willingness to participate and have a respectful discussion. I give a special thanks to Nic Lewis for his choices, his hospitality, and his foresight in organizing this meeting. A special thanks also to Sarah Lewis for her hospitality, which made this gathering excellent and seamless.
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Dismantling barriers is a good way forward. I approve.
Well done to all involved.
1. It seems to me that the ‘climate skeptic’/’climate scientist’ distinction is confusing. Aren’t the skeptics also scientists or at least scientific thinkers? Perhaps ‘skeptic-leaning’/’activist-leaning’ would be less confusing?
2. Also, was Mike Mann at the meeting? If so, why is he not in the picture?
He is hidden by the decline.
He is in decline.
” Also, was Mike Mann at the meeting? If so, why is he not in the picture?”
The photo was of skeptics and scientists.
So even if he’d been at the meeting he wouldn’t have been in frame.
His image still seems to hover somewhere among the spliced lines of the curtains.
Richard Betts, Welcome to the Skeptic side of life! 😉
(No one Ever looks like one imagines…..)
When you said “extraordinary, I half suspected that Mann would be there too.
Then I realized that was an absurdity.
Well done, Anthony. I suspect you are in contact with the attendees, so please pass on my thanks and kudos, for the rapprochment.
Cool Anthony… inquiring minds want to know more. I’m sure this meeting will help with future discussions/debates! Kudos to you and your integrity.
A great thing to see, most active participants on both sides are seeking the truth, so there is at least a unity of purpose. Science should be pure questing after the truth, human emotions and prejudices should be left behind the bar.
Prof Mann was not there. I was privileged to be, and I echo Anthony’s comments and deep thanks to Nic and Sarah Lewis. It was an enjoyable and important occasion, and, I hope, a sign that we can evolve what one of the participants called a “radical moderation” in discussing these issues in future.
David, as a Brit, a former journalist – and a great admirer of Anthony and his hugely informative and fair-minded blog – I want to thank you for flying the flag for accurate, unbiased, science-based journalism in the UK. Sadly, many reporters appear to have lost the ability to ask obvious questions and, of course, the BBC has lost all credibility in its global warming ‘coverage’.
Your presence at this gathering indicates that not all is yet lost for accurate and courageous reporting of climate science issues. If you get the opportunity in the future to ask Cameron some inconvenient questions then please do so. And keep on keeping on – for all of us.
I don’t see any point in moderation of anything. in science thing are much more black and white than that. Yes I know that in quantum physics there are uncertainties, but still there is not that much wiggle room in the study of the climate.
Not much wiggle room in the study of climate?
We probably know <1% about what there is to know about the climate.
Hell, we probably know <1% about what we don't know about the study of climate.
Your room is ALL wiggle… We only vaguely understand a handful of the mechanisms and we definitely don’t know which hands control which levers…
I think you mean that at macro scales beyond the behaviour of particles, Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle is insignificant and gravity is more significant. Our knowledge of climate science is however in it’s infancy.
One thing we do know is that CO2 has a small effect on climate and far less than the GCMs predict. We know this by comparing the long known standalone CO2 forcing with global CO2 atmospheric composition and global temperatures. We also know that periods in the Earth’s history like the MWP had higher temperatures with less CO2. We also know that historically (on long term time scales) temperatures dropped earlier and much more steeply than did CO2 so it could not have been the driver and importantly was overpowered by some other natural variable.
I find it ironic that someone who accuses skeptics of participating in a fossil fuel-funded conspiracy uses the ‘tin foil hat’ ad hominem.
I would love to have overheard it all, sounds interesting! Sounds like a good idea; lead by example, set the stage for future meetings and find greater understanding.
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A meeting of people with different opinions willing to lay down their (I’m not sure what word to use, political?, ideological?, prideological?,-yes, I just made that word up.) shields to discus the facts.
I hope we all benefit from the fruits of the Lewis’s hospitality.
Prideological? New times call for new words. Hopefully that is one that can easily be overcome by all rational people (the concept, not the word).
“Prideful” is the already existing adjective that can be used here.
“Prideful” is good, but it implies only “full of pride”. Where as “Prideological” implies their very philosophy is based upon a false pride.
‘Hubristologicalisational’? 🙂 (I like it it because I accidentally found it had a ‘bristol’ – not a euphemism – seeing as how this was all brought about by being at Bristol).
Most think of figures of speech as simply …uh… similes and metaphors. Comparisons. Picturesque speech. They are that. But they are also intentional departures from the rules of grammar to call attention to something. I made up the word to call attention to “pride” and how getting over it is a big step in the right direction.
Please forgive my clumsy attempt at making a point.
What an excellent opportunity to seize the ‘debate’ back from the feral catastrophists. Hopefully this gathering will encourage a forum of discussion and understanding unaffected by the politicians, catastrophists, and other assorted self-interested types. Next thing is to decouple funding from TRUTH.
Sorry, it already is decoupled 😉 … let me rather say decouple funding from the dogma.
Good food and drink can often smooth out disagreements, at least for a little while.
I am appalled that so many learned persons are being paid to debate this discredited theory – surely they can get real jobs?
A great evening, Anthony, and I would love to have been there. I’ve had lunch in London with David Holland and some others like David Henderson, but, though I’ve tried, I’ve been unable to arrange a similar gathering in Australia. Perhaps I should try again. Perhaps Anthony should come to Oz!
If there is a “Send Anthony to Australia fund” somewhere, I would be tempted to kick in a bit.
But, only if you guys send him back.
/grin
I hope my next trip will be to Siberia, so that I can figure out the great GISS red spot in the surface record there.
I have heard the theory, at WUWT I think, that heating oil was supplied by the Central Planning gurus on the basis of the local weather. If you wanted more oil, you told the boffins it was a wee bit colder than it might actually be. After the collapse, if you wanted oil you paid for it, and there was no reason to put your thumb on the scale, as it were. It may be apochryphal, but I certainly believe it could have happened. Seventy-five years under communism, people get pretty good at gaming the system to survive.
Well done! And not a single grey beard to be seen.
Sorry, but the real show is in ny with a bunch of clueless @ur momisugly#$%&&*-
I cannot believe the bs being bought hook,line and sinker by way too many
Pols and the media, minus fox news, and a few journalists. How is this possible
In todays world?
Hi Anthony
It was good to meet you and those who I’d not met before, and to catch up with those I already knew. It was a very interesting evening. Thanks very much to Nic and Sarah for their kind hospitality.
Otter – I’m intrigued about what you imagined I looked like. Maybe I shouldn’t ask….!
Cheers
Richard
Likewise Richard, and I’ve corrected your title appropriately.
The foundations are beginning to tremble …
Politically Left Scientist Dissents – Calls President Obama ‘Delusional’ On Global Warming
http://www.climatechangedispatch.com/politically-left-scientist-dissents-calls-president-obama-delusional-on-global-warming.html
A spiders web comes to mind with that picture.
Well done to all concerned, and also to most if not all of the writers of comments here.
I have lefty/warmist friends. Some are now beginning to doubt the Dogma. As long as meeting like this occur there can be dialog. Thanks, Anthony..
And THAT is worth the ticket price! Good job.
Agreed – was a fascinating and enjoyable evening. More thanks to Nic & Sarah for being such fabulous hosts.
cheers,
Ed.
Let’s hope that this evening as described proves to be a historic moment at the start of the end of the ‘climate change (or whatever) debacle.
I dream sometimes, and I confuse reality….. but what a nice dream.
Well done to Nicolas Lewis for organising and hosting such a much-needed event.
I suspect those on the skeptical side didn’t really learn anything new other than to put a face to a name, even though Anthony is gracious enough to mention the meeting in a praiseworthy tone, but those on the CAGW side may have been a bit surprised there is so much common ground.
Wonder if any of them still feel that the debate is over or do any of them recognize that the skeptical position is not one of abject denial but is mainly open, honest, proper science skepticism?
Otherwise, congrats to all that attended – maybe, just maybe, it is a step in the right direction.
There really isn’t that much common ground, we are right they are wrong, and that is the end of that. Now that doesn’t mean you can’t have a nice dinner with people who are totally wrong, I had two ex-wives so I have done that many times.