From the : 
India ‘arrogant’ to deny global warming link to melting glaciers
IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri accuses Indian environment ministry of ‘arrogance’ for its report claiming there is no evidence that climate change has shrunk Himalayan glaciers
A leading climate scientist today accused the Indian environment ministry of “arrogance” after the release of a government report claiming that there is no evidence climate change has caused “abnormal” shrinking of Himalayan glaciers.
Jairam Ramesh, India’s environment minister, released the controversial report in Delhi, saying it would “challenge the conventional wisdom” about melting ice in the mountains.
Two years ago, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN agency which evaluates the risk from global warming, warned the glaciers were receding faster than in any other part of the world and could “disappear altogether by 2035 if not sooner”.
Today Ramesh denied any such risk existed: “There is no conclusive scientific evidence to link global warming with what is happening in the Himalayan glaciers.” The minister added although some glaciers are receding they were doing so at a rate that was not “historically alarming”.
However, Rajendra Pachauri, the chairman of the IPCC, told the Guardian: “We have a very clear idea of what is happening. I don’t know why the minister is supporting this unsubstantiated research. It is an extremely arrogant statement.”
read the entire article at the Guardian here
Arrogant…..but did he say wrong?
Listen to the Science! Unless the science does not agree with us then do not listen to it.
“We have a very clear idea of what is happening. I don’t know why the minister is supporting this unsubstantiated research. It is an extremely arrogant statement.”
Is that not in itself an arrogant statement?
Now that’s rich! Pachauri calling Ramesh “arrogant.”
Pachauri is characterized in the article as “a leading climate scientist.” He’s an economist who studied railroad management in college — no climate science there.
The pot calling the kettle black!
IPCC is the very height of arrogance.
Not since King Canute have we seen such preposterous pretentions
I am leaping to the conclusion that when they write “leading climate scientist” they mean Rajendra K. Pachauri. But he is an engineer with a Ph.D. in economics an administrator.
The article describes Mr. Pachauri as a ‘leading climate scientist’. He is in fact an industrial engineer and an economist.
Sorry for posting. I now see others have caught this.
What about mentioning the Himalayan Glaciers that did not study the IPCC reports and thus, in their ignorance, have been growing the last few years? It is my understanding that nearly half the Glaciers are growing over there, can anyone shed more light on confirming or denying this? If it helps narrow the search for this information, could it be the western Himalayas vs. the eastern?
It doesn’t matter where the ice is but watching ice melt is more ‘exciting’ than watching water freeze.
Not only is Pachauri not a “climate scientist” but an engineer who worked in managing transport issues. And not only is he the Chairman of the IPCC circus, but as of a couple of weeks ago he has a day time job as well as climate “advisor” to the Chinese government no less! Conflict of interest anyone? The arrogance is beyond belief.
Interesting comment, “…faster than in any other part of the world ”
Why is it when a glacier melts, or there is some dramatic change (imagined or real) that the grant-hungry researchers (or ecogroup) claim that THIS specific spot on earth is WAY worse than anywhere else?
I’ve seen it here in Canada. “Banff has warmed 2° more than anywhere else.” (Or whatever … I forget the exact reference.)
Golly, if the world has warmed an average (say) 0.7C° in 100+ years and alarmist research locations have all warmed by (say) 2C°, then it follows that a lot of other places are much colder. It is all nonsense. I unable to believe climate alarmist “research” and statements.
The world is changing. Adapt and move forward.
Anthony and crew … keep up the great work.
Clive
When your doing a story about Rajendra Pachauri could you please not put his picture in the article.
It scares the children.
The ignorance of the Guardian is sublime. Just like the sublimation of the ice at many places where the temperature is below freezing but the ice is going away. Morons. Ice does not have to melt to go away. All that has to happen is that the partial pressure of the water vapor in the air has to be low enough. I wonder if this hack ever heard of the triple point of water?
Please, people, if we are going to make comments about King Canute, can we get the legend right?
Canute was demonstrating he was NOT all powerful/godlike, as believed by his courtiers, by commanding the tide to retreat.
I believe the Himalayans are suffering from deforestation which is causing a lack of moisture in the air which is causing some loss of ice. But the temp. have remained pretty much the same, ask Ann Curry of Today Show, she nearly froze to death trying to film the “warming” up there.
I see that comment by Jeremy (07:51:48), but I just have to say this – when I saw that photo and the headline above, that line immediately popped into my head – talk about the pot calling the kettle black!
Presumptive arrogance is the IPCC’s stock in trade.
Karakorum glaciers have been nearly stationary in the 20th Century and many of them advanced in the 1990’s.
See:
The Karakoram Anomaly? Glacier Expansion and the ‘Elevation Effect,’ Karakoram Himalaya. Mountain Research and Development 25(4):332-340. 2005.
Available online: http://tinyurl.com/yjmnvg4
Can anyone provide a link to an impartial study of the retreat/advance of Himalayan glaciers?
Send my best regards to the outstanding climate scientist in India! We all know that India has a strong tradition for excellence in science in general and in physics and mathematics in particular – we all remember the brilliant mathematician Ramanujan.
The last couple of weeks I have had the please to read the book “Chaotic Climate Dynamics” by Dr. Selvam from Indian Institute of Tropical Metrology, and it’s quite obvious from this book that our climate is a highly non-trivial subject that cannot at all be understood by someone that is not educated in one of the classical science subjects like physics, mathematics or metrology.
I wonder if Rajendra Pachauri with a Ph.D. in economics is at all familiar with the terminology in the above mentioned book, like for example the inverse power law scale invariance in our climate that indicate long-range correlations? If you do not understand what such issues means for our ability to give accurate climate predictions, it’s no wonder why so many people trust the climate models! I think I know who is being arrogant here…
If arrogance mattered in science, JP II should never have apologized for Galileo. The world is the world and science does not care whether the discoverer of something is arrogant or humble, merely whether the paper is correct and replicable.
Alvin (07:47:42) :
The world is full of pots jeering at kettles.
some of the specialists in the IPCC could mount a scientific investigation into the climate surrounding the Himalayas, to verify whether the present state there is due to global warming or not
A day does not go by, that some warmer, accuses me of arrogance because of a statement which contradicts consensus. Every statement claiming consensus is a reflection of ignorance. Arrogance, is therefore, a required characteristic of any practicing scientist, and much preferable to ignorance. GK
[snip]
Pretty much the same thing as cited in Real Climates most recent post “Is Pine Island Glacier the Weak Underbelly of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet?”
It is way past time that the scientific community dump the politicking and concentrate on reality. Is that too much to ask? Yup, i expect it is.
I’m an engineer! I guess that makes me a climate scientist too….. 😛