"Let me be clear. My own reading of the literature and study of paleoclimate suggests strongly that carbon dioxide from burning of fossil fuels will prove to be the greatest pollutant of human history. It is likely to have severe and detrimental effects on global climate. I would love to believe that the results of Mann et al. are correct, and that the last few years have been the warmest in a millennium."

"Love to believe? My own words make me shudder. They trigger my scientist’s instinct for caution. When a conclusion is attractive, I am tempted to lower my standards, to do shoddy work. But that is not the way to truth. When the conclusions are attractive, we must be extra cautious."

Too bad other practitioners of wishfull thinking do not heed that last paragraph.

This was a good and balnced article on the uncertainties of climate research. As usual those that don't want to believe in global warming will ignore the proven fact that CO2 is a greenhouse gas and seize on the uncertainty as a reason to ignore the issue. Let's all pretend that most issues in life don't involve uncertainty, that we don't ever have to make decisions based on the preponderance of evidence, and that we bear no responsibility for the consequences doing nothing in the face of uncertainty.

Regards,
Mark