On this day, May 24 2007 James Hansen’s paper “Scientific Reticence and Sea Level Rise” was published.
Hansen made the basic point that – ah, hell, here’s the abstract –
I suggest that a ‘scientific reticence’ is inhibiting the communication of a threat of a potentially large sea level rise. Delay is dangerous because of system inertias that could create a situation with future sea level changes out of our control. I argue for calling together a panel of scientific leaders to hear evidence and issue a prompt plain-written report on current understanding of the sea level change issue.
Why this matters.
Despite what the lunatic climate deniers will tell you, scientists are generally very very cautious, unwilling to extrapolate beyond their datasets. They are human, make mistakes, come to false conclusions, sure. But on the whole “science” is pretty damned hot. And it if there is a bias, it is towards reticence – that’s before we even talk about the chilling effect of smear campaigns etc etc.
What happened next?
Hansen has kept on trucking. A mensch [on second thought, does someone have a better word that isn’t so gendered?]