glad you asked Zulu

the report that was quoted states:
"Without a careful explanation about what it means, this drive for consensus can leave the IPCC vulnerable to outside criticism. Claims such as ‘2,500 of the world’s leading scientists have reached a consensus that human activities are having a significant influence
on the climate’ are disingenuous. That particular consensus judgement, as are many others
in the IPCC reports, is reached by only a few dozen experts
in the specific field of detection
and attribution studies; other IPCC authors are experts in other fields. But consensus-making can also lead to criticism for being too conservative, as Hansen (2007) has most
visibly argued. Was the IPCC AR4 too conservative in reaching its consensus about future
sea-level rise? Many glaciologists and oceanographers think they were (Kerr, 2007;
Rahmstorf, 2010), leading to what Hansen attacks as ‘scientific reticence’.....
IPCC fault here was in not being clear on the numbers of scientists who were experts in different fields, in this case 12 of them were scientists involved in detection and attribution, the other 2038 leading scientists drew the same conclusion - now reading the article Nickbat kindly posted would appear to be showing a leading climate scientist saying that only 12 scientists in the world agree there is a problem.........wouldn't i be right in saying thats maybe a bit disengenuous - the problem of course is taking quotes from respected scientists out of context - i'm sure the website in question didn't mean to

I'm not going round in circles on this, there are some who refuse to believe or hear anything other than what fits with their "guesswork" and political leanings - if the world's foremost scientists can't do it I'll certainly never convince Nickbat or other staunch climate change sceptics, and nor should I - he'll just have to learn the truth eventually
