As many of you no doubt know, the Summary for Policymakers from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Working Group II - that's the section on climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, the section most relevant to ecologists - was released yesterday.
There is already no lack of controversy over the softened wording used in sections on adaptation, on rates of extinction and on coral reefs. I'm as disappointed as anyone that the scientific findings in the IPCC full report, to be released in the fall, are filtered by diplomats before being included in the Summary for Policymakers. This is bound to dominate the public discourse over the next few days. That all being said, as someone working on climate change impacts, but not involved in the IPCC, I have a simple suggestion. Read the summary report yourself (http://www.ipcc.ch). Dont rely only information about the report that has been even further filtered by columnists, lobby organizations, pundits or whomever, whether left or right, green or brown, skeptics or alarmists. If we all get too obsessed over the politics, the IPCC reports risk being regarded as just another partisan publication on climate science, rather than what it is, the most thorough reading of the scientific literature on climate change. Simon Donner -- Simon Donner Woodrow Wilson School Princeton University http://simondonner.blogspot.com
