IPCC reports full of errors? Forget science, let's get some fresh air

Climate scientists who worked on the UN panel on global warming have hit out at “sloppy” colleagues from other disciplines who introduced a mistake about melting glaciers into the landmark 2007 report. The Guardian reports that the experts, who worked on the section of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report that considered the physical science of global warming, say the error by “social and biological scientists” has unfairly maligned their work. Some said that Rajendra Pachauri, the panel’s chair, should resign, though others supported him.

Global warming skeptics have enthusiastically welcomed the climate science uproar as proof of their vision that there is no consensus about climate change.

Global warming science has never much motivated me to support clean energy. Climate predictions are very complex and thus very difficult. And even if we agree, we are talking about rising sea levels over decades. And why would we let fear motivate us?

I suggest that we change the debate. Let’s not argue about science. We may not even need consensus about the dire scientific messages about climate change to start transforming our fossil fuel based economies into sustainable renewable energy based economies. There is another, I think, far more compelling argument to shift to clean energy.

When I worked at Ode Magazine in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, I used to bike to our offices in the center of the city. Rotterdam is a big harbor city and I had to fight my way over the bike paths through the morning and evening rush hours. Biking was nice, but it was not nice to inhale all the exhaust fumes from the congested roads full of cars. Air pollution is a major problem. It kills millions of people worldwide every year-a fact that, as far as I know, is not much disputed.

To be honest I feel much more motivated to clean up the smog in the cities where nowadays the majority of people worldwide lives, than to battle rising sea levels that - as important as that is - is a more abstract phenomenon to me as I ride my bike through the city.

I bet that many of the global warming skeptics share my concerns about air pollution. They live in cities too. They too ride their bikes and they also would like to inhale fresh, unpolluted air. So we should change the conversation with the skeptics. We should invite them to join us to clean up our environments simply because all of us are going to enjoy the results of our efforts. And, guess what, we will halt global warming (but we don’t need to tell them that).

Who can accurately predict that the Himalayan glaciers will be gone in 2350 - instead of 2035 as was wrongfully reported in the IPCC report? What kind of a prediction is that? And what motivation may flow from that? More than half of the people on the planet, including most - if not all - global warming skeptics, daily deal with the threat of air pollution to their health. Shouldn’t that make it easier to come to an agreement to quickly shift to clean energy? Let’s discontinue that debate about global warming science and let’s begin cleaning up our cities.