[Riverwind]

waldo, on Oct 23 2009, 06:49 PM, said:

It's a joke to consider McIntyre is an actual "peer" to real scientists doing actual climate science.

Yes it is a joke because unlike Mann and company he actually understands the statistics being used in Mann's papers. The fact is climate science community would likely still be pushing MBH98 today as if it was absolute truth if it was not for SteveMc work.

waldo, on Oct 23 2009, 06:49 PM, said:

You position McIntyre as some definitive absolute authority... this, your latest post, is indicative of your reverence to the "almighty auditor". In actuality, McIntyre has been shown to be wrong on many occasions...

People make mistakes. I judge people based on how the deal with them. MBH98 could have been a long forgotten mistake but the hopelessly biased and unprofessionals climate science community have twisted themselves into knots trying to pretend that it has merit. As always it is the cover up that creates the scandal - not the action itself.

You see I don't need to rely solely on McIntyre's word since I have studied and used some of the statistics involved. There is no doubt in my mind that his criticisms of Mann 2008 are valid and that then people who refuse to acknowledge these problems in Mann 2008 are either incompentent or deceitful. Take your pick.

As for SteveMc - it downright civil compared to the yahoos at RealClimate. The latest dust up of the Briffa is another example of the generally dishonest nature of RC. As for the accusation of fraud. SteveMC never made any but Briffa made his own bed by refusing to release the data when it was first requested. If he had nothing to hide then he should have released it.

[jbg]

Moonbox, on Oct 22 2009, 01:10 AM, said:

Use proper English and intelligent sentences and maybe then we can talk about logic okay?

I thought the languages up there were Canadian and French.

[jbg]

Moonbox, on Oct 22 2009, 01:10 AM, said:

Global warming may indeed be happening, but only an idiot/liar would tell us that it's been proven. Take your pick.

In the case of he/she/it, both.

[jbg]

myata, on Oct 22 2009, 02:50 PM, said:

I think that I'll go with the opinion of leading experts in the subject field, who, in my understanding, indeed consider the matter proven. BTW and FYI, "proven" in science always means "to the best of our knowledge today", rather than an eternal, fixed in stone postulate.

What if the "leading experts" have an interest in receiving government funding and people who don't find a problem to solve don't get the funding.

[wyly]

Riverwind, on Oct 23 2009, 12:00 PM, said:

Government departments compete for funding even if individual employees have a fixed salary. Same is true for independent agencies that rely on sub-contracts from the government.

which throws out all the bogus claims of greedy researchers chasing the CC dollar...

[waldo]

waldo, on Oct 23 2009, 06:49 PM, said:

Just what are you/he whining about? McIntyre was accepted to be a reviewer of IPCC AP4... and yet... he does no actual science... does no actual research... writes no actual papers... submits nothing for actual publication. It's a joke to consider McIntyre is an actual "peer" to real scientists doing actual climate science... and, by and large, real climate scientists have no time for him given their focus and time availability. Notwithstanding, McIntyre's abrasive and combative style.

Riverwind, on Oct 23 2009, 07:09 PM, said:

Yes it is a joke because unlike Mann and company he actually understands the statistics being used in Mann's papers. The fact is climate science community would likely still be pushing MBH98 today as if it was absolute truth if it was not for SteveMc work.

Although you continue to ignore anything thrown back at you... a previous quote, as follows. I've also given you examples of several independent studies that have validated the MBH98/99 reconstruction... studies that are diverse in terms of proxies and methodology. You chose to throw back regurgitated one-liners challenging the study examples... I followed up with a reply challenge on each... and it's "crickets" from you.

waldo, on Oct 22 2009, 04:59 PM, said:

Again, you purposely ignore the caveats and stated uncertainties that MBH attached to their work. You ignore the revision update that MBH brought forward, factoring in your oft repeated PCA statistical concern (re. Wegman)... a revision update result that only acted to further corroborate their initial reconstruction. You continue to ignore that IPCC acknowledged the raised concerns of MBH and accepted MBH based on subsequent independent studies that, factoring the raised concerns of MBH, essentially reproduced the same reconstruction results as MBH. And you continue to highlight the paleoclimate results of MBH98/99, one of the first in the study field, that in the greater overview is essentially irrelevant to any consensus on AGW.

waldo, on Oct 23 2009, 06:49 PM, said:

You position McIntyre as some definitive absolute authority... this, your latest post, is indicative of your reverence to the "almighty auditor". In actuality, McIntyre has been shown to be wrong on many occasions... in situations where his bulldozing has wrecked havoc with the work/reputations of several imminent scientists. His minions seize upon his latest crusade and flood the deniersphere with his accusations... yet, his backpedaling corrections never undue the damage done. You can parrot the, as you state, "detailed deconstruction of Mann 2008 by McIntyre"; I'm quite comfortable accepting the work of Mann given insights into McIntyre's modus operandi and the corroborating support that Mann gets for his work. I could drop several links to showcase the bumbling incorrect McIntyre; however, I particularly like the following one since it parallels your oft repeated parroting of the phrase, "cherry picking"... additionally, it highlights both McIntyre and his sidekick McKitrick. Happy reading - with a few selected quotes added for interest

Quote

Let the backpedalling begin

The latest battle over the “hockey stick” has taken quite a turn, one that may finally lay to rest all the absurd claims of its demise made by contrarians (not to mention apparently libelous accusations of scientific malfeasance). In previous posts, we discussed climate blogger Steve McIntyre’s scurrilous accusations of “cherrypicking” against UK dendrochronolgist Keith Briffa, and summarized a quick technical critique of McIntyre’s work by a dendrchronologist known as Delayed Oscillator.

Now comes new evidence that McIntyre’s accusations were completely false. And not only that, one of the Russian researchers who actually control the raw tree-ring data that McIntyre was mistakenly hounding Briffa for, has apparently confirmed that utilization of a newer more complete Yamal data set has no substantial effect on Briffa’s Yamal temperature reconstruction.

Riverwind, on Oct 23 2009, 07:09 PM, said:

People make mistakes. I judge people based on how the deal with them. MBH98 could have been a long forgotten mistake but the hopelessly biased and unprofessionals climate science community have twisted themselves into knots trying to pretend that it has merit. As always it is the cover up that creates the scandal - not the action itself.

You see I don't need to rely solely on McIntyre's word since I have studied and used some of the statistics involved. There is no doubt in my mind that his criticisms of Mann 2008 are valid and that then people who refuse to acknowledge these problems in Mann 2008 are either incompentent or deceitful. Take your pick.

As for SteveMc - it downright civil compared to the yahoos at RealClimate. The latest dust up of the Briffa is another example of the generally dishonest nature of RC. As for the accusation of fraud. SteveMC never made any but Briffa made his own bed by refusing to release the data when it was first requested. If he had nothing to hide then he should have released it

bullshit - McIntyre's method's have been shown for what they are... you want to talk about incompetent or deceitful... your highlighting the so-called Briffa data release issue is indicative. McIntyre most certainly implied fraud if not outright stating it. You have to be naive to ignore the results of anything emanating from McIntyre or his blog... whether right or wrong, most anything he writes gets picked up and expanded on a thousand fold within the blogging deniersphere - with subsequent reach into the mainstream. I've given you a quoted example of exactly that occurrence with the Lorne Gunter/National Post article that followed up on McIntyre's incompetence (re: this Briffa example). Let's see if Gunter eventually issues a retraction - want to take bets on ever seeing that Gunter/National Post retraction? Here, chew on this concerning the so-called Briffa data release issue... make that... the McIntyre fabricated Briffa data release issue, which you've just parroted:

Quote

McIntyre had the data all along

But now McIntyre has admitted that he had the data all along. The data wasn't Briffa's and back in 2006, Briffa referred McIntyre to the original source:

When a reader asked him why he didn't just get the data from the original sources, McIntyre dropped a bombshell:

Quote

In response to your point that I wasn't "diligent enough" in pursuing the matter with the Russians, in fact, I already had a version of the data from the Russians, one that I'd had since 2004.

He had it all along and despite writing thousands and thousands of words about Yamal somehow somehow failed to mention this until now. Truly I am in awe of McIntyre's ability to make mountains out of molehills.

[jbg]

wyly, on Oct 24 2009, 12:51 AM, said:

which throws out all the bogus claims of greedy researchers chasing the CC dollar...

In the U.S. most universities are privately endowed and chase their dollars independently. Canadian research facilities are not the only places hyping a global warming panic.

[Riverwind]

waldo, on Oct 24 2009, 01:45 AM, said:

McIntyre most certainly implied fraud if not outright stating it.

He did no such thing. He stated quite clearly that he felt that Briffa probably inherited the choice of cores from the Russians and that there was likely a procedure applied to choose the cores and it was not deliberate cherry picking. I read and understand that before RC posted anything on the topic so you can't claim it was an after the fact clarification. The only people who insist that McIntyre accused anyone of fraud are the prima donnas at RealClimate who are desperate to create distractions.

His point was always that the small number of of core means that Briffa's reconstructions have no statistical merit even if they were not cherry picked. The examples he provided illustrated how sensitive the reconstructions are to the choice of core. This criticism has merit no matter how much Briffa and RC whine.

waldo, on Oct 24 2009, 01:45 AM, said:

McIntyre fabricated Briffa data release issue

He fabricated nothing. Briffa had a professional obligation to release all of the data required to replicate a study. SteveMc has no obligation to go chasing the Russians - that is Briffa's problem. If Briffa had no rights to the the data then he had a professional obligation to withdraw his papers. The fact that so called "reputable" journals like Science and Nature refused to enforce their own data disclosure policies is further evidence of how corrupted climate science has become.

This post has been edited by Riverwind: 24 October 2009 - 08:55 AM

[myata]

Riverwind, on Oct 23 2009, 04:45 PM, said:

Prove it. Please provide evidence of this group of "thousands of qualified scientists" ...

Climate Change
References: there's approximately fifty authors in these referenced publications, not including a number of collective works. From reading these one can follow to other references (follows the list of references from just one publication).
Enjoy your science!
m.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Reconstructing climate and environmental change in northern England through chironomid and pollen analyses: evidence from Talkin Tarn, Cumbria", by P.G. Langdon1 , K.E. Barber2 and S.H. Lomas-Clarke

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This post has been edited by myata: 26 October 2009 - 07:52 AM

[waldo]

waldo, on Oct 24 2009, 01:45 AM, said:

McIntyre most certainly implied fraud if not outright stating it. You have to be naive to ignore the results of anything emanating from McIntyre or his blog... whether right or wrong, most anything he writes gets picked up and expanded on a thousand fold within the blogging deniersphere - with subsequent reach into the mainstream.

Riverwind, on Oct 24 2009, 07:41 AM, said:

He did no such thing. He stated quite clearly that he felt that Briffa probably inherited the choice of cores from the Russians and that there was likely a procedure applied to choose the cores and it was not deliberate cherry picking. I read and understand that before RC posted anything on the topic so you can't claim it was an after the fact clarification. The only people who insist that McIntyre accused anyone of fraud are the prima donnas at RealClimate who are desperate to create distractions.

What kind of an accusation would you call it then... as for it not being, as you state, "an after the fact clarification", interesting what appeared chronology from McIntyre himself... a back-peddling "after the fact clarification", that appeared after the shit-storm he launched had already hit the denialsphere and rocketed into the mainstream. There's a lot of supporting detail but I particularly like this quote from his blog Sept 28... with his, uhhh.... clarification offered Oct 4 - is that enough "after the fact" for you? :

McIntyre - Sept28 said:

I'd be inclined to remove the data affected by CRU cherrypicking but will leave it in for now. [Note: Oct 4 - as noted in other posts and comments, it was and is my view that the selection of cores was done by the Russians and not by CRU. In context, there is a statistical issue of the representativeness of combining a population from one site with a screened population from another site. In the present circumstances, the logical thing to do would be to either have the authors of Briffa et al 2008 provide the data on the complete population or to resample the site or both.]

Of course, CRU, is Briffa's Climate Research Unit... and, of course, given the raised profile of another "da da" McIntyre "breaking the hockey stick" that resonated across the denialsphere and into the mainstream, a Briffa response is pressured forward, where he speaks directly to the substantive implication of McIntyre's comment:

At the end of the day, McIntyre based his "critique" of Briffa's work on a test where he (McIntyre) randomly added in one set of data from another location (from the Yamal region)... data that McIntyre states he found on the internet. Well... ok... Blog Science triumphs once again!!!

waldo, on Oct 24 2009, 01:45 AM, said:

Here, chew on this concerning the so-called Briffa data release issue... make that... the McIntyre fabricated Briffa data release issue, which you've just parroted:

Quote

McIntyre had the data all along

But now McIntyre has admitted that he had the data all along. The data wasn't Briffa's and back in 2006, Briffa referred McIntyre to the original source:

When a reader asked him why he didn't just get the data from the original sources, McIntyre dropped a bombshell:

Quote

In response to your point that I wasn't "diligent enough" in pursuing the matter with the Russians, in fact, I already had a version of the data from the Russians, one that I'd had since 2004.

He had it all along and despite writing thousands and thousands of words about Yamal somehow somehow failed to mention this until now. Truly I am in awe of McIntyre's ability to make mountains out of molehills.

Riverwind, on Oct 24 2009, 07:41 AM, said:

He fabricated nothing. Briffa had a professional obligation to release all of the data required to replicate a study. SteveMc has no obligation to go chasing the Russians - that is Briffa's problem. If Briffa had no rights to the the data then he had a professional obligation to withdraw his papers. The fact that so called "reputable" journals like Science and Nature refused to enforce their own data disclosure policies is further evidence of how corrupted climate science has become.

Both Nature and Science responded... if I recall correctly, the Science response is up on McIntyre's blog. In each case, they indicated Briffa's "composite data" was deposited... as in, it had been deposited by Briffa... was available from both Nature and Science. As Briffa's study wasn't based on the raw data... and he didn't own the raw data (the Russians did)... he deposited the data his study was based on and the data he had ownership of. I've read quotes where Briffa advises McIntyre that he should contact the Russians directly - and yet, instead of McIntyre doing that, we get the, as I stated, "fabricated" data release issue. If you're going to attack such prestigious scientific journals as Nature... or Science... or PNAS... perhaps you could advise exactly which of their own disclosure policies they're failing to enforce.

[waldo]

...because "piling on" is certainly warranted!

With stated intentions to publish the related studies, it seems Briffa has just offered another updated response to the McIntyre "analysis"... or lack thereof:

Examining the validity of the published RCS Yamal tree-ring chronology

Quote

McIntyre's use of the data from a single, more spatially restricted site, to represent recent tree growth over the wider region, and his exclusion of the data from the other available sites, likely represents a biased reconstruction of tree growth. McIntyre's sensitivity analysis has little implication, either for the interpretation of the Yamal chronology or for other proxy studies that make use of it.
.
.
McIntyre states "If the non-robustness observed here prove out .. this will have an important impact on many multiproxy studies ...". We have shown here that the "KHAD only" example constructed by McIntyre itself represents a biased chronology, contradicted by the evidence of other chronologies constructed using additional and more representative site data. The evidence does not support a conclusion that our previous work was in any way seriously flawed.
.
.
This does not mean that these chronologies will not change as additional data become available and as the RCS processing technique evolves, but the results we show here do suggest that McIntyre's sensitivity analysis has little implication for those other proxy studies that make use of the published Yamal chronology data.

Briffa also speaks to the so-called data release concerns that McIntyre fabricated:

Quote

Raw Data Availability

Briffa has also been attacked by McIntyre for not releasing the original ring-width measurement records from which the various chronologies discussed in Briffa (2000) and Briffa et al. (2008) were made. We would like to reiterate that these data were never "owned" by the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) and we have never had the right to distribute them. These data were acquired in the context of collaborative research with colleagues who developed them. Requests for these data have been redirected towards the appropriate institutions and individuals. When the Briffa (2000) paper was published, release of these data was specifically embargoed by our colleagues who were still working towards further publications using them. Following publication of the 2008 paper, at the request of the Royal Society, Briffa approached colleagues in Sweden, Ekaterinburg and Krasnoyarsk and their permission was given to release the data. This was done in 2008 and 2009. Incidentally, we understand that Rashit Hantemirov sent McIntyre the Yamal data used in the papers cited above at his request as early as 2nd February, 2004.

The Climatic Research Unit has never been a prolific producer of tree-ring records, focussing mainly on the collaborative analysis of data generously provided by other institutions. We will continue to respect restrictions placed upon the dissemination of data by those colleagues who provide them. All of the data produced at CRU (sampled from living oaks or pines at various sites around the UK and Scandinavia) have been provided on request. (All of the data used or produced in the analysis described here are provided on the Data page.)

Real Science trumps Denial/Skeptic Blog Science!

[Riverwind]

waldo, on Oct 28 2009, 10:44 PM, said:

With stated intentions to publish the related studies, it seems Briffa has just offered another updated response to the McIntyre "analysis"... or lack thereof:

Here is McIntrye's rebuttal:
http://www.climateaudit.org/?p=7588

Consider a situation where a scientist has 10 measurements where two are about 1000 and the other 8 are about 10. The scientist calculates the average and claims the correct value is 208. Some else comes along a provides reasons why the two measurements of 1000 are wrong because of problems with data collection. A compentent scientist would acknowledge the criticism and remove those two measurements from the set and calculate a new average of 10.

However, a "climate" scientist does not do that. Instead a "climate" scientist calculates two new averages of 9 measurements - removing one of the bad measurements in each case. These two new averages are 120 which is close to the 208 so the "climate" scientist declares that the bad data makes no difference because removing it does not affect the results. The "climate" scientist then continues to insist that the average of 208 is the "correct" value because his calculations are "robust" since removing one of the bad measurements did not change the result.

Most readers will realize that the "climate" scientist's argument is absurd and the only reasonable way to deal with the bad data is to remove both measurements and calculate the average with the 8 good measurements. But we are not dealing with reasonable people. We are dealing with people that believe they know what the "correct" answer is supposed to be and are willing to resort to any amount of obfuscation and manipulation in order to produce the "correct" answer.

Here is another more complex layman's description of why Briffa's argument is BS: http://www.climate-s...sion-abuse.html

waldo, on Oct 28 2009, 10:44 PM, said:

Real Science trumps Denial/Skeptic Blog Science!

Here are Nature's policies on data disclosure: http://www.nature.co...ailability.html

Quote

An inherent principle of publication is that others should be able to replicate and build upon the authors' published claims. Therefore, a condition of publication in a Nature journal is that authors are required to make materials, data and associated protocols promptly available to readers without preconditions. Any restrictions on the availability of materials or information must be disclosed to the editors at the time of submission. Any restrictions must also be disclosed in the submitted manuscript, including details of how readers can obtain materials and information. If materials are to be distributed by a for-profit company, this should be stated in the paper.

First, no reasonable person can argue that the composite sufficient to replicate the author's claims. The underlying series are required. Second, Briffa's emails to SteveMc do not count as "disclosure in the submitted manuscript". Nature should have withdrawn Briffa's paper as soon as they found out that Briffa failed to disclose restrictions on the data required to "replicate and build upon" Briffa's work. The fact that Nature chose to let Briffa get away with such a blatent violations of Nature's own policies demonstrates that Nature is not an unbaised source of scientific information.

This post has been edited by Riverwind: 29 October 2009 - 09:36 PM

[Riverwind]

myata, on Oct 26 2009, 07:32 AM, said:

References: there's approximately fifty authors in these referenced publications, not including a number of collective works.

A list of papers that you do not understand does not constitute evidence that the authors know as much about statistics as SteveMc and RossMc nor does ite even demonstrate that the authors actually support the IPCC view. I provided a link to a survey that says that up to 20% of practicing climate scientists believe the IPCC is exagerrating the problem. That is a significant minority opinion than cannot/should not be ignored by policy makers.

This post has been edited by Riverwind: 29 October 2009 - 09:45 PM

[waldo]

Riverwind, on Oct 29 2009, 09:01 PM, said:

Here is McIntrye's rebuttal:
http://www.climateaudit.org/?p=7588

A rebuttal? To what? Certainly not to the following Briffa abstract commentary… McIntyre actually states he’ll need time to work through the expanded data set before commenting on the validity of the Yamal chronology… for whatever limited value McIntyre’s commentary is actually worth.

Quote

Steve McIntyre reports an analysis he undertook to test the "sensitivity" of the "Regional Curve Standardised" tree-ring chronology (Briffa, 2000; Briffa at al., 2008) to the selection of measurement data intended to provide evidence of long-term changes of tree growth, and, ultimately inferred temperature variation through two millennia in the Yamal region of northern Russia. It would be a mistake to conclude that McIntyre's sensitivity analysis provides evidence to refute our current interpretation of relatively high tree growth and summer warmth in the 20th century in this region. A reworked chronology, based on additional data, including those used in McIntyre's analysis, is similar to our previously published chronologies. Our earlier work thus provides a defensible and reasonable indication of tree growth changes during the 20th century and in the context of long-term changes reconstructed over the last two millennia in the vicinity of the larch tree line in southern Yamal. McIntyre's use of the data from a single, more spatially restricted site, to represent recent tree growth over the wider region, and his exclusion of the data from the other available sites, likely represents a biased reconstruction of tree growth. McIntyre's sensitivity analysis has little implication, either for the interpretation of the Yamal chronology or for other proxy studies that make use of it.

For all the faith you place in your “vaunted” McIntyre, the so-called “slayer of hockey sticks”, perhaps you could answer a straight-forward question. If McIntyre really has substantive value-add input to the debate, why doesn’t he rise above the sceptics blog level and actually write a paper and attempt to get it published? What’s he waiting for… what’s he afraid of?

Riverwind, on Oct 29 2009, 09:01 PM, said:

Consider a situation where a scientist has 10 measurements where two are about 1000 and the other 8 are about 10. The scientist calculates the average and claims the correct value is 208. Some else comes along a provides reasons why the two measurements of 1000 are wrong because of problems with data collection. A compentent scientist would acknowledge the criticism and remove those two measurements from the set and calculate a new average of 10.

However, a "climate" scientist does not do that. Instead a "climate" scientist calculates two new averages of 9 measurements - removing one of the bad measurements in each case. These two new averages are 120 which is close to the 208 so the "climate" scientist declares that the bad data makes no difference because removing it does not affect the results. The "climate" scientist then continues to insist that the average of 208 is the "correct" value because his calculations are "robust" since removing one of the bad measurements did not change the result.

Most readers will realize that the "climate" scientist's argument is absurd and the only reasonable way to deal with the bad data is to remove both measurements and calculate the average with the 8 good measurements. But we are not dealing with reasonable people. We are dealing with people that believe they know what the "correct" answer is supposed to be and are willing to resort to any amount of obfuscation and manipulation in order to produce the "correct" answer.

Perhaps you could actually relate this little simplistic unrelated ditty to something… anything… that specifically associates to the particular Briffa studies under review/discussion in these latest posts. If you’re actually “trying” to speak to data selection/admission practices, perhaps you could correlate your piece of trivial arithmetic to specific data selection/admission undertaken within the Briffa studies. You tried one of these juvenile math exercises in the past and I called you on it then… same here… exactly what are you stating with specific objection that can be directly correlated to the Briffa studies? Specifically.

Riverwind, on Oct 29 2009, 09:01 PM, said:

Here is another more complex layman's description of why Briffa's argument is BS: http://www.climate-s...sion-abuse.html

C’mon… you’ve picked some generic regression commentary and expect that to be translated to, as you state, “Briffa’s argument”. What argument within Briffa are you speaking to – specifically… as relates to your linked commentary? You drop a link and expect others to weed through and attempt to interpret your one-liners back to your dropped link and on to the (presumed) actual substantive science/studies. Talk about Blog Science run amok – you’re certainly a capable delivery boy!

Riverwind, on Oct 29 2009, 09:01 PM, said:

Here are Nature's policies on data disclosure: http://www.nature.co...ailability.html
First, no reasonable person can argue that the composite sufficient to replicate the author's claims. The underlying series are required. Second, Briffa's emails to SteveMc do not count as "disclosure in the submitted manuscript". Nature should have withdrawn Briffa's paper as soon as they found out that Briffa failed to disclose restrictions on the data required to "replicate and build upon" Briffa's work. The fact that Nature chose to let Briffa get away with such a blatent violations of Nature's own policies demonstrates that Nature is not an unbaised source of scientific information.

Why continue the charade … McIntyre had the data as early as 2004. Since you’ve highlighted the journal Nature, perhaps you could supply the response McIntyre received from Nature when he requested the Briffa study data.

[waldo]

Riverwind, on Oct 29 2009, 09:34 PM, said:

I provided a link to a survey that says that up to 20% of practicing climate scientists believe the IPCC is exagerrating the problem. That is a significant minority opinion than cannot/should not be ignored by policy makers.

for what the value of that unscientific "online poll" that you linked to actually is... it also stated that up to 20% of practicing climate scientists believe the IPCC is understating the problem. This, most certainly, is a... as you state, significant minority opinion that cannot/should not be ignored by policy makers.

notwithstanding your poll showing that "Almost all respondents (at least 97%) conclude that the human addition of CO2 into the atmosphere is an important component of the climate system and has contributed to some extent in recent observed global average warming." Whaaaaaa! No deniers there - hey?