Full Comments to the Guardian

The Guardian has an good article today on a threatened libel suit under UK law against Gavin Schmidt, a NASA researcher who blogs at Real Climate, by the publishers of the journal Energy and Environment.  While Gavin and I have had periodic professional disagreements, in this instance he has my full support. The E&E threat is absurd (details here).

Here are my full comments to the reporter for the Guardian, who was following up on Gavin's reference to comments I had made a while back about my experiences with E&E:

Here are some thoughts in response to your query ...

In 2000, we published a really excellent paper (in my opinion) in E&E in that has stood the test of time:

Pielke, Jr., R. A., R. Klein, and D. Sarewitz (2000), Turning the big knob: An evaluation of the use of energy policy to modulate future climate impacts. Energy and Environment 2:255-276.
http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/admin/publication_files/resource-250-2000.07.pdf

You'll see that paper was in only the second year of the journal, and we were obviously invited to submit a year or so before that. It was our expectation at the time that the journal would soon be ISI listed and it would become like any other academic journal. So why not publish in E&E?

That paper, like a lot of research, required a lot of effort.  So it was very disappointing to E&E in the years that followed identify itself as an outlet for alternative perspectives on the climate issue. It has published a number of low-quality papers and a high number of opinion pieces, and as far as I know it never did get ISI listed.

Boehmer-Christiansen's quote about following her political agenda in running the journal is one that I also have cited on numerous occasions as an example of the pathological politicization of science. In this case the editor's political agenda has clearly undermined the legitimacy of the outlet.  So if I had a time machine I'd go back and submit our paper elsewhere!

A consequence of the politicization of E&E is that any paper published there is subsequently ignored by the broader scientific community. In some cases perhaps that is justified, but I would argue that it provided a convenient excuse to ignore our paper on that basis alone, and not on the merits of its analysis. So the politicization of E&E enables a like response from its critics, which many have taken full advantage of. For outside observers of climate science this action and response together give the impression that scientific studies can be evaluated simply according to non-scientific criteria, which ironically undermines all of science, not just E&E.  The politicization of the peer review process is problematic regardless of who is doing the politicization because it more readily allows for political judgments to substitute for judgments of the scientific merit of specific arguments.  An irony here of course is that the East Anglia emails revealed a desire to (and some would say success in) politicize the peer review process, which I discuss in The Climate Fix.

For my part, in 2007 I published a follow on paper to the 2000 E&E paper that applied and extended a similar methodology.  This paper passed peer review in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society:

Pielke, Jr., R. A. (2007), Future economic damage from tropical cyclones: sensitivities to societal and climate changes. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A 365 (1860) 2717-2729
http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/admin/publication_files/resource-2517-2007.14.pdf

So, in my case alls well that ends well. Over the long run I am confident that good ideas will win out over bad ideas, but without care to the legitimacy of our science institutions -- including journals and peer review -- that long run will be a little longer.

Please follow up if anything is unclear or if you have other questions ...

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Be Careful What You Wish For

Two members of the US Congress, Representatives Henry Waxman and Bobby Rush, have called for a hearing on two recent papers in Nature.  In their letter to the Republican chairmen of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and its Energy and Power Subcommittee Waxman and Rush write:

We believe it would be irresponsible for the Committee to ignore the mounting scientific evidence linking strange and dangerous weather to rising carbon levels in the atmosphere.

Waxman and Rush explain what they think is implicated by the Nature papers:

The potential implications of these results are illustrated by multiple recent weather disasters. In the United States, severe flooding in Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee killed dozens and caused widespread property damage last year. Some scientists see evidence that the bitterly cold storms that gripped our nation this winter could be tied to climate changes3 Internationally, unprecedented floods in Pakistan last year submerged one-fifth of the country, killing thousands, and devastating livelihoods.4 Similarly, floods following heavy rains displaced hundreds of thousands of people in northeastern Australia and damaged the agricultural and mining sectors5 In Russia, yields of wheat and barley in 20 I 0 fell by 30% following a summer of record-breaking heat and drought6 This month, the United Nations warned that the worst drought in decades threatens the wheat crop in China7.

The over-hyping of this issue has left Waxman and Rush exposed out on a thin, weak limb.  If they are lucky, their call for a hearing will be ignored.

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Eternal hope in the eternal city

Wales travel to the beautiful city of Rome as they face Italy in the next instalment of the Six Nations. Despite two defeats in their opening two fixtures of the 2011 edition of the competition, you can guarantee that the Roman crowd will be as enthusiastic as ever in their support for the Azzurri.
Having spent a period of time living in Rome myself, I have been fortunate to have first-hand experience of the wonderful atmosphere inside the Stadio Flaminio in the Italian capital city. I’ve attended half a dozen matches at the stadium and each time, the atmosphere seems to get better and better.
Italy play the role of the underdogs in the championship. They’re the younger brother of the tournament as the least experienced, and have often collected the proverbial wooden spoon for finishing bottom of the standings.
Despite all of this, the Italian crowd are always so enthusiastic. The Flaminio is quite an open arena but when the Italians start cheering their side, thankfully the sound is not lost into the open air. It’s a colourful crowd, with the colour of choice being blue to match the team’s playing strip, and you’d be hard pushed to find a noisier and more passionate set of fans in world rugby.
And the fans and the atmosphere generated in Rome does have its role to play. The Italian side rise to the occasion in their home fixtures, and the support from the stands seems to lift their performance a good 10 or 20 percent. The Flaminio has certainly become an intimidating place to go, and Wales will have to be very careful not to slip up this weekend.
With each passing year, Italy are becoming ever more experienced and, although results don’t appear to reflect it this season, they’re improving as a team year on year. Their forward pack is particularly strong, it’s perhaps in the back line that they struggle somewhat with the age-old problem of not having a consistent place kicker. Since Diego Dominguez retired, Italy must have tried more than their fair share of player taking place kicks and are still yet to find one who can consistently convert penalties into points with the boot.
On paper, the weekend’s clash is a one-sided affair and Wales should bring the points home with them. All the star names appear on the Welsh team sheet with the likes of Shane Williams, James Hook and Ryan Jones. But, in Rome, you simply cannot write off Italy. You cannot help but be inspired by the passion of the Italian fans, and that makes Italy a dangerous obstacle on home territory.
To all the Wales fans going over for the game, I can only say that I’m extremely jealous. No matter what the outcome of the game is, you will enjoy yourselves, I can guarantee it.


Paul Harper
For more from Paul log on to his blog http://paulharper.webs.com/
Twitter.com/paulharper82

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Kia Kaha Christchurch

Somehow it hasn't really seemed right to blog about the everyday goings on here at Talisman Farm since the horror quake that shook Christchurch to its core at lunchtime on Tuesday. The sheer scale of the atrocities that are facing the people of Canterbury in the wake of this event are nearly impossible to fathom and I have wept many tears as I have been swept along in the horror of it all. This sort of thing doesn't happen in our beautiful country but, it has.

So far I have managed to make contact with friends in the area and am not aware of anyone known personally to myself who is dead or missing but I have friends who have friends awaiting news of loved ones and colleagues. So small is our country that everyone here will either be affected directly or know someone who knows someone who has perished or been badly injured. The world may enjoy six degrees of separation but, it's more like two degrees in our small and close knit nation.

All I want to be able to do is help in some way but I have no skills that are required and so I sit it out, like so many, helplessly watching in complete horror as it unfolds on the TV screen before my eyes, just like some sort of hideous waking nightmare.

On Thursday I became aware of an auction that is being set up to help raise funds for Quake victims. This has given me the opportunity to offer Stallion services to the auction organisers and made me feel as if there is something, albeit small, that I can actually do to help. The website has not yet been completed but, as soon as it is, I will be sharing these details with my blog readers and anybody on facebook who cares to listen. I hope you will all support us in our efforts to raise much needed cash for those whose lives have been devastated by what is now the worst disaster in our Nation's history.

If you are reading this and have been affected personally by the horrors of the Canterbury earthquake, please accept my sincerest and most heartfelt condolences. I cannot even begin to imagine what you are going through but I hope that you can find the strength that you need to pick up and carry on. You are most definitely in our hearts and minds. Kia kaha.

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Wanted

Two tickets to Arsenal v. Man U on May 1, 2011.  Send me an email.

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Peter Carfagna's Negotiating and Drafting Sports Venue Agreements

Our friend and colleague Peter Carfagna, who teaches sports law at Harvard Law School and has a long and storied career in the industry, has written his third sports law book: Negotiating and Drafting Sports Venue Agreements (West, 2011).

His two other sports law books -- Sports and the Law: Examining the Legal Evolution of American's Three 'Major Leagues" (West, 2009) and Representing the Professional Athlete (West, 2009) -- are also excellent.

Peter's new book provides outstanding insight on the drafting of sports venue agreements, including naming rights agreements, media rights contracts, food and beverage agreements, and sponsorship deals with state-operated entities. It also includes complete model agreements of these types of contracts. I very much enjoyed reading the book and will no doubt be referring to it.

Here's the official description of Negotiating and Drafting Sports Venue Agreements:

In addition to being an engaging teaching tool for instructors teaching drafting practices for sports venue agreements, this book is valuable to any sports law practitioner wanting to learn more about these state-of-the-art drafting practices. Beginning with the drafting of the seminal lease agreement, the book leads the reader through a series of best-practices drafting techniques for every major sports venue–related agreement, including naming rights agreements; presenting sponsorship agreements; media rights and concessions agreements; and agreements with state-operated entities. Hypothetical drafting exercises are included in each chapter for classroom use.

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Traveling Violations

This week the University of Tennessee released the NCAA’s “Notice of Allegations” against its football and men’s basketball team, outlining eleven violations. Both current men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl and former (albeit brief) football coach Lane Kiffin were cited for multiple violations. While many are predicting sanctions against the University of Tennessee, Bruce Pearl, and possibly the Director of Athletics Mike Hamilton, what is interesting is whether the NCAA will impose further sanctions on Lane Kiffin now that he is the head football coach at USC.

Historically, coaches have left town before the NCAA hammer comes down, often resulting in infractions on the school and players left behind but not on the coach himself—John Calipari anyone? However, on occasion the NCAA has imposed penalties on coaches themselves even if they are employed at a new school. In the NCAA’s Manual, Bylaw 19.5 gives the NCAA the right to impose penalties on either an institution or individual—with no restrictions on whether that individual is still at the institution at which they committed the infraction.

This has happened at least twice within the last decade. Specifically, Rick Neuheisel was punished in 2002 while at the University of Washington for violations he was deemed to have made at the University of Colorado. More recently, in 2008 Kelvin Sampson was punished while at Indiana University for conduct he engaged in while at the University of Oklahoma.

It will be interesting to follow whether or not the NCAA will impose some form of punishment on Lane Kiffin now that he is in charge of the football program at USC. If this does happen, does USC have a claim against Kiffin and/or the University of Tennessee?

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