Highway to Extinction Takes Right Turn Toward Liability Issues

The Brussels report on climate change had political and scientific participants wrangling through last night over issues of language - if it's not really, really strong, as scientists want, then the climatologists are 'liable' for damages to affected nations. But responsibility for action is going to make the endorsers 'liable' to do the changes now or be 'liable' later. Whew.

An international global warming conference approved a report on climate change Friday, chairman Rajendra Pachauri said, after a contentious marathon session that saw angry exchanges between diplomats and scientists who drafted the report.

"We have an approved accord. It has been a complex exercise," Pachauri told reporters after an all-night meeting.

Several scientists objected to the editing of the final draft by government negotiators but in the end agreed to compromises. However, some scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change vowed never to take part in the process again.

"The authors lost," said one participant. "A lot of authors are not going to engage in the IPCC process anymore. I have had it with them," he said on condition of anonymity because the proceedings were supposed to remain confidential. An Associated Press reporter, however, witnessed part of the final meeting.

The climax of five days of negotiations was reached when the delegates removed parts of a key chart highlighting devastating effects of climate change that kick in with every rise of 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit, and in a tussle over the level of confidence attached to key statements.

The United States, China and Saudi Arabia raised the most objections to the phrasing, most often seeking to tone the certainty of some of the more dire projections.

Telling the truth of the situation is important to the scientists, since it's their job to be accurate. Accuracy is costly for the nations adopting the conference report, since if they accept the truth, action is indicated. The poorest of the poor, in the report's language, are most affected by floods, drought, starvation and related disasters.

So we lie. That's what this country decides. Business ethics prevail.