There is a very heated thread over on politics.ie about the Green Party's refusal to fund Richard Tol of the ESRI for IPCC, thus leaving Ireland without any representation link. Professor Tol himself contributes to the thread. The thread is worth reading just to see the contributions of the Green Party supporters. Also definitely worth reading just to make up your own mind about this.
The following is from Cyberianpan ... "Richard Tol is one of the world's foremost environmental academics, having been convening, lead and chapter author for the IPCC previously. His IDEAs ranking shows him as #162 amongst all economists in the world. Tol has lived and worked in Ireland since 2006, his wife & child reside here.
He was invited to be part of the next IPCC report, but a government needs to sponsor and pay for such. Minister John Gormley sponsored him, but refuses to pay. Prof Tol has indicated on this thread that this means he can't take part.
Minister Gormley has had run ins with Richard Tol, and prominent Green Party supporters complain that what Prof Tol publishes is not green enough for them. Thus Prof Tol is to be denied his say, and Ireland is turning the issue into a petty political football.
This is damaging to our reputation in academia - but most of all it is morally damaging. Prof Tol has criticized the workings of the IPCC before, yet they still want him back... John Gormley doesn't."
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What is your opinion, Oceanfrog? Is Tol a "True Green" and if not should he be funded?
ReplyDeleteProfessor Tol is an eminent academic and should probably be funded on that basis alone. It is definitely wrong not to fund him because of a spat and/or differences of opinion with John Gormley.
ReplyDeleteWhat is your opinion on this Eoin? Do you think he should be funded by Minister Gormley?