Monday, July 4, 2011

Slurred by a coral whisperer

Coral Whisperer Prof. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg currently has a post on his Climate Shifts blog that slurs the reputation of Prof. Willie Soon, an Astrophysicist Harvard University's Center for Astrophysics. In comments Prof. Hoegh-Guldberg attempts to slur my reputation as well. For the record here's a copy of the conversation from Climate Shifts.


  • MarcH says:
    Ove, Care to comment on this tweet from George Monbiot?
    GeorgeMonbiot GeorgeMonbiot
    I got something wrong abt Willie Soon. I suggested he’d never declared his fossil fuel funding. Unlike many, it turns out he has. Apologies.
    Ove, How much funding do you receive from Greenpeace?
    • OveHG says:
      Well, I have publically declared that I have worked for Greenpeace, Rio Tinto and many others. Mostly being paid to provide peer reviewed science which was paid to the University and not to me. And all peer reviewed pieces of work. Question is whether you and the research group you are associated with have declared all your potential conflicts Marc. Isn’t there a little coal money you should tell us about Marc?







  • Marc Hendrickx says:
    Ove,
    Perhaps you could clarify your relationship with fossil fuel giant Rio Tinto who are involved in the The Future Reef partnership with the Great Barrier Reef Research Foundation through their subsidiary Rio Tinto Aluminium. According to the publicity this is a unique example of industry and science working together on an area of mutual and national concern. Comalco has committed more than A$1 million over four years to two Reef research programmes that will be overseen by the Foundation. Comalco of course are now Rio Tinto Aluminium.
    In 2008 Rio Tinto produced over 150 Mt of coal.
    Please don’t tell me you are the recipient of funds linked to the fossil fuel industry? Given your post on Willie Soon will you now return the funds, or will you accept that you are a hypocrite?
    It appears that you are in receipt of over $1.4 MILLION dollars from this arrangement. This is more than Willie Soon has received.







  • Coal money for me, I wish? What are you implying Ove? Please be clear so my lawyers don’t misquote you.
    Are you saying or implying:
    A). I am being directly paid by the coal industry as part of some conspiracy to draw attention to your questionable record on climate science?
    B). I am indirectly paid by the coal industry via superannuation or small share ownership in a resources company (BHP).
    Clearly you are a misguided conspiracy theorist who believes anyone who dares question the great Oz is in someone’s pocket.
    • OveHG says:
      Marc,
      You are a member of Dr Steven Fityus’s research group at the University of Newcastle, right? He receives funding for his group from the Australian Coal Association Research Program (ACARP). About $500k most recently. Interesting observation in the light of accusations of bias by you aimed at me with respect to my work for Greenpeace in the 1990s.
      With respect to your question regarding Rio Tinto – a company that recognizes the challenge of climate change and wants to move rapidly on the solutions (like all responsible businesses) – there is nothing to ponder too deeply about with respect to my groups involvement. In this case, we undertook research on the impacts of ocean acidification on coral reef organisms, and helped run a highly successful employee program. The later was designed to help employees understand the problems of climate change and the urgency of moving toward solutions. A worthy program which had some great outcomes.
      As long as the science is evidence-based and is not interfered with (which it hasn’t been – otherwise I would exited the project immediately), I have worked on science based projects with a wide range of organizations (as I have repeatedly stated). We must get the best answers to the important questions that lie at the heart of this massive problem. Involving all players makes perfect sense.
      By the way, Marc, I see that you are systematically contacting my research colleagues and students with respect to my professionalism. Could you please tell what your intention or hopes are with respect to this? Is it all for the ABC News Watch cause? I note that you have already slurred me on that site. I am not sure that there is much to be gained from engaging in further discussion with you.
      Ove
      • Your comment is awaiting moderation. 
        Ove,
        You appear to be in forever need of correction. Prof Fityus is my supervisor, however my project which involves looking at historical rockfalls around Sydney, is not externally funded. The project is being done part time and currently relies on minor funding from the within the department. So you are completely in error on this point and an apology for the smear to both myself and Stephen would be appropriate, (that is if you have any honour).
        As to your contention that I am contacting your research colleagues and students with respect to my professionalism. This is again a falsehood. For the public record I requested Oren Levy a co-author with Ove to explain Ove’s contribution to a paper published in Science. Here is my email to Oren, copied to Ove and Bruce Alberts – Chief editor of Science:
        Dear Dr Levy,
        I am seeking clarification on the authorship of one of your papers. Can you please clarify the contribution made by Prof. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg to your paper “Complex Diel Cycles of Gene Expression in Coral-Algal Symbiosis” Science 14 January 2011: Vol. 331 no. 6014 p. 175 DOI: 10.1126/science.1196419
        I ask this as Science Journal’s authorship policy states:
        Science’s policy is specifically designed to support the authorship requirements presented in On Being a Scientist: Third Edition, published by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.† That report emphasizes the importance of an intellectual contribution for authorship and states that “Just providing the laboratory space for a project or furnishing a sample used in the research is not sufficient to be included as an author.”
        http://www.sciencemag.org/content/327/5961/12.full
        Prof. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg has recently intimated his position as last author on papers he claims is due to his position as head of the department and recognises the funding, experience, and infrastructure that invariably goes into a project.
        For publication – Was the credit to Prof. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg in the paper due to his provision for funding and laboratory space, or due to his scientific contribution?
        Regards
        Marc Hendrickx
        ABC NEWS WATCH
        Despite the fact that I made it clear that any response to this email would be for publication both Ove and Oren have requested that their numerous replies be kept private. A request I will respect. Perhaps Ove can take the time to clear the air on this matter on his own blog.
        Thanks by the way for the plug for ABC NEWS WATCH, I recommend visitors start with the Missing News page. They will also find a copy of the comments above and this reply on that site. In regard to so called “slurring”, coming from you in light of your post above and others on Climate Shifts, that would be a case of pot-kettle black.




  • That was the extent of the systematic contact. You will note the final comment is still in moderation. We will update when and if the great Oz replies. To the question posed concerning authorship we still await a concise response. Perhaps a mainstream journalist can take up where I left off? A job for ABC Environmental reporter activist Sara Phillips perhaps?

    The hypocritical Coral Whisperer

    A recent post by Coral Whisperer Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg on his tax payer funded blog "Climate Shifts" reveals Physicist Professor Willie Soon of Harvard University's Center for Astrophysics has received funding from (shock-horror) companies involved in the fossil fuel industry (including "dirty" coal). However this is no secret, Prof. Soon's sources of funding are well known and have been disclosed as part of the normal publishing process. Other sources of funding have included: the US Government, USAF and NASA.
    In comments Professor Hoegh-Guldberg reveals he has also received funding from (shock-horror) companies involved in fossil fuels (including "dirty" coal) - namely Rio Tinto who own Rio Tinto Alcan. (In 2008 Rio Tinto mined over 72Mt of "dirty" coal that helped power our economy, our hospitals, our schools, our theaters, our universities thereby saving and enriching millions of lives in the process). According to Rio Tinto's publicityThe Great Barrier Reef Research Foundation and Comalco Aluminium Limited (Comalco), a wholly owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto, have formed the Future Reef partnership to support research-based initiatives to protect the Great Barrier Reef.
    According to The Great Barrier Reef Foundation. This major four year $1 million partnership between the Great Barrier Reef Foundation and Rio Tinto Alcan was specifically developed to foster understanding about the environmental impacts of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef.
    Listed on Professor Hoegh-Guldberg's project page is this project:

    2009 - 2014  Ensuring a Sustainable Queensland through the Science-Based Solutions to Climate Change on the Great Barrier Reef
    Abstract:  Climate change poses a growing threat to the future of the GBR and the industries and people that depend on it (GBR 2006, > $6 billion revenue; 60,000 jobs). Our response to climate change requires the world's best practice science to underpin the development of effective management and policy. This Fellowship research program will bring about a quantum leap in our understanding of how to respond to climate change (including developing key management tools) by attacking core issues (global warming, ocean acidificiation) with significant resources and one of the largest networks of research, industry and management agencies focused on coral reefs.
    Researchers:   Hoegh-Guldberg, I. O.
    Funding Bodies:  Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
    Great Barrier Reef Foundation
    Total Funding:  $ 1,441,000

    The total funding from fossil fuel sources cited on Professor Hoegh-Guldberg's blog for Professor Soon is $1,033,100 between 1994 and 2010. It seems that Professor Hoegh-Guldberg has eclipsed that amount in a single grant, worth over $1.4 Million from sources associated with fossil fuels. Not bad for a coral whisperer. Best not to mention Professor Hoegh-Guldberg's connections with Greenpeace.

    The question now is: Will Professor Hoegh-Guldberg return the funds tainted by "dirty" coal or risk being branded a hypocrite? I'm sure Rio Tinto would be interested to know what the good Professor thinks of their product.

    For the ABC, will they now provide coverage of where Professor Hoegh-Guldberg gets his funding from, including "dirty" coal. Didn't see that on Australian story.

    Saturday, July 2, 2011

    Image problem continues

    About our inquires about it's problem coordinating headlines and images on the ABC environment site ABC recently replied (on 13/5/2011)
    "ABC Innovation has advised that stories from across the ABC that are filed with no image are randomly assigned an image on the Environment portal from a pool of images. I understand relevant ABC Innovation staff are aware of the discordant match-ups that this system has produced and have been working on a solution. The examples published on your website have been brought to the attention of ABC Innovation management."


    We initially advised ABC of the issue on the 4th of April. It's now July and the problem is still not fixed!
    ABC's collared dingos

    Friday, July 1, 2011

    ABC NEWS: June 2011 productivity report

    Summary Report for Policy Makers: ABC NEWS - Continuing to do Less with More
    Stories: Total stories posted in ABC News Archives for June 2011 was 5908. This is the lowest on record, 758 less stories than last year's poor performance, nearly 3000 less stories than 2008.

    Year  Total Stories 
    2003      7230 
    2004      6920 
    2005      6899 
    2006      6995 
    2007      7988 
    2008      8894 
    2009      7134 
    2010      6666
    2011      5908
    Staffing: Staff numbers for ABC News for financial year 2010-2011 are not yet available. Using a model of ABC staff numbers we predict staff levels for June 2011 to be approximately 960.84 (note actual figures will be posted when released by ABC). Figures are based on ABC annual reports.

    Year   Staff 
    2003   766.24 
    2004   735.04 
    2005   756.6 
    2006   770.68 
    2007   842.37 
    2008   865.59 
    2009   913.14 
    2010   947.36
    2011   960.84*
    Productivity: With stories at a record low and staff at record highs, it comes at no surprise that ABC news productivity is at a record low of just 6.1 stories per staff member for the month. 

    Year  Stories per staff per month 
    2003      9.4 
    2004      9.4 
    2005      9.1 
    2006      9.1 
    2007      9.5 
    2008     10.3 
    2009      7.8 
    2010      7.1

    2011      6.1