IN THE EYE OF THE STORM

As one of the world's leading climate scientists, the publication of Sir John Houghton's autobiography at this time is a very significant event, especially given the usual circus following the publication of the latest IPCC assessment report. Readers of this book will be in a much better position to understand the reactions and machinations that have followed. Sir John began his career as a scholar at Oxford, achieving the top first in his year in atmospheric physics and meteorology, which led on to a doctorate and various positions including professor of atmospheric physics. His choice of doctoral subject brought him into contact with Professors Gordon Dobson and Alan Brewer who were working on new ways of observing the distribution of ozone. From this period comes a memorable anecdote following corrections to an instrument so as to ensure accurate readings. On showing Dobson his corrections, he was memorably asked 'how do you know your corrections are correct?' Dobson suggested that he made two radiometers as physically different as possible so that he could find out he got the same readings from each instrument.

For young scientists, the launch of Sputnik in 1957 was incredibly exciting and led to the launch of the first weather satellite two years later. Already, Sir John was working on CO2 as a means of working out a global picture of atmospheric temperature structure. By the early 1960s, he was already making significant progress, and gave his first lecture on global warming to the British Association for the Advancement of Science as early as 1967. The combination of satellite data with burgeoning computer power led to rapid advances; Sir John and his colleagues designed their own Selective Chopper Radiometer and worked with NASA. It was about this time that international collaboration was formalised, and world climate conferences began in the late 1970s.

In 1979, Sir John was invited to take over the Appleton Laboratory and therefore move from Oxford where he had been for 32 years. Here one gets the first understanding of his management style. An early interview brought home the lesson that one should look at what candidates do as well as what they say. He found the scientists in the lab rather demoralised, but galvanised them by outlining exciting programmes and inviting them to come to him personally to say what role they would like to play. On another occasion, a colleague gave him the answer he thought Sir John would like to hear rather than his true opinion and was told to say what he knew or believed to be right in future. In 1983, the outgoing director-general of the Met Office, Sir John Mason, suggested that he applied for the post. Since the office was now part of the MOD, he was interviewed by Michael Heseltine, whose first question was why the Met Office needed 2,700 people, to which Sir John replied that it was not a fair question. He then found that two of the senior directors expected to run the show for him, but this was not his style. On other occasions, he shows his mettle by resisting the arbitrary imposition of 2.5% per annum efficiency measures and resisting cuts to his budget.

In 1988, he began his work with the IPCC as chair of the Science Working Group (the other two working groups were for environmental and socio-economic impacts and the formulation of response strategies). He worked closely with Margaret Thatcher on the speech that she gave on the opening of the Hadley Centre in 1990. He gives a detailed account of the three assessment reports in which he was involved up until 2002. One fascinating fact is that it is possible to differentiate naturally occurring CO2 from the CO2 generated by the burning of fossil fuel due to different isotopic composition. As readers will recognise, a delicate task is the presentation of scientific uncertainty, especially given the political implications of the findings. It is very clear that Sir John maintained his own scientific integrity throughout complex and difficult negotiations, and that dealing with the dirty tactics of those bent on maintaining existing vested interests was particularly taxing. Various incidents are described, including the key role of Don Pearlman in the oil sponsored Global Climate Coalition in trying to undermine the IPCC.

Instead of sending a scientist, Saudi Arabia sent a lawyer - Mohammed Al-Sabban - to dispute the wording of summary reports and to argue the case for greater uncertainty. The sentence 'the balance of evidence suggests human influence on global climate' was the subject of intense debate for over an hour as scientific caution was weighed against political expediency. The story of the treatment of Ben Santer was nothing short of disgraceful. More recently, political attacks against the IPCC have intensified with Christopher Booker and Nigel Lawson playing high profile roles. Sir John clarifies the workings of the IPCC and shows how opinion is frequently presented as a viable alternative to scientific evidence. James Delingpole has even fewer scruples and describes himself as an interpreter of interpretations, which means he has done very little proper reading. For his part, Booker falsely attributes and alarmist statement to Sir John, who frequently finds himself misquoted, maligned and undermined. This book provides him with the opportunity of setting the record straight.

The last part of the book summarises Sir John's vision of a sustainable world and what we need to do in order to achieve it. He also recounts how he was able to change the policy of evangelicals in the US towards climate change. Throughout the book, the reader is aware of the centrality of Christianity to Sir John's outlook, and he has written extensively on the relationship between science and religion, both of which he sees as a quest for truth. My overall impression of the book is that Sir John emerges as a man of absolute scientific integrity, considerable moral courage and inspirational leadership. He has always done what he felt to be right, whatever the pressures. His message must not only be listened to but also acted on if we are to achieve the sustainable world he envisages.