Global warming was back in the news recently, but for political, not meteorological, reasons. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - IPCC for short - is a United Nations commissioned group of climate researchers and other experts who, every five years, issue a report on the state of climate change. A few weeks ago, IPCC leaders met to elect a new chairperson. Dr. Robert Watson, a widely respected American atmospheric scientist who's been chair since 1996, was up for reelection. Watson supports the idea that human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels are contributing to global warming.

Word from diplomats is that the United States, under pressure from the energy industry, led a behind-the-scenes campaign against Watson's reelection. And in the end, the IPCC chose a new leader, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, one of India's leading environmentalists. However, Dr. Pachauri is an industrial engineer and economist, not an atmospheric scientist. This is just the latest example of how the issue of climate change has become increasingly entangled in politics.