What is already known, though, is that for various parts of the world the results do not match. Bad news for short-term applications; good news as a way of focusing in on what needs to be improved. Simon Lewis, a forest ecologist from Leeds University who was in Cancún as part of the delegation from Gabon, a heavily forested country keen on being paid to stay that way, is looking forward to comparing the new models with his own data as soon as they are published. Seeing what is happening on the ground in the mismatched places could lead to more reliable estimates in future, and possibly to some interesting science as well.
When my father left the hospice facility and the small room within which he was going to die, he said it was one of the most extraordinary days of his life. He talked about the disbelief, reentering a world he had said goodbye to. He couldn't believe he was seeing trees again, people, cars -- even the stoplight he passed every day of his life.
