Posted on Evans Politics, November 28, 2009, by Paul Evans.
The Climate Change Research Unit in the University of East Anglia had their email system hacked and several of the emails were apparently quite damning as to the validity and integrity of the climate change data being produced by the scientific community. There was a rush to judgment around the internet. For example, see The Skeptics are Vindicated, Real Clear Politics, November 25, 2009, by David Warren. Warren, and many who wished to see the abundant evidence for climate change discredited, were sure this was the smoking gun.
The evidence shows otherwise:
Video text: "Hacked climate change emails - a tempest in a teapot or a real storm? Paul Jay (of the Real News Network) talks to Michael Brklacic".
A Daily Kos commenter on my article, kickbass, has given us good commentary and sources to the effect that the so called "damning" emails were in fact largely taken out of context in the first place, dealing with freedom of information act requests (which were refused) from climate science refuters. See especially The CRU Hack and The CRU Hack: Context on Real Climate, and read the comments.
In this Real News Network video, Professor Brklacic of Carleton U. concurs with George Monbiot (Global warming rigged? Here's the email I'd need to see, The Guardian (U.K.), November 24, 2009, by George Monbiot): This email evidence compromises 3 or 4 lines of evidence among several hundred, as far as global warming is concerned. Moreover, remember, Brklacic continues, we're talking not just of global warming, but of climate change for which we have several (other) important changes taking place rapidly. Sea levels are rising, polar ice is melting, species are rapidly becoming extinct and the "composition" of species populations, especially in the oceans, is changing rapidly and ominously.
We suggest a visit to IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. We also suggest, staying away - very, very far away - from the Washington Post and George Will and the right's "evidence" based on citing the comments on right wing social networks as those of authorities.
The number of people in the U.S. who believe in global warming is down, partly due to shenanigans such as this email mess. But it's still at 72 percent, and the real problem here is the media's coverage. See The Real Scandal Over Climate Change Isn't About Hacked Emails But the Media's Coverage, Alternet, November 24, 2009, by Alex Steffan. For coverage of what's happening to the climate change/energy bill in Congress, see The Inhofe Climate Skeptic Roadshow, Mother Jones, November 23, 2009, by Kate Sheppard.
Climate Change is very real, and it will probably be very damaging to the earth, its species, AND the world's economies. One study suggests an increase in temperature of 9 degrees Centigrade by 2100 (New Study: Global Temperatures to Rise 9 Degrees by 2100, Ecoworldly, May 22, 2009, by Bryan Nelson) ..... makes me sweat just to think about it. These emails prove nothing.