Climategate

I apparently have not been tuned in this holiday week, as I am just becoming aware of the escalation of ClimateGate.  For those who have also been under a rock (or a heaping pile of culinary delights to be thankful for), take a quick gander at what the link above has to say.  Or better yet google "Climategate" and take a look at what the online media has to say about it. 

In short, over a thousand emails from the Climactic Research Unit in the UK were leaked, and the conversations show some tinkering around with the data used to prove that climate change is a severe threat caused by human activity.  The  CRU, referred to by one website as the "Pentagon of climate change science," is an important institution in the effort to understand global warming.  According to some, the emails represent a "veritable who’s who in climate science."

The emails are pretty incriminating, even when one acknowledges the lack of context and the need for further examination.  Essentially the statements show evidence that some scientists have been trying to hide data showing a global cooling trend in recent years, refuting the theory that temperatures have undergone a more significant swing since the industrial revolution than at any measurable time in the past.  It is a horrible offense in the world of scientific research, in my opinion, to seek results to prove a theory, rather than performing an unbiased analysis and honestly interpreting results.  The former seems to be what occurred here, and whether the actions are considered a misguided attempt to do right by defending a belief that contradicts evidence, or outright dishonesty and self preservation, will be debated.

At first google, one might believe that this proves without a doubt what climate skeptics have been arguing for years: either global warming is blatant nonsense, or if it is happening, it is a natural process independent from human effect.  The first few pages of search results are a showering of I told you so's from those who have objected to the money and time spent on fighting global warming.  The general consensus from this camp are that the lies of the Anthropogenic Global Warming myth have finally been exposed in the biggest conspiracy of the century and that any legislation regarding limiting greenhouse gas emissions and limiting access to cheap fossil fuel should be stopped immediately.

I had to dig pretty deep to find any response from the liberal side of the table, indeed a big criticism voiced by the conservative media is that the news has been all but ignored by those that it incriminates, including the mainstream media.  But the radical conclusions expressed by skeptics are pretty severe. Those from the left that have responded point to the overwhelming evidence that already exists that climate change is human-made, and that although these scientists may have exercised bad judgment, this is not the whole story. 

As a former researcher and one who has and will continue to base my understandings on scientific evidence, I am very alarmed by this apparent abuse of power and mission.  I am saddened by the dishonesty that will significantly impact the credibility of what I believe to be an honorable branch of scientific inquiry, whatever the investigation results.  Ultimately, I tend to work from the general principal that efficiency itself is a noble cause.  Even if we are not causing global warming as rapidly as the researchers at CRU expected to show, sustainability has many more dimensions that just carbon emissions.  Regardless, we deserve to have accurate information, ethics and objectivity present in the pursuit of science.