Phony “Climategate” Aside, Climate Change Moving Faster Than Expected

Climate scientists who just released “The Copenhagen Diagnosis” say ice sheets are melting at an increased rate, and future sea-level rise will be higher than previously forecast.  But scientific evidence means nothing to those with an anti-global warming agenda, who point to illegally hacked mails to try to prove that global warming is a hoax.  Sadly for them, the anti-global-warming hysteria isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The ugly part of this has more to do with scientists jockeying for position and arguing over how to best put forth their theories in a contentious political climate.  The uglier part is those who are distorting this for the purpose of advancing anti-environmental theories. RealClimate puts it in perspective.

More interesting is what is not contained in the emails. There is no evidence of any worldwide conspiracy, no mention of George Soros nefariously funding climate research, no grand plan to ‘get rid of the MWP’, no admission that global warming is a hoax, no evidence of the falsifying of data, and no ‘marching orders’ from our socialist/communist/vegetarian overlords. The truly paranoid will put this down to the hackers also being in on the plot though.

Instead, there is a peek into how scientists actually interact and the conflicts show that the community is a far cry from the monolith that is sometimes imagined. People working constructively to improve joint publications; scientists who are friendly and agree on many of the big picture issues, disagreeing at times about details and engaging in ‘robust’ discussions; Scientists expressing frustration at the misrepresentation of their work in politicized arenas and complaining when media reports get it wrong; Scientists resenting the time they have to take out of their research to deal with over-hyped nonsense. None of this should be shocking.

Out-of-context cherry-picking is the furthest thing from science.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.