Dec 02, 2009
It is now 12 days since the hacked emails from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia first appeared online, and the propaganda machine for the climate change denial lobby is in overdrive.
The
University of East Anglia has rightly announced an independent
investigation into the hacking episode. It is essential that the
investigation examines, thoroughly and transparently, the substance of
the email messages and establishes whether there has been any
wrongdoing. From what I have seen, there is no evidence of research
misconduct, but the only way to clear the air now is through an
investigation.
Some people have already, and predictably, taken on the role of judge, jury and executioner, and have called for Phil Jones, the director of the unit, to resign. Yesterday Jones announced he would be temporarily standing down while an inquiry is carried out. But such a hysterical witch hunt is a sign of desperation rather than justice.
Despite
nearly two weeks of frantic brandishing of the "smoking gun", there is
still no evidence of the alleged bullets that would constitute an
overturning of 200 years of climate research. The greenhouse effect
still exists and the Earth is still warming.
Nevertheless,
the denial lobby - and it is denial rather than scepticism because they
reject all of the evidence they don't like and embrace any alternative
theory no matter how flaky - is claiming victory. And to some extent
they have succeeded - by confusing the public and perhaps reducing
public pressure on politicians to reach a strong and effective
agreement at Copenhagen climate talks this month.
They have been aided in their campaign of disinformation by some feeble media reporting. Take the Global Warming Policy Foundation,
a lobby group launched on 23 November, a few days after the stolen
emails first appeared on the web. The chairman of its board of
trustees, Nigel Lawson, promoted his new group by listing alleged
misdeeds by the Climatic Research Unit and calling for a public inquiry
by a high court judge.
What Lawson neglected to mention
and which no journalist sought to quiz him about was a graph featuring
prominently at the top of every page on the foundation's website, using data published by the Climatic Research Unit and the Met Office's Hadley Centre.
Nor did he reveal that the foundation had "hidden" the temperature
record prior to 2001, so that visitors could not tell that eight of the
10 warmest years since the instrumental record began in the 19th
century have occurred since 2000.
But most damagingly of
all, nobody reported that the temperature data in the graph had been
inaccurately misrepresented, with 2003 wrongly appearing to be warmer
than 2005, and 2006 and 2007 erroneously appearing warmer than 2004.
Who
knows, maybe the "sceptics" will be evenhanded now and call for a
public inquiry into the data on the foundation's website. But don't
hold your breath.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the hysterical
atmosphere created by the emails has encouraged more of the denial
lobby to emerge from the shadows. The British National party leader, Nick Griffin, gave a speech in which he claimed that climate change was a leftwing conspiracy, in much the same way as Lord Christopher Monckton has in his recent speeches in the United States.
Monckton and Prof Ian Plimer then helped the UK Independence party to
launch its own declaration of climate change denial this week. Suddenly
climate change denial has become a new article of faith among the far
right.
Who knows where this will end. The denial lobby is
determined to make this story drag on for as long as possible, and some
are even claiming that it contributed to the failure of Australian climate change legislation this week and the ousting of the opposition leader. But when is all is said and done, the climate will still be changing and the risks will be mounting.
* Bob Ward is the policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Join Us: News for people demanding a better world
Common Dreams is powered by optimists who believe in the power of informed and engaged citizens to ignite and enact change to make the world a better place. We're hundreds of thousands strong, but every single supporter makes the difference. Your contribution supports this bold media model—free, independent, and dedicated to reporting the facts every day. Stand with us in the fight for economic equality, social justice, human rights, and a more sustainable future. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover the issues the corporate media never will. Join with us today! |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
It is now 12 days since the hacked emails from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia first appeared online, and the propaganda machine for the climate change denial lobby is in overdrive.
The
University of East Anglia has rightly announced an independent
investigation into the hacking episode. It is essential that the
investigation examines, thoroughly and transparently, the substance of
the email messages and establishes whether there has been any
wrongdoing. From what I have seen, there is no evidence of research
misconduct, but the only way to clear the air now is through an
investigation.
Some people have already, and predictably, taken on the role of judge, jury and executioner, and have called for Phil Jones, the director of the unit, to resign. Yesterday Jones announced he would be temporarily standing down while an inquiry is carried out. But such a hysterical witch hunt is a sign of desperation rather than justice.
Despite
nearly two weeks of frantic brandishing of the "smoking gun", there is
still no evidence of the alleged bullets that would constitute an
overturning of 200 years of climate research. The greenhouse effect
still exists and the Earth is still warming.
Nevertheless,
the denial lobby - and it is denial rather than scepticism because they
reject all of the evidence they don't like and embrace any alternative
theory no matter how flaky - is claiming victory. And to some extent
they have succeeded - by confusing the public and perhaps reducing
public pressure on politicians to reach a strong and effective
agreement at Copenhagen climate talks this month.
They have been aided in their campaign of disinformation by some feeble media reporting. Take the Global Warming Policy Foundation,
a lobby group launched on 23 November, a few days after the stolen
emails first appeared on the web. The chairman of its board of
trustees, Nigel Lawson, promoted his new group by listing alleged
misdeeds by the Climatic Research Unit and calling for a public inquiry
by a high court judge.
What Lawson neglected to mention
and which no journalist sought to quiz him about was a graph featuring
prominently at the top of every page on the foundation's website, using data published by the Climatic Research Unit and the Met Office's Hadley Centre.
Nor did he reveal that the foundation had "hidden" the temperature
record prior to 2001, so that visitors could not tell that eight of the
10 warmest years since the instrumental record began in the 19th
century have occurred since 2000.
But most damagingly of
all, nobody reported that the temperature data in the graph had been
inaccurately misrepresented, with 2003 wrongly appearing to be warmer
than 2005, and 2006 and 2007 erroneously appearing warmer than 2004.
Who
knows, maybe the "sceptics" will be evenhanded now and call for a
public inquiry into the data on the foundation's website. But don't
hold your breath.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the hysterical
atmosphere created by the emails has encouraged more of the denial
lobby to emerge from the shadows. The British National party leader, Nick Griffin, gave a speech in which he claimed that climate change was a leftwing conspiracy, in much the same way as Lord Christopher Monckton has in his recent speeches in the United States.
Monckton and Prof Ian Plimer then helped the UK Independence party to
launch its own declaration of climate change denial this week. Suddenly
climate change denial has become a new article of faith among the far
right.
Who knows where this will end. The denial lobby is
determined to make this story drag on for as long as possible, and some
are even claiming that it contributed to the failure of Australian climate change legislation this week and the ousting of the opposition leader. But when is all is said and done, the climate will still be changing and the risks will be mounting.
* Bob Ward is the policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
It is now 12 days since the hacked emails from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia first appeared online, and the propaganda machine for the climate change denial lobby is in overdrive.
The
University of East Anglia has rightly announced an independent
investigation into the hacking episode. It is essential that the
investigation examines, thoroughly and transparently, the substance of
the email messages and establishes whether there has been any
wrongdoing. From what I have seen, there is no evidence of research
misconduct, but the only way to clear the air now is through an
investigation.
Some people have already, and predictably, taken on the role of judge, jury and executioner, and have called for Phil Jones, the director of the unit, to resign. Yesterday Jones announced he would be temporarily standing down while an inquiry is carried out. But such a hysterical witch hunt is a sign of desperation rather than justice.
Despite
nearly two weeks of frantic brandishing of the "smoking gun", there is
still no evidence of the alleged bullets that would constitute an
overturning of 200 years of climate research. The greenhouse effect
still exists and the Earth is still warming.
Nevertheless,
the denial lobby - and it is denial rather than scepticism because they
reject all of the evidence they don't like and embrace any alternative
theory no matter how flaky - is claiming victory. And to some extent
they have succeeded - by confusing the public and perhaps reducing
public pressure on politicians to reach a strong and effective
agreement at Copenhagen climate talks this month.
They have been aided in their campaign of disinformation by some feeble media reporting. Take the Global Warming Policy Foundation,
a lobby group launched on 23 November, a few days after the stolen
emails first appeared on the web. The chairman of its board of
trustees, Nigel Lawson, promoted his new group by listing alleged
misdeeds by the Climatic Research Unit and calling for a public inquiry
by a high court judge.
What Lawson neglected to mention
and which no journalist sought to quiz him about was a graph featuring
prominently at the top of every page on the foundation's website, using data published by the Climatic Research Unit and the Met Office's Hadley Centre.
Nor did he reveal that the foundation had "hidden" the temperature
record prior to 2001, so that visitors could not tell that eight of the
10 warmest years since the instrumental record began in the 19th
century have occurred since 2000.
But most damagingly of
all, nobody reported that the temperature data in the graph had been
inaccurately misrepresented, with 2003 wrongly appearing to be warmer
than 2005, and 2006 and 2007 erroneously appearing warmer than 2004.
Who
knows, maybe the "sceptics" will be evenhanded now and call for a
public inquiry into the data on the foundation's website. But don't
hold your breath.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the hysterical
atmosphere created by the emails has encouraged more of the denial
lobby to emerge from the shadows. The British National party leader, Nick Griffin, gave a speech in which he claimed that climate change was a leftwing conspiracy, in much the same way as Lord Christopher Monckton has in his recent speeches in the United States.
Monckton and Prof Ian Plimer then helped the UK Independence party to
launch its own declaration of climate change denial this week. Suddenly
climate change denial has become a new article of faith among the far
right.
Who knows where this will end. The denial lobby is
determined to make this story drag on for as long as possible, and some
are even claiming that it contributed to the failure of Australian climate change legislation this week and the ousting of the opposition leader. But when is all is said and done, the climate will still be changing and the risks will be mounting.
* Bob Ward is the policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.