Explanation of Stolen Emails, Scientists Receive Death Threats

The manufactured controversy over emails stolen from the University
of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit has generated a lot more heat than light
over the past two weeks. Experts at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)
have reviewed the emails in question and concluded that while they "do raise
some valid concerns about scientific integrity, they do not indicate that climate
data and research have been compromised."

UCS's
backgrounder on the emails corrects misconceptions about what the emails
say, including a straightforward explanation of how using a "trick" and the
phrase "hide the decline" refer to valid scientific methods for dealing with
past temperature data that have both been discussed openly in the scientific literature.

Regardless, opponents of climate legislation have been spreading
misinformation about the emails and the scientists involved. Their vitriolic
attacks have led to death
threats against some of the climate scientists on the emails, the Guardian
reported today.