The investigations are in, the story is nonsense, but that hasn’t stopped the
anti science movement from pursuing it’s agenda.

Script:

Climate Crock Sacks Hack Attack: The Wrap

Clueless Denier: “The Theory of man-made global warming has been debunked, by several thousand emails which were released by very, very nice hackers….very nice people.”

For a complete dissection of the phony climate email hacking story, see the previous videos linked here [Climate Crock Sacks Hack Attack].

The investigations are in, the story is nonsense, but that hasn’t stopped the anti-science movement from pursuing its agenda.

ABC News: Many prominent climate scientists now saying that they are being severely harassed…

Michael Mann: “I hope somebody gets you in a dark alley…”

ABC: The FBI tells ABC news that it’s looking at a spike in threatening emails to climate scientists like Penn State’s Michael Mann.

Mann: “6 feet under with the roots is where you should be.  I was hoping I would see the news that you committed suicide. Do it.”  “It’s an attempt to chill the discourse, and I think that’s what’s most disconcerting.”

ABC: A white supremacist website recently posted Mann’s picture, alongside several other climate scientists, with the word “Jew” next to each image.

Clueless Denier: ‘Very nice people.”

For professional anti-science activists like Marc Morano, threats and
intimidation are an essential part of the democratic process.

Marc Morano: “The public is appropriately angry at these scientists, and again, no one’s advocating violence, but it is refreshing to see these scientists hear from the public.”

It’s refreshing to hear that Mr Morano finds death threats refreshing. [The leak was bad. Then came the death threats, Feb 2010]

Clueless Denier: “Very nice people.”

As his contribution to civility in the dialogue, Mr Morano has called for climate scientists to be publicly flogged. Since a new inquisition has not yet been declared, Mr Morano contents himself to publish scientists’ emails on his website, inviting readers to send refreshing comments.

The twelfth-century theme has been picked up by others in the anti-science camp.
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is most famous for his crusade against the indecency of the Virginia State Seal, which he finds entirely too arousing [Breast On Virginia Seal Covered Up].  Mr Cuccinelli has launched a probe into climate research conducted by the University of Virginia, which the Washington Post called a “War on freedom of Academic Inquiry”. [U-Va. should fight Cuccinelli’s faulty investigation of Michael Mann]

Another well-known science denier, and defender of public morality, is Senator James Inhofe

Senator James Inhofe: I’m really proud to say that in the recorded history of our family, we’ve never had a divorce or any kind of a homosexual relationship.

In language reminiscent of the McCarthy era, Mr Inhofe has called for some of the world’s best scientists to be prosecuted as criminals. [Sen. Inhofe inquisition seeking ways to criminalize and prosecute 17 leading climate scientists]

The prestigious journal, Nature, has noted that for climate deniers, “civility, honesty, fact and perspective are irrelevant”, and the “scientists must acknowledge, they are in a street fight.” [Climate of fear]

Fortunately, though their tactics are medieval, in the battle of wits, climate deniers have come lightly armed.

The climatehack story has now been thoroughly investigated by major journalistic and scientific organizations across the planet.

• The Associated Press wrote that nothing in the emails “undercuts the vast body of evidence showing showing the world is warming because of man-made greenhouse gas emissions.” [Review: E-mails show pettiness, not fraud]
• Factcheck.org declared that nothing in the hacked emails changes the science behind global warming, finding such claims “wide of the mark”. [“Climategate” Hacked e-mails show climate scientists in a bad light but don’t change scientific consensus on global warming.]
• Senator Inhofe’s charges were examined by Pulitzer Prize winning Politifact .com and earned a resounding “false” on it’s “truth-o-meter” rating system. [The Climatic Research Unit e-mails show that the science behind climate change “has been pretty well debunked.”]

But for the anti-science movement, denial is a hard habit to break.

• An investigation by Penn State University into scientist Michael Mann, a prominent figure in the affair, turned up “no substance, and no credible evidence” of any wrongdoing. [RA-10 Inquiry Report: Concerning Allegations of Research Misconduct Against Dr Michael E. Mann, Feb 2010]
• A major inquiry by the UK House of Commons concluded, “..insofar as we have been able to consider accusations of dishonesty…. we consider that there is no case to answer.” [The disclosure of climate data from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia]
• The journal Nature, in its investigation, found no evidence of the alleged scientific conspiracy. [Climatologists under pressure]

In the continuing reviews, climate deniers have found themselves increasingly disarmed.

• The American Association for the Advancement of Science once again reviewed the evidence, and reiterated that “…global climate change caused by human activities, is now underway, and is a growing threat to society.” [AAAS Reaffirms Statements on Climate Change and Integrity]
• The American Meteorological Society conducted its own evaluation of the evidence, and reaffirmed, yet again, the science behind global climate change.[Impact of CRU Hacking on the AMS Statement on Climate Change]
• The Geological Society of America conducted a review of it’s own position statement on global climate, in light of the most recent findings, and concluded,

“(the Society concurs with assessments by the National Academies of Science, the National Research Council, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, that global climate has warmed and that human activities (mainly greenhouse‐gas emissions) account for most of the warming since the middle 1900s” [GSA Position Statement on Climate Change]

A dramatic and unusual statement by 255 members of the National Academy of
Science [Climate Change and the Integrity of Science], published in the Journal Science, stated,

“……when some conclusions have been thoroughly and deeply tested, questioned, and examined, they gain the status of “well-established theories” and are often spoken of as “facts.”

“When someone says that society should wait until scientists are absolutely certain before taking any action, it is the same as saying society should never take action. For a problem as potentially catastrophic as climate change, taking no action poses a dangerous risk for our planet.”

Climate deniers have been left without a leg to stand on, but lack of evidence
has never been a hindrance to the anti-science chorus, like Reverend Moon’s Washington Times [EDITORIAL: Climate alarmists on the run Oxford University students lose faith in warming, May 2010], a bewildering menagerie of shrill and paranoid websites, and the quiet, soft spoken men, in comfortable offices, who sound the silent dog whistle message to a small, but essential fraction of their readers.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, hundreds died last month in south Asia, as a
recent hellish heat wave pushed temperatures in Pakistan to an astonishing 53.5°C (128.3°F) on Wednesday May 26. [Hundreds die in Indian heatwave]

NASA announced that the 12-month running mean global temperature has reached a new record high.

And northern polar ice extent reached a new historic low for this date, eclipsing the
record set in 2007.

In Stanford University polling data [The Climate Majority],

“86 percent of respondents said they wanted government to limit the amount of air pollution that businesses emit, and

76 percent favored limiting emissions of greenhouse gases in particular.”

A similar poll by Yale researchers  [Climate Change in the American Mind: Americans’ Global Warming Beliefs and Attitudes in June 2010] showed:

77 percent of Americans supported regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant, and

65 percent support a treaty to cut CO2 emissions by 90 percent by the year 2050.

Perhaps some day, climate deniers will succeed in banning scientific inquiry, intellectual freedom, and nipples. But we hope not, our lives would be poorer for it.

I hope you’ll keep coming back to this series, where we cut through the noise,
seek the best information on global climate, and we don’t just swallow anything.

… at Climate Denial Crock of the Week.

References

Climate Crock Sacks Hack Attack

Morano: Public flogging

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=climate-cyber-bullying
http://www.climatesciencewatch.org/index.php/csw/details/denialist-morano-rejoicing/

Politifact

The Climatic Research Unit e-mails show that the science behind climate change “has been pretty well debunked.”

Factcheck.org

“Climategate” Hacked e-mails show climate scientists in a bad light but don’t change scientific consensus on global warming.

Cuccinelli

U-Va. should fight Cuccinelli’s faulty investigation of Michael Mann, The Washington Post, May 2010
U-Va. “exploring options” on Cuccinelli climate change subpoena, The Washington Post, May 2010
Washington Post Editorial Page Condemns Cuccinelli, Discover,
Breast On Virginia Seal Covered Up, The Huffington Post, June 2010

Inhofe

Sen. Inhofe inquisition seeking ways to criminalize and prosecute 17 leading climate scientists, ClimateScienceWatch.org, Feb 2010

Nature

Climatologists under pressure, Dec 2009

Climate of fear, March 2010

AAAS

AAAS Reaffirms Statements on Climate Change and Integrity, Dec 2009

American Meteorological Society

Impact of CRU Hacking on the AMS Statement on Climate Change, Nov 2009

The Geological Society of America

GSA Position Statement on Climate Change, April 2010

National Academy of Science

Climate Change and the Integrity of Science, May 2010

Associated Press: Climategate not fraud

Science not faked, but not pretty, Dec 2009.
Review: E-mails show pettiness, not fraud, Dec 2009.
AP IMPACT: Science Not Faked, but Not Pretty, Dec 2009.

Pennsylvania State University

RA-10 Inquiry Report: Concerning Allegations of Research Misconduct Against Dr Michael E. Mann, Feb 2010

House of Commons: Nothing to Climategate

The disclosure of climate data from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, March 2010
‘Climategate’ Scientist Admits ‘Awful E-Mails,’ but Peers Say IPCC Conclusions Remain Sound, The New York Times, March 2010

Pakistan heat wave:

Hundreds die in Indian heatwave, May 2010

Asia records its hottest temperature in history, May 2010

NASA Heat record

Global Surface Temperature Change, Hansen, Ruedy, Satao, Lo, June 2010
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7142976.ece
http://climateprogress.org/2010/06/03/nasa-giss-james-hansen-study-global-warming-record-hottest-year/

Record Low Arctic ice

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2010/06/03/Study-Arctic-ice-at-record-low-point/UPI-81911275592353/
http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/

Polls

The Climate Majority, The New York Times, June 2010

Climate Change in the American Mind: Americans’ Global Warming Beliefs and Attitudes in June 2010, Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication