Debate about global warming is heating up again

Discussions about climate change and global warming seem to come and go every few months.  While new studies and reports are being published all the time, it takes something big to bring the debate back to the forefront.

Something big happened again this week.

Computer hackers broke into the database of a respected research center in Britain and stole thousands of documents and emails pertaining to global warming. People who are skeptical about climate change say the documents prove the data used in peer-reviewed scientific articles was manipulated to show the earth is warming because of increasing amounts of carbon dioxide. The Business Mirror website called it "Climate-Change Fraud."

Other websites have supposedly posted the stolen emails online so you can search them yourselves, but keep in mind there's no way to know if the data is authentic. By the way, one of the emails was sent to a "theller" which was not me.

Unfortunately for those who support global warming theories, the response from the people who wrote some of the emails has been luke-warm, pardon the pun.  They told the Wall Street Journal the emails reveal "nothing more than trivial data discrepancies and procedural debates." Others said they needed to talk with their lawyers before saying anything. The website RealClimate addressed the stolen emails, but the heady blog post is probably too complicated for real folks to comprehend.

This doesn't look good for the many, many scientists who research global warming.  Now, everything and anything written about climate change will be in doubt, even if it's accurate. 

I suppose that's the point. Dr. Jeff Masters from Weather Underground wrote an excellent blog post about the stolen emails and "manufactured doubt."  Masters outlines similar attempts by lobbyists and public relations firms to discredit legitimate research. What's more shocking is amount of money being spent to try and convince the public that humans are not the cause of global warming: almost $37 million, just in the second quarter of 2009.

The story about the leaked emails hasn't gotten a lot of play in the media, but online bloggers and non-traditional news outlets are all over this story.  I find it suspicious that out of 4000 documents most of the articles quote the exact same emails.

It's probably not a coincidence the emails were leaked just weeks before the United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen. No one expects any decision to be made at this meeting. There's too much doubt about climate change, and even more now.

Edited November 26 to add link to the RealClimate website.

Comments

[Justen Simpton]

I'm sorry, let me stress contributors. Simply suggesting that our co2 emissions can influence what is already a natural cycle.

[Aaron]

To think that humans are the main source of global warming, if it truly exists, is just plain arrogant. There are so many other factors out there that contribute to what happens to earth, some of which we probably don't even know about yet. I've always questioned global warming, mainly because the only answers anyone can think up involve higher taxes and more government control. Until they come up with better data and better solutions, I know where I stand on the matter.

[Justen Simpton]

We are surely contributors to global warming. Many natural cycles can be aggravated. How interesting that these concerns sparked by the 2005 hurricane season have brought about such confusion.

[Carolyn]

Yep - I did a Hurricane math project for an math education project recently. Statistics show for this decade compared to other decades we havnt had more hurricanes than usual. Comparing major hurricanes trends over last 500 years (of course incomplete data) is different than last 100 to 150 years too. Poor Indianola didnt know about global warming.

But water temperature data should make hurricane strength predictions better now.