ACEIZE Tracking the current state of Science and Technology

Michael Goodfellow, of free-the-memes.net, put together a wonderful analysis of the leaked climate change emails. He balances the standard practices of scientific researchers against the unique situation of a politically charged topic to assess the potential fallout of the leaked emails and any impact those emails may have on the science of man-made global warming.

For context, about three weeks ago a set of emails were leaked from a British research office called the Climate Research Unit (CRU). These emails included correspondence with many top names in climate research. A much touted conference on global warming is scheduled to take place in Copenhagen this week. Currently there are three main schools of thought about global warming. 1. Global warming is a man made phenomenon and can be curtailed and contained by limiting CO2 emissions. 2. The causes of global warming cannot be proven at this time. Or to quote Mr. Goodfellow, "the current data, models and theories of climate aren't solid enough to say one way or the other if humans are warming the planet.". 3. People who don't think that global warming is happening at all.

There is a big political hub-bub about this right now. For the most part people believe very strongly about the subject one way or another, especially groups 1 and 3. Generally speaking Goodfellow concludes that these leaked emails are mainly just a black eye for the people at CRU. Looking closer, however, the science behind theories of man made global warming is pretty shaky. Goodfellow tends towards accepting this as standard scientific practice. He does, however, note how little data has been used in generating current models and also how much 'massaging' of the data has occurred. The CRU people apparently also destroyed original source data? If true, that seems appalling to me, however, having a background in anthropology may be coloring my perception of what is proper.

What does all this mean for the future of world politics? Nothing. The current climate treaties in Copenhagen are not likely to be impacted at all. Many attending countries have already pledged to make CO2 reductions and support the treaty.