George Monbiot, the Grand Poobah of British global warming society, is horrified by the growing email scandal.
Just a few months ago he warned that global warming denial was spreading like a contagious disease. Now he appears to have come down with a mild case of it himself.
It’s no use pretending this isn’t a major blow. The emails extracted by a hacker from the climatic research unit at the University of East Anglia could scarcely be more damaging. I am now convinced that they are genuine, and I’m dismayed and deeply shaken by them.
Yes, the messages were obtained illegally. Yes, all of us say things in emails that would be excruciating if made public. Yes, some of the comments have been taken out of context. But there are some messages that require no spin to make them look bad. There appears to be evidence here of attempts to prevent scientific data from being released, and even to destroy material that was subject to a freedom of information request.
Worse still, some of the emails suggest efforts to prevent the publication of work by climate sceptics, or to keep it out of a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. I believe that the head of the unit, Phil Jones, should now resign.
Now we’re waiting to hear something as honest from Al Gore. (Please forgive us for using the mutually exclusive words “honest” and “Gore” in the same sentence.)
Source: Tim Blair
