The Cold Water That Has Been Thrown On Global Warming
The Washington Post has an article today (11-23-09) about the now infamous Global Warming Emails. It is not a pretty picture.
In case you missed the original story, click here.
What the WaPo article highlights is the campaign that has gone on to suppress by intimidation the scientists who have questioned the conclusion that there is global warming (beyond the normal cycle) and what it is caused by. The emails show that the data and the interpretative analysis has, in some cases, been manipulated to produce the "desired" conclusion. The article pinpoints two ways this is done: By using what is known as the "peer review" process and the professional publication system. In short, what it shows is that the supposedly "scientific research" community is just as political as any other system that pushes a particular point of view but tries to make it appear as objective. Such as the media.
What the article omits from scrutiny is the money chase in scientific research. There the issue is who gets the grants and contracts that fund the salaries of these "objective" scientists. While that is another story, we would posit that money is the real culprit, and driver, in this global warming debate.
We should say that not all scientists or researchers are out to manipulate the knowledge base within which they operate. But obviously some are. And that in and of itself means that simply because a paper or a book is published by a "respected" journal or publishing operation or reviewed by "the right people" does not make it valid or legitimate. In the emails it can be seen that there was a conspiracy to not cite the works of some of the opponents of the "party line" on global warming. And the article makes a point about the manipulation that occurs when supposedly prestigious professional journals that publish "summary of the research" documents that are used to generate funds or impact public policy pick and choose which research will be reviewed based on who the authors are rather than on the validity and reliability of the research methodology.Read Morehttp://www.beaufortobserver.net/Articles-c-2009-11-23-240258.112112_The_cold_water_that_has_been_thrown_on
