Penn State Earth Systems Science Center Director Correctly Calls "Climategate" a "smear campaign"

On the Diane Rehm Show this morning, there was an extensive discussion about the upcoming Copenhagen climate change conference. Guests were Center for American Progress President John Podesta, Wall Street Journal Reporter Stephen Power, American Enterprise Institute Resident Scholar Kenneth Green, and Penn State University Earth Systems Science Center Director Michael Mann. I thought the entire discussion was fascinating, but I particularly enjoyed Michael Mann's demolition of the ridiculous, idiotic "climategate" controversy. Here's the real story:

It's important to understand here that the timing of this event is rather suspect. We're one week away from this historic summit in Copenhagen, where leaders from around the world will be meeting to discuss how to combat the threat of human-caused climate change. And going into that meeting, there's a very robust consensus among the world's scientists that the problem is real and there's something that we need to do about it.

Now there is, of course, a group of people and there are special interests who do not want to see any progress made at this summit. And frankly, they don't have the science on their side. The science behind human-caused climate change is quite solid. The National Academy of Science in the U.S. has weighed in on this...there is in fact a consensus behind the reality of climate change. So, the other side doesn't have the science on their side, and instead they've engaged frankly in what I believe is a smear campaign; stolen emails, taken out of context, mined for single words or phrases that can be twisted and taken out of context, in many cases to completely misrepresent the context of what was being discussed.

...let me stress again that there is nothing in any of these emails that in an way calls into question the consensus of the world's scientists that the problem of climate change is real and that we need to do something to confront it. So my hope is that people will see through this fairly thinly disguised smear campaign and recognize that in no way does anything in any of these emails call into question the validity of the science behind human-caused climate change.

So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen, the real story of the phony, slimy "climate email scandal". Now, as Diane Rehm said, let's move on and "talk more substantively about the conference." Or, as Gawker writes, "we're sorry that someone is scolding grown-ups for polluting the planet, but, you know, it really can't be argued that that is anyone else's fault."

P.S. By the way, it's worth emphasizing that Professor Mann is an actual climatologist, author of more than 80 peer-reviewed journal publications. In other words, a real expert on the subject. What a concept! :)

P.P.S. Please be aware that global warming deniers' comments on this blog are subject to immediate deletion, as they are: a) lies; b) completely uninteresting; and c) wasting everyone's time.