British journalist, George Monbiot, author of “Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning” has admitted that the emails from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia that were leaked last week “could scarcely be more damaging” and has apologized for not having been a “better journalist.” This is a remarkable admission from a life-long advocate of left-wing political and green activism.
Advocates of climate change have been shrill in their claims that “the science is settled” and that anyone questioning global warming is the equivalent of a Holocaust denier. Al Gore and other leading proponents of global warming have avoided debating their opponents and prefer to look silly on entertainment shows rather than engage in serious debate.
Monbiot writes in the British newspaper, the UK Guardian:
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. Some of the data discussed in the emails should be re-analysed.
In a response to a comment to the article he adds:
I apologise. I was too trusting of some of those who provided the evidence I championed. I would have been a better journalist if I had investigated their claims more closely.
Monbiot is not ready to change his views, hardly surprising given that he has devoted his career to advocate global warming and related causes. He claims that the leaks only “damage the credibility of three or four scientists.” He cites a crazy email he received as proof that climate change skeptics make up outrageous conspiracy theories to advance their cause. Again, this is not surprising given how much of his life Monbiot has dedicated to the cause.
Still, Monbiot admission of the damage that the leaked emails have done to his cause, his call to reanalyze some of the data, his call for the head of the CRU to resign and his apology for not having been a better journalist are remarkable. While most global warming advocates have reacted defensively, Monbiot has had the intellectual integrity to admit facts damaging to his cause. It is an attitude very different from the arrogance of Al Gore and most advocates of global warming.
Thanks to Watts Up With That? for pointing me to this story.
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