5 February 2010

Police investigate climate change email "leaks"

Following Climate secretary, Ed Miliband's, recent labelling of sceptics of man made climate change as "profoundly dangerous" (here), it seems official action is being commenced against those who wish to expose flaws in the data used.

The Guardian article here, tells of how police are investigating those they feel may be linked to the leaked emails which exposed how data was suppressed which did not support the theories currently being championed by the government. However, some feel that the emails availability may have been a result of lax security rather than any hacking of any kind (article here) which would render the police investigation pointless.

The USA has also recently upgraded climate change by placing it on the military agenda (article here).

However, there is a growing consensus that science needs to allow itself to be more open to criticism and testing of theories, given that this is the very essence and power of science. One article I came across discussed some of the growing number of scientific debates which have been criticised for suppressing data which did not suit their purposes (here).

When science refuses to be questioned or criticised and pushes views and agenda's rather than accurate findings, the value of its contribution to mankind is greatly diminished as it mutates into a political tool for those with an agenda to push through.

If the government want to base policies on accurate information, you would think that they would welcome those that were able to help them weed fact from fiction, rather than criminalising them. Time will tell if this is the case.

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