Posted by Patrick Courrielche Jan 8th 2010 at bigjournalism.com
How a tiny blog and a collective of climate enthusiasts broke the biggest story in the history of global warming science – but not without a gatekeeper of the climate establishment trying to halt its proliferation.
It was triggered at the most unlikely of places. Not in the pages of a prominent science publication, or by an experienced muckraker. It was triggered at a tiny blog – a bit down the list of popular skeptic sites. With a small group of followers, a blog of this size could only start a media firestorm if seeded with just the right morsel of information, and found by just the right people. Yet it was at this location that the most lethal weapon against the global warming establishment was unleashed.
The blog was the Air Vent. The information was a link to a Russian server that contained 61 MB of files now known as Climategate. Within two weeks of the file’s introduction, the story appeared on 28,400,000 web pages.
Not entirely the “death of global warming” as many have claimed – what happened with Climategate is much more nuanced and exponentially more interesting than the headlines convey. What was triggered at this blog was the death of unconditional trust in the scientific peer review process, and the maturing of a new movement – that of peer-to-peer review.
This development may horrify the old guard, but peer-to-peer review was just what forced the release of the Climategate files – and as a consequence revealed the uncertainty of the science and the co-opting of the process that legitimizes global warming research. It was a collective of climate blogs, centered on the work of Stephen McIntyre and Ross McKitrick, which applied the pressure. With moderators and blog commenters that include engineers, PhDs, statistics whizzes, mathematic experts, software developers, and weather specialists – the label flat-earthers, as many of their opponents have attempted to brand them, seems as fitting as tagging Lady Gaga with the label demure.
This peer-to-peer review network is the group that applied the pressure and then helped authenticate and proliferate the story.
Now, as expected, the virtual organism that is the global warming establishment resisted release of the weapon. At the first appearance of the Climategate files, which contained a plethora of emails and documents from the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit, the virtual organism moved to halt their promulgation. Early on, a few of the emails were posted on Lucia Liljegren’s skeptic blog The Blackboard. Shortly after the post, Lucia, a PhD and specialist in fluid mechanics, received an email from prominent climatologist Gavin Schmidt from the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS). It said in part, “[A] word to the wise… I don’t think that bloggers are shielded under any press shield laws and so, if I were you, I would not post any content, nor allow anyone else to do so.”
In response to my inquiry about his email, Schmidt posited, “I was initially concerned that she might be in legal jeopardy in posting the stolen emails.” Gavin Schmidt was included in over 120 of the leaked correspondence.
Gavin Schmidt
When asked if she thought the Climategate documents were a big deal at first sight, Lucia responded, “Yes. In fact, I was even more sure after Gavin [Schmidt] sent me his note.”
Remember these names: Steven Mosher, Steve McIntyre, Ross McKitrick, Jeff “Id” Condon, Lucia Liljegren, and Anthony Watts. These, and their community of blog commenters, are the global warming contrarians that formed the peer-to-peer review network and helped bring chaos to Copenhagen – critically wounding the prospects of cap-and-trade legislation in the process. One may have even played the instrumental role of first placing the leaked files on the Internet.
Read the rest of the story here.
h/t to Ed Scott from a correctly admonished charles the moderator
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And so the story continues – lets see how it ends!
There are a couple more interesting reads on this site:
http://bigjournalism.com/lotts/2010/01/08/as-climategate-becomes-pressgate-questions-for-the-media/
http://bigjournalism.com/whochswender/2010/01/08/its-deja-doom-all-over-again-the-fate-of-the-earth-and-global-warming-hysteria/
Thanks for posting Anthony
Hmmm. Mann and Schmidt look an awful lot alike. I suppose one could say ‘great fraudulent minds look alike’…
The liberation of the Climategate files was a real eye-opener for me. I work in the business world, but I make use of academic papers from time to time. Engineering was my career choice, but I could have ended up in the academic world. I suppose I was naive to assume that all scientists were simply searching for knowledge and truth. I have a belief that there is a right way to behave, and now that I have discovered that my tax money is being used to fund the behaviour revealed by the Climategate files, I am not happy.
It is not just climate science peer review process that is under fire. The British Journal Lancet has also found a number of fraudulent researches passed through the peer review process. Hope the Bristish scientific coummunity will also look at their climate research establishments publications in the same manner as Lancet.
Of course you were concerned Gavin. How could we ever doubt you?
Very interesting how Schmidt appears to insinuate his every fibre into containing leaks about AGW. What with all his time spent at Real Climate and sending notes to people freely publishing publicly funded documents – when does he get to work for NASA? Or is that just a stained cloak he wears? And shouldn’t NASA’s front office look at what he’s been up to?
What Gavin is going to discover is that veiled threats against good people doing a civic duty – will not be overlooked. This email to Lucia will come back to haunt him – like Marley’s ghost.
Ah well, you wanna get rich and famous, if it takes lies and manipulating the recorded temperature history of the entire earth, so what. If you gotta pile some intimidation on top of it, so what.
I only ask myself how moderate warmers like von Storch and maybe Mojib Latif are still able to justify for themselves their own (slightly less cacophonic) scaremongering, now that the gangleaders are known to be crooks (at least to those who care to look).
Thank you, Lucia Liljegren, for having the courage to break this story, and thank you Steven Mosher, Steve McIntyre, Ross McKitrick, Jeff “Id” Condon, and Anthony Watts for keeping the ball rolling.
I should also thank Gavin Schmidt from the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) for playing his role so well.
As more climategate unfolds, don’t be surprised if you eventually uncover these words from a secret meeting about December 9, 2000:
“OK, GEORGE, YOU BE USA PRESIDENT; I’LL BE PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD!”
That’s what it looks like now,
OLiver K. Manuel
Former NASA PI for Apollo
Unfortunately the bigjournalism website is censoring posts. In response to a comment that the data, though removed from the CRU site, was still available, I posted links to 3 stories in MSM that discussed the CRU statement regarding their removal of the original data. The post including links was deleted, a follup post discussing the refusal of the CRU to supply the station names that were used was allowed to stand.
First Gavin S. tries to warn Lucia off with possibly off the cuff legalese and then goes on the record to all and sundry saying that there is nothing in these emails that are of any consequence.
SouthernMan (01:52:58)
Follow the money and the 1000:1 ratio in research spending (State
pro AGW : private skeptical).
I don’t think Lucia has ever identified as skeptic, let alone a denier. Lukewarmer maybe.
Repeated paragraph needs deleting
Cheers
A new ruling by the Supreme Court in Canada will allow journalists and bloggers greater protection from defamation lawsuits, establishing the new defence of responsible journalism.
http://pathstoknowledge.net/2010/01/09/the-new-defense-of-responsible-journalism
Keep that snowball rolling. Hopefully it’ll roll right over a large number of politicians.
Here in the USA, some Democrats are already announcing they’re retiring, leaving open seats for free-for-all elections this year. Same for a few of the RINO (Republican In Name Only) politicians.
P.S. How cold is it? Jurassic Parka! http://sale.images.woot.com/Jurassic_ParkapjeDetail.png
This whole scandal reminds me of a quote attributed to Stalin:
“It’s not the people who vote that count. It’s the people who count the votes.”
In the world of global warming this can be translated to:
“It’s not the temperature readings that determine the science. It’s the scientists who adjust the temperature readings.”
Isn’t it nice to hear that our dear Dr S is so concerned with the well-being of others!
“Steven Mosher, Steve McIntyre, Ross McKitrick, Jeff “Id” Condon, Lucia Liljegren, and Anthony Watts.”
First of all, THANKS to these individuals.
Yet, I find the signals coming from the CRU investigation to be disturbing, as I feel they are investigating the wrong matters. I wouldn’t want to be in Jeff Id’s shoes right now. Even if it was a whistle-blower on the inside, the Law may not see it that way. Illegally accessing information can be done by downloading with key strokes, or getting it through someone inside. The result is the same – illegal possession.
Of course – this is not what the story ought to be about. The question is: Are we dealing with an out-of-control government and justice or not?
We’ll soon find out.
ad (02:18:34) :
If you don’t toe the Algore, Mann, Schmidt, Romm religious party line you are worse then a “skeptic”, you are a “denier” of the holy cause of AGW. Once you you approach the disscussion from that POV everything else fall in line. So to them yes Jeff Id and Lucia are skeptic’s and deniers, since they don’t believe the earth is going to end if we don’t do something now, nOW, NOW!
Les Francis (02:15:49) : edit
First Gavin S. tries to warn Lucia off with possibly off the cuff legalese and then goes on the record to all and sundry saying that there is nothing in these emails that are of any consequence.
Well he would wouldn’t he. Being up to his neck in the whole affair.
FWIW, the paragraph:
Not entirely the “death of global warming” as many have claimed – what happened with Climategate is much more nuanced and exponentially more interesting than the headlines convey. What was triggered at this blog was the death of unconditional trust in the scientific peer review process, and the maturing of a new movement – that of peer-to-peer review.
Looks to me like it is repeated twice… [Reply: Thanks, fixed. ~dbs]
Also, BTW, I think the more powerfull process is “Peer to PUBLIC” review. Forget all this Editor as Gatekeeper and peer review stuff. It is straight up Joe Sixpack Review that is turning up the truth.
“The truth needs no Gatekeeper. -E.M.Smith”
From just another joe sixpack…
{BTW, I like Pilsner most… but Sam Adams is good too 😉 and I really meant it when I said ‘just another joe sixpack’ … }
Otter (01:48:23) :
“Hmmm. Mann and Schmidt look an awful lot alike. I suppose one could say ‘great fraudulent minds look alike’…”
One thing I’ve noticed is that Schmidt always looks to be well wrapped up against global warming. And Mann is always sitting amongst a pile of logs for the wood burning stove. One thing’s for sure: trees make for better fuel than they do thermometers.
Science, that great bastion of Western endeavour that has prolonged our lives, given us a comfortable existence and eliminated many of the desperate counters to a civilised society, has been sullied by these cheap, myopic, idealogical fools.
A decade hence, the Team ‘scientists’ will be remembered for nothing more than how not to do science.
The reputation of science itself will take much longer to be restored and that is the real tragedy of the AGW fallacy.
Lucia has posted her comments about this email from Gavin:
http://rankexploits.com/musings/2010/climategate-article-patrick-courrielche/