This claim stems from the 2009 controversy widely known as "Climategate". It does not represent modern consensus, and the premise that scientists were "skewing data to support climate change" was thoroughly investigated and refuted. [1, 2]
The essential details of this event:
- The Leak: In November 2009, thousands of private emails and documents were hacked and leaked from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia in the UK, just weeks before the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
- The Allegations: Critics and climate change skeptics pulled specific quotes from the emails, arguing that researchers were manipulating or "hiding" data to exaggerate the reality of global warming.
- The Investigations: Following the public outcry, several independent inquiries were conducted, including reviews by the UK House of Commons Science and Technology Committee and an Independent Climate Change Email Review.
- The Verdict: The investigations exonerated the scientists of major scientific misconduct or fraud. Reviewers found that the phrases cited by critics (such as using a "trick" to "hide the decline") were taken out of context; they actually referred to standard, legitimate statistical methods used by climatologists to combine different types of data (like tree-ring measurements and instrumental thermometer readings).
- The Aftermath: While the scientists were cleared of falsifying data, independent review panels did criticize them for a lack of transparency and for how they handled Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]
Change is certainly natural and continual. It is also the main reason species have gone extinct.
So YOU don't see a solution so we should all stop working on it? Got it.
Earth survives, sure. Mankind survives, maybe.
})
})
