By Ira Mark Egdall
From Physicsworld.com, Aug. 30, 2011:
Climate scientist cleared of research misconduct.
“Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) climate scientist Michael Mann has been cleared of research misconduct following an inquiry by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) at the National Science Foundation (NSF). The OIG agreed with the conclusions of a previous investigation by the university last year that ‘cleared [Mann] of any wrongdoing’ and has now closed the case.”
Aha. So Mann has been exonerated, and the so-called “Climategate” issue dispelled. Some sceptics had charged Mann and colleagues with “falsification and destruction of data.” Feeding on this, some politicians declare human-influenced global warming is a hoax based on climate scientists manipulating data.
This is an old lawyer trick. If you can’t dispute the facts, challenge the integrity of the source. Please don’t fall for it. Will these pundits and politicians now announce that Michael Mann has been cleared of any wrongdoing? I doubt it.
It is all so sad. This should not be a political issue. It is a science issue. CNN reports that 97 percent of climatologists agree that global warming exists and that humans play a role (see link below). I am not a climate expert, but this overwhelming consensus scares the hell out of me. As one of my friends put it, if you were told by 97 out of 100 doctors that you, God forbid, had cancer — would you do nothing about it?
Link
http://articles.cnn.com/2009-01-19/world/eco.globalwarmingsurvey_1_global-warming-climate-science-human-activity?_s=PM:WORLD
My website: marksmodernphysics.com