The Associated Press has published an independent investigation into the scientific implications of the recent emails hacked from East Anglia University in England.  In, “AP IMPACT: Science not faked, but not pretty”, AP writers Seth Borenstein, Raphael Satter, and Malcolm Ritter concluded that “the messages don’t support claims that the science of global warming was faked.” But the article misses two very important points and stumbles in its logic.  First, regarding the scientific consensus, the reporters conclude:  “However, the [email] exchanges don’t undercut the vast body of evidence showing the world is warming because of man-made greenhouse gas emissions.”

The emails, as the article admits, reveal that “skeptical” scientists were stonewalled, blacklisted, and repeatedly denied access to data under the FOI.  If the views of these scientists had been welcomed as a check and balance on the work of others, if they had been made partners at the table, if they had been given full access to the same data, if their research was published, and if those who opposed their findings had been forced to respond to their conclusions in peer reviewed literature, then the consensus would probably look much different than it does now. 

At the very least, the pretense of utter certainty which proponents of the IPCC hypothesis maintain, would have been substantially diminished and they would have been forced to acknowledge that their position was not fully supported by the peer reviewed literature. It is circular reasoning to appeal to a consensus that was shaped by scientists conspiring to eliminate all opposition.  These scientists, though relatively few in number, wielded a disproportionate influence on the scientific community.  Moreover, from the private emails it is evident that they were less confident about their own conclusions than they appeared to be in public discourse.

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