Quick Fact: Drudge, Washington Times falsely claim allegedly hacked emails show global warming is not real
Published
The Drudge Report suggested that global warming is “junk science,” by linking to a Washington Times editorial that falsely claims a series of emails that were reportedly stolen from the UK's Climate Research Unit [CRU] show that global warming is an “unproven theory.” In fact, the validity of climate science is not hinged on the contents of these emails, some of which conservative media have taken out of context; reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the leading scientific body for assessing climate change research, are the product of thousands of scientists worldwide.
Drudge, Wash. Times editorial falsely suggest stolen emails show that global warming is “junk science” and an “unproven theory”
Washington Times: “Revelations of fudged science should have a cooling effect on global-warming.” A November 24 Washington Times editorial, titled, “Hiding evidence of global cooling,” claimed that emails stolen from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) at the University of Anglia (UEA) show that “these revelations of fudged science should have a cooling effect on global-warming hysteria and the panicked policies that are being pushed forward to address the unproven theory.”
The Drudge Report: “Paper: Junk science exposed among climate-change believers...” Internet gossip Matt Drudge linked to the Times editorial on the Drudge Report with the headline, “Paper: Junk science exposed among climate-change believers.” From the Drudge Report:
Fact: NASA scientist: Emails do not show that “global warming is a hoax”
NASA's Gavin Schmidt: Critics “are using language used in science and interpreting it in a completely different way.” Wired's Threat Level blog reported on November 20 that Gavin Schmidt, a climate scientist at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said: “There's nothing in the e-mails that shows that global warming is a hoax. ... There's no funding by nefarious groups. There's no politics in any of these things; nobody from the [United Nations] telling people what to do. There's nothing hidden, no manipulation. It's just scientists talking about science, and they're talking relatively openly as people in private e-mails generally are freer with their thoughts than they would be in a public forum. The few quotes that are being pulled out [are out] of context. People are using language used in science and interpreting it in a completely different way.” Schmidt is a contributor to the Real Climate blog, which has stated that some of the stolen CRU emails “involve people” at Real Climate.
Fact: Thousands of scientists from around the world participate in IPCC process
IPCC: “Thousands of scientists from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC on a voluntary basis.” The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which is a scientific body established by the United Nations and World Meteorological Organisation, has established that “warming of the climate system is unequivocal.” The IPCC “reviews and assesses the most recent scientific, technical and socio-economic information produced worldwide,” and its reports are the product of contributions from "[t]housands of scientists from all over the world."