Sci-tech

Sci-Tech

Climate science 1, denialists 0

Climate science 1, denialists 0

A victory has been won by climate change scientists in the US after a judge denied permission to a pro-industry think-tank to access private emails at the University of Virginia. The group alleged the scientists were falsifying data. By REBECCA DAVIS.

This verdict is not just good news for the science of climate change, it’s also good for academic freedom generally in the US. In 2010 the Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli – who happens to be a climate change denialist – sued the University of Virginia to gain access to the private papers of scientist Michael Mann. Cuccinelli hoped to find evidence that Mann was falsifying climate data. The reason why Mann was – and is – a particular target was because he helped to design the “hockey stick” graph, which very clearly and accessibly lays out exactly how extreme the shift in the world’s temperatures over the past millennium has been. The graph shows global temperatures as being remarkably consistent until about 1950, when they suddenly start spiking, and it’s all up from there.

The University of Virginia rejected Cuccinelli’s demand, and Cuccinelli lost his case. But it was promptly taken up by a think-tank called American Tradition Partnership. The think-tank’s stated aim is to battle “radical environmentalist junk science head on”. It is, not coincidentally, fervently pro-industry, and has fought for the right of businesses to opt out of energy standards, for instance. On Tuesday Judge Gaylord Finch smacked them down in court, a decision which Mann called “a good day” for academic freedom. The judgement was applauded by groups like the American Association for the Advancement of Science, who said that lawsuits of the kind brought by the think-tank “have created a hostile environment that inhibits the free exchange of scientific findings and ideas”. DM



Read more:

  • Climate change scientist Michael Mann fends off sceptic group’s raid on emails, in The Guardian.

Photo: REUTERS

Gallery

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

We would like our readers to start paying for Daily Maverick...

…but we are not going to force you to. Over 10 million users come to us each month for the news. We have not put it behind a paywall because the truth should not be a luxury.

Instead we ask our readers who can afford to contribute, even a small amount each month, to do so.

If you appreciate it and want to see us keep going then please consider contributing whatever you can.

Support Daily Maverick→
Payment options

Become a Maverick Insider

This could have been a paywall

On another site this would have been a paywall. Maverick Insider keeps our content free for all.

Become an Insider

Every seed of hope will one day sprout.

South African citizens throughout the country are standing up for our human rights. Stay informed, connected and inspired by our weekly FREE Maverick Citizen newsletter.