As climate change disbelievers cynically spin and take advantage of the so-called Climategate controversy, the Earth’s climate, landscapes, and oceans continue to change due to anthropogenic influences. These data and observations point to a warming earth: (1) the earth continues to warm as CO₂ rises, resulting in a greenhouse effect—in fact “the decade of the 2000s will end as the warmest ever on global temperature charts;” (2) the Arctic continues to warm and Arctic sea ice continues to melt and set records, as the U.S. Coast Guard is forced to patrol further north and the region is closed to fishing (consequently, observations are prompting policy decisions); (3) for people living in the Arctic region, such as the Inuit, coastal erosion is claiming villages and livelihoods as (4) sea levels continue to rise; (5) the Greenland Ice Sheet continues to melt faster than expected; (6) the Arctic tree line continues to advance north as the Earth warms; (7) tundra melting is increasing and consequently, the tundra is becoming greener, but a dangerous feedback loop is also occurring; (8) upward migrations of alpine species are observable, as are latitudinal migrations of animals such as birds and mammals; (9) glacial melting continues to increase; (10) oceans are becoming more acidic with time as atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide increase (in fact, “the oceans have absorbed about 50% of the carbon dioxide (CO₂) released from the burning of fossil fuels, resulting in chemical reactions that lower ocean pH”); (11) ocean acidification has negative impacts on calcifying organisms, thus ocean food chains; and (12) desertification is expanding as the Earth warms. Yet cynics, politicians, pundits, and liars such as Sarah Palin, George Will, and Jim Inhofe, continue to immerse themselves in willful ignorance. The situation is heartbreaking, because denialism has certainly resulted in lost opportunities and time. Where were these denialists when the Bush II Administration was actively suppressing climate change data and muzzling government scientists? Where were the cynics when fake lobbying letters were tied to coal and power companies? Their behavior is revealing. From Scientific American:

Arctic sea ice continues to dwindle—as do glaciers across the globe; average temperatures have increased by 0.7 degree Celsius in the past century and the last decade is the warmest in the instrumental record; spring has sprung forward, affecting everything from flower blossoms to animal migrations; and the concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases continue to rise, reaching 387 parts per million in 2009, a rise of 30 percent since 1750.

Nor has the fundamental physics of the greenhouse effect changed: CO2 in the atmosphere continues to trap heat that would otherwise slip into space, as was established by Irish scientist John Tyndall in 1859. “There is a natural greenhouse effect, that’s what keeps the planet livable,” noted climate modeler Gavin Schmidt of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) during a Friday conference call with reporters organized by the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank. “Without it, we’d be 33 degrees Celsius colder than we are. That’s been known for hundreds of years.”

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In fact, nothing in the stolen e-mails or computer code undermines in any way the scientific consensus—which exists among scientific publications as well as scientists—that climate change is happening and humans are the cause. “There is a robust consensus that humans are altering the atmosphere and warming the planet,” said meteorologist Michael Mann of The Pennsylvania State University, who also participated in the conference call and was among the scientists whose e-mails have been leaked. “Further increases in greenhouse gases will lead to increasingly greater disruption.”

Some of the kerfuffle rests on a misreading of the e-mails’ wording. For example, the word“trick” in one message, which has been cited as evidence that a conspiracy is afoot, is actually being used to describe a mathematical approach to reconciling observed temperatures with stand-in data inferred from tree ring measurements.

Climate Cover-Up tracks the aggressive global warming denial movement to frustrate climate science and obscure the debate on climate change. From DeSmogBlog:

Starting in the early 1990s, three large American industry groups set to work on strategies to cast doubt on the science of climate change. Even though the oil industry’s own scientists had declared, as early as 1995, that human-induced climate change was undeniable, the American Petroleum Institute, the Western Fuels Association (a coal-fired electrical industry consortium) and a Philip Morris-sponsored anti-science group called TASSC all drafted and promoted campaigns of climate change disinformation.

The success of those plans is self-evident. A Yale/George Mason University poll taken late in 2008 showed that — 20 years after President George H.W. Bush promised to beat the greenhouse effect with the “White House effect” — a clear majority of Americans still say they either doubt the science of climate change or they just don’t know. Climate Cover-Up explains why they don’t know. Tracking the global warming denial movement from its inception, public relations advisor James Hoggan (working with journalist Richard Littlemore), reveals the details of those early plans and then tracks their execution, naming names and exposing tactics in what has become a full-blown attack on the integrity of the public conversation.

The attempt to access private e-mails and spin climate change data goes beyond hacking. From Climate Progress:

It has now been reported that the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Center is not the only victim of such a criminal invasion: burglars and hackers have also attacked the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis at the University of Victoria in British Columbia:

Andrew Weaver, a University of Victoria scientist and key contributor to the Nobel prize-winning work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, says there have been a number of attempted breaches in recent months, including two successful break-ins at his campus office in which a dead computer was stolen and papers were rummaged through.

These attacks go beyond simple burglary. University of Victoria spokeswoman Patty Pitts told the National Post “there have also been attempts to hack into climate scientists’ computers, as well as incidents in which people impersonated network technicians to try to gain access to campus offices and data.”

For thirty years, defenders of a pollution-based economy have intimidated, smeared, and suppressed climate science, using a playbook perfected by the tobacco industry and Karl Rove. Now — as the United States, led by President Barack Obama, finally appears ready to join the world in the fight against global warming — the opponents of reform are resorting to criminal desperation, harkening back to the paranoia-fueled extremes of Richard Nixon.

However, do to exaggeration, the so-called Climategate may turn against climate change deniers. More from mongabay.com:

Even the Washington Post, which has come under fire from climatologists for publishing several op-eds by George Will denying climate change, has stated that “none of [the emails] seriously undercuts the scientific consensus on climate change” and “by our reckoning — and that of most scientists, policymakers and almost every government in the world — the probability that the planet will warm in the long term because of human activity is extremely high, and the probability that allowing it to do so unabated will have disastrous effects is unacceptably large”.

Also in the Washington Post, science historian and author of The Discovery of Global Warming, Spencer Weart, calls the belief in a conspiracy on climate change “extraordinary and, frankly, weird”. He explains that “in blogs, talk radio and other new media, we are told that the warnings about future global warming issued by the national science academies, scientific societies, and governments of all the leading nations are not only mistaken, but based on a hoax, indeed a conspiracy that must involve thousands of respected researchers”.

Video: Climate change denialists, whether amateurs or professionals like FOX NEWS or Rush Limbaugh, should do their due diligence before jumping on the conspiracy bandwagon (e.g., completely read, research, and fact check the claims:

On the Net:

1. Portions of Arctic Coastline Eroding, No End in Sight, Says New Study

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