14 DAY TRIAL // The excellently-timed leak of (modified) private e-mail from climate researchers led in 2009 to a sharp decline in the number of those who believe in global warming in the United States. Now, a poll shows that those numbers are slowly improving.
Three years ago, a server belonging to the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia (UEA), in the UK, was hacked, and e-mails between researchers leaked. They were edited in such a way as to appear that the experts had no data to support the existence of global warming.
Furthermore, the documents were made to look as if scientists were actively trying to conceal the truth from the public. The climate skeptic blogosphere had a field day with these e-mails, completely ignoring such things as accuracy or integrity.
The general public was shamelessly manipulated into believing that climate scientists were trying to promote a Socialist conspiracy, the purpose of which remains mysterious to everyone even now.
Also, the fact that the e-mails were leaked just days before the critically important 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference (which subsequently ended in complete failure) seemed to raise no eyebrows among self-titled climate skeptics.
This was an instance in which the very nature of science worked against it. Laymen have a hard time keeping up with precise, extremely-specialized terminology, which means that they are left vulnerable to outside manipulation by politicians, lobby groups, corporations and so on.
However, the fact remains that eight separate investigations into the 2009 leaks revealed no wrong-doings on the part of CRU researchers, unmasking the entire “scandal” as a well-executed stunt. However, the damage was done.
Before the UN conference, in the fall of 2009, about 65 percent of Americans believed in global warming. By the spring of 2010, that number had gone down to 52 percent, while the number of those who did not believe the phenomenon was happening nearly doubled, from 20 percent to 36 percent.
In the fall of 2011, about 62 percent of poll respondents believe the scientific consensus on the matter, 26 percent did not, as 12 percent were not sure. Though these levels are appallingly low for something that is a fact, it's still better than nothing.
Unfortunately, some people are in the habit of agreeing with science only when it suits their other interests. The rest of the time, they are busy discrediting good people who dedicate their lives to making ours better.
The poll (pdf) is available for download here.