Stolen e-mails, science and climate politics in Copenhagen

The stolen e-mails do not always show climate scientists at their best as individuals. But there is no evidence of any conspiracy or fraud, a point made separately by both a recent editorial in Nature, one of the most prestigious academic journals in the world, and the conservatively-oriented magazine The Economist. And for those interested in putting some context around the selective quotations from the e-mails that are popping up in the media, please see the discussion over at RealClimate.org.

The evidence supporting the case for dramatic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions remains overwhelming. Just last week, over 500 Canadian scientists co-signed a letter to the Prime Minister and Members of Parliament to say that climate change is happening faster than previously projected and that Canada needs to do more.

WWF-Canada, which coordinated the preparation of the letter to ensure that scientists’ voices were heard, ran a full-page ad in the Globe and Mail on Saturday. The same ad appeared in today’s Hill Times (widely read on Parliament Hill) along with a joint Letter to the Editor from WWF-Canada President Gerald Butts and leading Canadian climate researcher Andrew Weaver. Professor Weaver, along with Thomas Homer-Dixon (another noted academic who signed the letter), also had an op-ed in today’s Globe and Mail that addressed some of the myths about climate science floating through the blogosphere.

It would be wonderful if climate change didn’t pose such a threat to future generations. But it does, and the time to act is now. If we want to be remembered as decent ancestors, we need to commit to making the transition to a clean energy economy here in Canada, as part of a Fair, Ambitious and Binding global deal in Copenhagen.

Keith Stewart
Director, Climate Change Program