5 minute read
Climategate: A Decade of Denial
In December 2009, world leaders came together at Copenhagen to address the issues of climate change and collectively take the first steps on the long road to global environmental health. However, even before the first words were spoken, thousands of documents and emails had been hacked and released after heavy editing which undermined the whole process. This event was called Climategate.
“Documents were leaked, and email conversations had been edited to make it seem that climate change was false” Not only did Climategate undo previous work to raise the profile of the crisis but almost dashed the science of climate change upon the rocks of ignorance. Recently, BBC Four aired the documentary ‘Climategate: The science of scandal’ showing the horrific damage doneby the manipulation of these private documents and how, even now, world leaders are still turning a blind eye to uncomfortable and devastating truths. If we were to look at the thinking on climate change a few years before Climategate we are able to see evidence that suggest global warming was an accepted fact, notably the film from Al Gore, ‘An inconvenient Truth’ which was a box office success and key to his acceptance of a Nobel peace prize. Science had linked global warming to the burning of fossil fuels, and it seemed all that had to be done was the world
leaders to take these facts on board and come up with a plan. This would all sadly unravel however, as mining company director Steve McIntyre questioned the data, leading to miscommunication, accusation and eventually a call for confidential information. When denied this, McIntyre asked everyone on his blog to send a Freedom of Information Request to the University of East Anglia’s climate research unit. Inevitably the system crashed but with this came what many felt was the end of the whole situation, yet just four months later in November 2009 many of the scientists involved saw much of their private correspondence had been uploaded onto the internet. Even more insidious was the choice of the documents that were leaked and how the email conversations had been structured and edited to make it seem that climate change was false, a conspiracy by top climate change scientists to further their own agenda. The fallout was huge.
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Immediately the media began to report on the great climate change scam, fraudulent science and claims that tackling issues such as carbon emissions and fossil fuels were pointless as it had no effect on the environment. It seemed that the past few years of climate change certainty was horribly unravelling into an almost definitive belief that climate change was neither man-made nor a concern. Professor Phil Jones, the head of the climate research department, became the focus of much of the media vitriol, and the manipulation of a three-word phrase “hide the decline”, a simple phrase referencing tree growth, was shouted as proof that the world was actually cooling.
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Scientists received death threats, their families were named in abusive emails and Professor Jones had to step aside under mounting pressure and declining mental health. Amidst all this, the world leaders met at the Copenhagen summit, seen in hindsight as a lot of political grandstanding, with blame being levied at countries reliant on fossil fuel production for sinking deals. All that was achieved was a non-legally binding agreement and it is was clear that the Climategate scandal had affected the summit as several world leaders mentioned the situation and the emails in their speeches. In time, a full investigation was undertaken into both the hacking and the findings by the climate research department with the results showing that the scientific findings were correct, and the leaked documents had been misread and manipulated. The hacker was never caught. Yet the damage was done, fossil fuel companies used Climategate as a ‘get out of jail free card’ when asked about their carbon emissions, politicians and news networks placed doubt in the minds of the populace to further their agendas rather than offer truth and reassurance. It would not be until the Paris Agreement was signed in 2016 that many felt the crisis of climate change was being truly addressed, although it will be asked how much further along we would be if the media and governments had been quicker to accept science than ambition.
Gareth Holmes Where does all of this leave us now that we are ten years on from Climategate? The answer is horrifyingly simple in an environmental crisis that people are still at best ignoring and at worst denying. NASA has stated that the science that proves global warming is unequivocal and there is a greater than 95% chance it is down to our actions rather than a natural occurrence. However, certain American senators still call the crisis a hoax and even try to say we are in a period of global cooling as do prominent members of research facilities and anti-science think tanks, nearly all of whom are funded or receive donations from fossil fuel conglomerates. Even the United States President pulled out of the Paris Agreement with no solid reason just a dismissive wave of the hand and his brand of nationalist rhetoric. The sad truth is that for all the great work Greta Thunberg does or how passionately people from the Amazon speak, we face companies such as Exxon Mobil who, despite being responsible for the worst oil spill crisis in history, can still pour billions into anti-science think tanks and finance American politicians. Whilst people are willing to tear down the life’s work of some of the cleverest scientists in the world because personal gain is a greater motivator than saving our planet, we are in danger and we must act now to prevent further damage. The Amazon and African forests are ablaze, the lungs of the world are on fire and it is time that all of us, the media, every leader, all peoples, quench those flames and restore what we can or we shall leave our descendants nothing but ash and dust. “For all the great work Greta Thunberg does… we face companies such as Exxon Mobil who still pour billions into anti-science think tanks and finance American politicians” Graphic & Page Design by Natasha Phang-Lee
