CASPER
THE FRIENDLY GHOST
The theft of documents and emails from the Climatic Studies Unit at the University of East Anglia has reheated the debate about the scientific basis for man-made global warming.
Smoke billows from a factory on the outskirts of Shenyang, northeast China
Climate change sceptics have seized on the combative, conspiratorial tone of some the correspondence as evidence of a plot among academics to mask the truth about global temperature changes.
Even George Monbiot, the leading environmentalist, has admitted to being "dismayed and deeply shaken" by some of the emails, particularly those which indicate a cover-up to prevent records being released under Freedom of Information laws.
But the scientific establishment remains united in the view that the documents reveal no smoking gun to manipulate data, and point out that the figures produced by the unit tally with two other major international studies.
What is your own interpretation of the email exchanges?
Do they show an understandable defensiveness on the part of leading scientists faced with ill-informed challenges from climate change nay-sayers, or something more worrying?
Climate change sceptics have seized on the combative, conspiratorial tone of some the correspondence as evidence of a plot among academics to mask the truth about global temperature changes.
Even George Monbiot, the leading environmentalist, has admitted to being "dismayed and deeply shaken" by some of the emails, particularly those which indicate a cover-up to prevent records being released under Freedom of Information laws.
But the scientific establishment remains united in the view that the documents reveal no smoking gun to manipulate data, and point out that the figures produced by the unit tally with two other major international studies.
What is your own interpretation of the email exchanges?
Do they show an understandable defensiveness on the part of leading scientists faced with ill-informed challenges from climate change nay-sayers, or something more worrying?