All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. – Edmund Burke

The recent revelations of document and correspondence materials from the Climate Research Unit at Anglican University brings me to contemplate Burke’s statement again.  There are millions of good people in the sciences around the world who have done little to challenge the ‘consensus’.   On first seeing the news, this skeptical scientist paused to consider that such a revelation could be as cooked as the suspected aspects of the climate change debate.  The potential vindication of skepticism abounds.

But, if the revelation stands proper scrutiny, then significant damage is done to science as a standard of inquiry.  Good scientists record the what, the how, and the conclusions in a manner for others to examine, challenge, replicate, accept, or refute in an open process.   What is showing here is a set of people bent on defending without showing the evidence, including falsification of data.  The notorious temperature hockey stick was the first guffaw in the process:  no data, no algorithms, no derivations.  Only with the perseverance of two scientists who would not do nothing were we enlightened as to the fraud, still being defended by its proponents.

Is there a conspiracy?  That is being denied.  But as has been done before, following the money has revealed strange monetary and political collusions.  Yes, as RealClimate.org opines, scientists are people.  However, that in no way excuses the blatant abuse of the science process, ethic, and stature. Now, even Monbiot is questioning the method of defense by climate change advocates.

Time will tell.  Hopefully, there will be some humility on both sides of the issue.  That will be the only thing that can restore science to the respect it tries to attain.

Maybe something will compute.  But, today, the hypothesis of climate change caused by man computes less.