{"id":1511,"date":"2015-03-11T18:16:43","date_gmt":"2015-03-11T18:16:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/?p=1511"},"modified":"2015-03-11T18:16:43","modified_gmt":"2015-03-11T18:16:43","slug":"as-climate-wars-heat-up-some-skeptics-are-targets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/2015\/03\/11\/as-climate-wars-heat-up-some-skeptics-are-targets\/","title":{"rendered":"As Climate Wars Heat Up, Some Skeptics Are Targets"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"polar_bear\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Roger Pielke, Jr. was interviewed on NPR’s All Things Considered program<\/em><\/p>\n

NPR | Listen to the story<\/a>
\nMarch 10, 2015<\/p>\n

by Geoff Brumfel<\/p>\n

Scientists who warn that the earth’s climate is changing have been subjected to hacking<\/a>, investigations, and even court action<\/a> in recent years. That ire usually comes from conservative groups and climate skeptics seeking to discredit the research findings.<\/p>\n

Now it appears that liberals and environmentalists may be using some of the same tactics against the handful of scientists who either deny climate change outright, or think the risks are not as great as stated.<\/p>\n

The goal, according to those pursuing the skeptics of climate change, is to expose ties between those scientists and industry. But some mainstream climate scientists are nervous, fearing that investigations by both sides may be more about intimidation than truth.<\/p>\n

The first target of the latest attacks was Willie Soon<\/a>, a solar physicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Soon claims the sun causes climate change. In contrast, almost all scientists believe humans are changing the climate.<\/p>\n

Soon’s views got the attention of Kert Davies, executive director of the nonprofit Climate Investigations Center<\/a>. He decided to use the Freedom of Information Act to expose the climate skeptic’s funding. “We got the contracts, Soon’s proposals to get the money from these various oil companies and power companies and also his year-end reports,” says Davies.<\/p>\n

In several year-end reports<\/a> to the utility Southern Company, Soon listed peer-reviewed scientific articles as deliverables. “He is telling them, here’s what I did for you, I wrote peer-reviewed science,” Davies says.<\/p>\n

Publishing those articles without disclosing Southern Company’s funding is a big no-no in science. In late February, Soon’s ties made the front page of the New York Times<\/a><\/em>. Several journals and his employer have launched investigations. Soon did not respond to an NPR request for an interview. But, in a written statement,<\/a> he calls the accusation “underhanded and unscientific.”<\/p>\n

Shortly after Soon’s ties to industry were exposed, U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, <\/a>D-Ariz., sent letters<\/a> to the universities of seven climate researchers, asking for details about the scientists’ funding.<\/p>\n

Among those named was Roger Pielke Jr.,<\/a> from the University of Colorado. Unlike Soon, Pielke does believe the climate is changing due to human influences, but he doesn’t necessarily believe it will be catastrophic. The two-page letter<\/a> on Pielke cited testimony he had given to Congress, and it requested detailed information and correspondence regarding his funding sources.<\/p>\n

“It’s quite simple for me to respond to this, because I have absolutely no<\/em> corporate connections,” Pielke says. “I mean I’m as clean as they come.”<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the letter sends a chilling message to scientists, he says. “If you come and testify before the U.S. Congress, and people don’t like what you’re saying, they can make your life pretty miserable.” Read more …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Roger Pielke, Jr. was interviewed on NPR’s All Things Considered program NPR | Listen to the story March 10, 2015 by Geoff Brumfel Scientists who warn that the earth’s climate is changing have been subjected to hacking, investigations, and even … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-11-01 13:58:13","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1511"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1513,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1511\/revisions\/1513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}