LAST FRIDAY, The Cavalier Daily published an article (ATI obtains Mann's research, Aug. 26) stating that the University had, in accordance with a Freedom of Information Act request, submitted to the American Tradition Institute a large number of emails and other documents from former Environmental Sciences Prof. Michael Mann. There is a fundamentally important backdrop to this story, however, that should have been addressed by the editorial staff and mentioned in the article.
While a professor at the University, Prof. Mann published a climate reconstruction based on various proxies that revealed an alarming and unprecedented rise in global temperature following the start of the Industrial Revolution. His so-called hockey stick graph provided a visceral piece of evidence supporting the hypothesis that emissions of greenhouse gases from fossil-fuel combustion and other human activities are warming our planet. Subsequent investigations based on completely independent data have yielded climate reconstructions that are consistent with the results of Prof. Mann's pioneering research. This mounting body of evidence coupled with computer simulations of earth's future climate demonstrate with a high degree of confidence that anthropogenic global warming is occurring.
For various reasons, ideologically conservative and well-funded groups such as ATI are dedicated to preventing societal efforts to slow climate change. Since there are currently no credible scientific arguments demonstrating that human activity is not warming the planet, one of their primary tactics is to attack scientists who conduct such research as part of a larger effort to confuse the public and corrupt the legislative process.
For example, in the "climate-gate" scandal, a handful of sentences in hacked emails from Prof. Mann were taken out of context to imply that he had falsified research results. Such groups widely touted this calculated misrepresentation as their "a-ha" moment. Much to their dismay, however, subsequent independent investigations by Penn State University, the National Science Foundation and the National Academy of Sciences cleared Prof. Mann of any wrongdoing.
We suggest that The Cavalier Daily stand up and call a spade a spade.
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