Scandal over Leaked Heartland Climate Documents Continues to Stir Controversy by Susan Cosier

                                                              Peter Gleick

This week, climate scientist Peter Gleick admitted that he fraudulently obtained and leaked documents from the Heartland Institute, a think tank with a climate science denial campaign. Clashes over the realities of climate change aren’t new. Just a few weeks ago there was the Wall Street Journal opinion piece, for example, signed by 16 scientists (note: few of them climate scientists, half with ties to the oil/gas industry) stating that there isn’t a reason to panic about global warming. After that unscientific attack on climate change, the WSJ then printed a rebuttal by a long list of climate experts, which was widely covered by media outlets. Yet unlike some back and forth in the press, this new Gleick/Heartland scandal does nothing to improve the chances for rational public discussion on this vital subject.

The Heartland Institute expends significant effort and money perpetuating doubt about the reality of manmade climate change. Over the last five years, they’ve spent several millions of dollars undermining climate science, much of the money coming from an anonymous donor. (They do this by funding what some call denialist science and then creating and distributing alternate climate change materials to K-12 schools, to point out just a couple initiatives.) But the way that Gleick, who said until recent events served on the National Center for Science Education board and American Geophysical Union task force on scientific ethics, went about acquiring the documents—by contacting Heartland, saying he was a board member, and then asking them to resend the documents to a different email address, which a staffer did—infuriates many people who have been working long and hard to bring the ramifications of a warming world to the forefront of the public conversation.

“Gleick’s actions were completely irresponsible and while the information uncovered was interesting (if unsurprising), it in no way justified his actions. There is an integrity required to do science (and talk about it credibly), and he has unfortunately failed this test. The public discussion on this issue will be much the poorer for this – both directly because this event is (yet) another reason not to have a serious discussion, but also indirectly because his voice as an advocate of science, once powerful, has now been diminished,” Gavin Schmidt, the NASA climate scientist who leads the RealClimate blog, wrote (and then Andy Revkin quoted on his Dot Earth blog).

Gleick did apologize for his behavior this week in a Huffington Post piece: “My judgment was blinded by my frustration with the ongoing efforts -- often anonymous, well-funded, and coordinated -- to attack climate science and scientists and prevent this debate, and by the lack of transparency of the organizations involved. Nevertheless I deeply regret my own actions in this case. I offer my personal apologies to all those affected.”
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