Premium
The legacy of climategate: revitalizing or undermining climate science and policy?
Author(s) -
Grundmann Reiner
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
wiley interdisciplinary reviews: climate change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.678
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1757-7799
pISSN - 1757-7780
DOI - 10.1002/wcc.166
Subject(s) - openness to experience , suspect , transparency (behavior) , variety (cybernetics) , climate science , climate change , political science , interpretation (philosophy) , politics , sociology , social science , environmental ethics , law , social psychology , psychology , ecology , philosophy , artificial intelligence , computer science , biology , programming language
The release of emails from a server at the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit (CRU) in November 2009 and the following climategate controversy have become a topic for interpretation in the social sciences. This article picks out some of the most visible social science comments on the affair for discussion. These comments are compared to an account of what can be seen as problematic practices by climate scientists. There is general agreement in these comments that climate science needs more openness and transparency. But when evaluating climategate a variety of responses is seen, ranging from the apologetic to the highly critical, even condemning the practices in question. It is argued that reluctance to critically examine the climategate affair, including suspect practices of scientists, has to do with the nature of the debate which is highly politicized. A call is made for more reflection on this case which should not be closed off because of political expediency. WIREs Clim Change 2012 doi: 10.1002/wcc.166 This article is categorized under: Social Status of Climate Change Knowledge > Knowledge and Practice