It has been a worrying week if you were following the news in the UK. A good deal of air time and column inches have been devoted to the leaked 'climate science' emails from the University of East Anglia. Some have claimed the questionable practises and issues raised over their data and software casts doubt on the general consensus that climate change is influenced by man.
This news was promptly followed by reports that the authorities in Saudi Arabia were never convinced man had contributed to climate change anyway and this proved they were right. Never mind the fact that there are several other long term data sets and decades of observation all pointing in the same direction.
It's difficult not to reach for the book of conspiracy theories at this point. Can this - the leaking of emails, seemingly deliberately to fuel a climate-skeptic news story - really be a ploy to undermine agreement at COP15? Is it just a game to some people? Or is it more sinister?
It’s been feeling at times like we’re acting out a scenario in a James Bond film. The villain, in his underground headquarters, is going to pursue what he wants at any cost, even if that means allowing a catastrophe that imperils all of mankind. He strokes his cat, menacingly.
Bond: "Do you expect me to talk?"
Sinister villain: "No Mr Bond, I expect you to die. Mwah ha ha. Mwah ha ha.”
I’m just hoping that we citizens of Planet Earth can be as successful as Mr. Bond when it comes to getting out of mortal scrapes.
