Warren Beaty: Global Warming Rides Again

Have you ever heard of Fakegate?

It seems that Dr. Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute, a MacArthur Foundation Fellow, and (now past) chairman of an American Geophysical Union task force on scientific ethics and integrity (isn’t that ironic?), stole the identity of a member of The Heartland Institute’s board of directors and then used that identity to steal documents describing Heartland’s budget, fundraising plans, and more. When those documents failed to produce what he wanted, Gleick or an ally forged a memo alleging to describe Heartland’s “Global Warning Strategy.”

On February 14, 2012, Gleick sent the stolen and forged documents to fifteen allies in the environmental movement and the MSM, resulting in a wave of criticism of Heartland’s supposed plans to “infiltrate schools” and “undermine” climate science. Gleick confessed to stealing the documents on February 20, 2012, but MSM coverage of the event focused overwhelmingly on the false claims in the fake memo rather than on Gleick’s criminal actions.

In 2011 Gleick led a new task force on scientific ethics and integrity for the American Geophysical Union. Then on February 16, 2012, he resigned from the task force citing “personal, private reasons.” But his reasons soon became very public. On February 20, 2012, Dr. Gleick admitted to having fraudulently obtained documents of a board meeting of The Heartland Institute under someone else’s name for the purpose of making its donors known. Gleick also forged a two-page strategy memo purporting that the Institute was engaged in a variety of efforts to fraudulently undermine the claims of global warming scientists. The Institute did not have to, nor ever did engage, in any such efforts. The truth about the global warming claims was sufficient to undermine them. This analysis, by Heartland President Joseph Bast, refutes claims that appear in Gleick’s forged memo.

So the questions are, (1) If AGW is real, as Gleick contends, and if 97-98 percent of scientists worldwide agree with him, as Gleick contends, then why did Gleick resort to identity theft and forgery to try discredit his opposition? and (2) Does Gleick know that his actions speak loudly about his and AGW’s credibility?

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