UVA Student Paper: The descent of Mann

“Mann should see Cuccinelli’s investigation as a chance to say: ‘Go ahead — check my resources. Everything I’ve done is verifiable and well-researched. These are the facts.'”

Sam Novack writes in the Cavalier Daily:

… I find Mann’s response to Cuccinelli’s actions to be a bit confusing. If Mann is competent and confident in his research and findings, then why does he not welcome the closer look at his methods? If I were in Mann’s shoes, I would be more than happy to show those who questioned my work all that I had done to acquire my results. If Mann has nothing to hide, then Cuccinelli’s scrutiny would serve the purpose of helping to erase any doubt which remains from the East Anglia hacking from 2009. And while I would be one of the first to say I have a problem with Big Brother looking over the shoulder of anyone publishing his or her own research, Mann’s scientific investigation was funded by taxpayers. Furthermore, his legitimacy has, in the past, been called into question. That Cuccinelli was requesting to see what are, at least in part, state documents is not the outrage Mann supporters think it is.

Denying global warming is a costly venture for many scientists. Those who speak out often lose government funding for their research and are ridiculed by their peers for taking up the opposing argument. On the other side, there are those who believe that mankind is to blame for the rising temperatures, and who feel that something must be done, and soon, to save us from catastrophe. These individuals, in my experience, take it for granted that the problem and its consequences, as they see it, even exist. Their mindset is that the problem exists without a doubt and that detractors from this belief are wasting valuable time with superfluous argumentation…