Despite the rumblings coming from climate change deniers after the unfortunate computer hacking at East Anglia University that exposed 13 years worth of emails from prominent climatologists, the science remains the same.

There is an assault on science going on and it won't be the last, as long as there are people who want to make money at the expense of everyone else and the health of the planet, there will be billions of dollars thrown at the issue to replace the evidence to the contrary.  If the 'climate gate' incident hadn't occurred, it's possible that a major agreement could have been reached, especially with China finally pushing to develop their own green industries and their first ever commitment to reduce the intensity of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product in 2020 by 40% to 45% from levels in 2005.  It might not seem like much, but as a first step it's huge to the movement to secure a deal at Copenhagen.  However, because "climate gate" did happen and climate change deniers have new life coursing through their evidence free veins, things are not looking good for any real change any time soon.

If there is one thing that climate gate did expose, it was the poor judgment of certain professors at the university by getting involved in the politics of climate change.  Much has been made of the so called 'trick' mentioned in one of the thousands of emails stolen by hackers, but it turns out that the 'trick' was merely a way for scientists to combine radically different data, like tree rings and CO2 emissions together to create a picture that makes sense and not a trick to fool people into believing a mass environmental conspiracy for grant money.

The fact is that climate change is real and the data available is overwhelming, although we all know how easy it is for climate change deniers to manipulate the public perception on this issue.  Science really is our friend and while individuals may make mistakes and are subject to poor judgment, the evidence is clear that something must be done.  There has been a lot of talk amongst people, especially in the US about how much money is being spent on this or that, or that a generational theft is being perpetrated because of all the borrowing to secure the world economy, but when it comes to the generational theft of the planet we seem content to consume as much as we can in the here and now, without so much as a thought to future generations.  Are we so incapable of change that we can't expand our industries and make the hard choices now to make use of other forms of energy at a quicker pace?

Sadly it doesn't look hopeful, especially with the world's economy in the tank and regular people struggling to find work, but we can't give up.  However, I have to admit that it's a little disheartening when all one has to do is utter the words conspiracy and you've suddenly got thousands of boneheads marching to the beat of some lobbyist because of what seems to be an aversion to actual science.  The only way real change can happen is if all those regular people start harassing their local representatives, because real change can happen when a  politician's job is on the line.