I Never Said That!

Imagine that one day, you get an email from a blogger asking why you don't believe in climate change.

What? Who said that? What do you think I am, an idiot?

Now imagine that you are a prominent scientist who works on Climate Change -- an expert in your field, but some pro-industry, anti-environmental group thought that you wouldn't mind having your name down on a list as believing the exact opposite of what you've been fighting for in your professional life.

But that's exactly what happened when the Heartland Institute, a prominent think-tank known for stretching the truth (though this was in a whole other league), released a list of 500 scientists who they claimed don't believe in global warming. The problem -- they never asked the scientists...anything.

Kevin Grandia at DeSmogBlog thought he would do the ethical thing.

Kevin Grandia emailed 122 of the scientists yesterday afternoon, calling their attention to the list. So far - in less than 24 hours - three dozen of those scientists had responded in outrage, denying that their research supports [the heartland institutes's] conclusions and demanding that their names be removed.

This is a brief taste of some of the responses that have been copied to the DeSmogBlog so   

I am horrified to find my name on such a list. I have spent the last 20 years arguing the opposite."

Dr. David Sugden. Professor of Geography, University of Edinburgh

I have NO doubts ..the recent changes in global climate ARE man-induced. I insist that you immediately remove my name from this list since I did not give you permission to put it there."

Dr. Gregory Cutter, Professor, Department of Ocean, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Old Dominion University

I don't believe any of my work can be used to support any of the statements listed in the article.

Dr. Robert Whittaker, Professor of Biogeography, University of Oxford

Thanks to DeSmogBlog and EcoGeek for the story.