Read here. Within the last year, the public has witnessed the very seamy and fraudulent undercurrent of climate science with the exposure of Climategate, Amazongate, Himalayagate, IPCCgate, and etc. Climate alarmist scientists are seemingly caught on a daily basis with the embarrassment of another lie or exaggeration exposed. It's taken a huge toll on the credibility of science in general but the climate alarmists just keep doing it, ad nauseum. Why?
In 2005, another climate scientist attempted to explain what was happening to his field. His simple synopsis then of the cause for the persistent lies and exaggerations appears rather obvious now in 2010: Money & Fame.
1. "Scientists compete with each other for finite resources, just like bankers and corporations. In this case, successful competitors are those who are rewarded by their universities or institutions. In all science, this means publishing research articles in the refereed scientific literature. That research costs tremendous amounts of money and there really is only one provider: Uncle Sam.....No one gets much of this pie by claiming that his or her issue may, in fact, be no big deal. Instead, any issue – take global warming, acid rain, and obesity as examples, must be portrayed in the starkest of terms. Everything is a crisis, and all the crises are competing with each other [for the "money"].
2. Perhaps it is dismaying that science has become as blatantly biased in the direction of tragedy as television. But, given the way we fund and reward science and scientists, it was inevitable, and global warming is only one of many of science’s predictable distortions.....what gets played on TV and in the papers? More crises. Near-death experiences sell newspapers and attract viewers. Those who question this need only look at ratings for The Weather Channel. Some people may remember that it used to be the station where you turned to for round-the-clock national and local weather. The ratings were in the tank.....Now, in prime time, you are more likely to see the twentieth re-run of how this tornado went over that house and how everyone almost died, usually with some pretty snappy home video. Or, just to get your attention for sure, a re-enactment of the sinking of an oil rig in a howling cyclone — re-enacted because everyone on board drowned. Ratings have boomed."