Support First Things by turning your adblocker off or by making a  donation. Thanks!


This is unbelievable. Apparently the big deal in the “hide the decline” infamous email had to do with what tree ring shows about climate change.  The Daily Mail checked the graphs produced by the UN’s IPPC, and it shows they did just that: When the tree rings (in green) showed warming, they charted it.  But when the tree rings showed real cooling, the graph line mysteriously disappeared and stopped being counted.  From the story:

According to his tree rings, the period since 1960 had not seen a steep rise in temperature, as actual temperature readings showed - but a large and steady decline, so calling into question the accuracy of the earlier data derived from tree rings. This is the context in which, seven weeks later, Jones presented his ‘trick’ - as simple as it was deceptive. All he had to do was cut off Briffa’s inconvenient data at the point where the decline started, in 1961, and replace it with actual temperature readings, which showed an increase. On the hockey stick graph, his line is abruptly terminated - but the end of the line is obscured by the other lines.

Ooh. That’s dishonest. And it is a betrayal of science’s responsibility to present all the facts, let the chips fall where they may.

Dear Reader,

You have a decision to make: double or nothing.

For this week only, a generous supporter has offered to fully match all new and increased donations to First Things up to $60,000.

In other words, your gift of $50 unlocks $100 for First Things, your gift of $100 unlocks $200, and so on, up to a total of $120,000. But if you don’t give, nothing.

So what will it be, dear reader: double, or nothing?

Make your year-end gift go twice as far for First Things by giving now.
GIVE NOW

Comments are visible to subscribers only. Log in or subscribe to join the conversation.

Tags

Loading...

Filter First Thoughts Posts

Related Articles