Chicken Little is Wrong:

For many years now, environmentalists have been telling us that the planet is doomed. The ice caps are melting, we will all be under water, and the planet will become so hot we will all die. It reminds me of the story of Chicken Little.

The steps in the scientific method are:
• Ask a Question
• Do Background Research
• Construct a Hypothesis
• Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment
• Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion
• Communicate Your Results
(http://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/project_scientific_method.shtml)

The recently leaked emails tell us that climate change scientists are not following this method. These emails tell us that they are cherry picking the data and throwing out any data that disproves their hypothesis, which is that man is the cause of climate change.

In addition, the testing of the hypothesis involves attempting to disprove the hypothesis and not proving it true, which is the scientist’s assumption when beginning their research. If they find data that disproves their hypothesis, they are to draw the conclusion that their hypothesis was wrong. If, however, no disproving data is discovered they will form a theory based upon their hypothesis, however, good scientists will never conclude that their hypothesis is absolute fact leaving the matter open for someone else to conduct additional research.

Climate change scientists are skewing the results of their testing by throwing out any data that contradicts their hypothesis. Of course when they do this, the only conclusion they can draw is that their hypothesis is true. To make matters worse, they have concluded that their theory is not a theory at all but fact. So why are they doing this?

One possible reason is that research scientists depend on grant money to conduct their research. They must compete with other scientists for this grant money so they are under pressure to sensationalize their research. It is also difficult to raise money for a theory so they must conclude that their hypothesis is fact.

As the Congress considers cap and trade legislation, let us not make the same mistake as the climate change scientists and skip the step of insuring the research follows the scientific method. Otherwise, we will handcuff our economy with unnecessary regulations and taxes that will further contract our economy without producing any tangible results.

Contact your senator and representative and urge them to only consider climate change research based upon the scientific method as they consider this legislation.