You Ought to Have a Look is a feature from the Center for the Study of Science posted by Patrick J. Michaels and Paul C. (“Chip”) Knappenberger. While this section will feature all of the areas of interest that we are emphasizing, the prominence of the climate issue is driving a tremendous amount of web traffic.  Here we post a few of the best in recent days, along with our color commentary.

—

Over the past couple of weeks, prominent members of the climate science/climate policy community have come under attack for not toeing the (Presidential) party line when it comes to how human-caused climate change is being billed and sold via the President’ Climate Action Plan.

The attacks began with Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics researcher Willie Soon, and thanks to the attention afforded by Justin Gillis in the New York Times, were expanded by Representative Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), to include Richard Lindzen, David Legates, John Christy, Judith Curry, Robert Balling, Roger Pielke Jr., and Steven Hayward.

In this You Ought to Have a Look, we provide links to the subsequent public comments from those researchers under question (who have made them available) in response to this line of investigation—one which many have termed a “witch hunt.”

Here they are:

Dr. Willie Soon, Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Statement by Dr. Willie Soon

Dr. Richard Lindzen, professor emeritus of atmospheric sciences at MIT and a distinguished senior fellow of the Cato Institute
The Political Assault on Climate Skeptics

Dr. Steven Hayward, Ronald Reagan Professor of Public Policy 2014-2016, School of Pubic Policy, Pepperdine University
Are You Now, or Have You Ever Been, a Climate Skeptic?
The Climate Beclowning Continues

Roger Pielke Jr., Professor in the Environmental Studies, Center for Science & Technology Policy Research, University of Colorado
I am Under “Investigation”
Running Updates on the “Witch Hunt”

Judith Curry, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology
Conflicts of Interest in Climate Science

Additionally, there are other comments out there, almost all negatively inclined to Rep. Grijalva’s investigation and its assault on academic freedom.

Here are a few of the more prominent:

American Meteorological Society
Letter to Grijalva

Nature Magazine
Gone Fishing

American Geophysical Union
Protecting Academic Freedom and Holding Ourselves Accountable

It is well-worth looking through these responses to see just how ill-advised this campaign is widely-considered to be.