WELDON BURGE

December 03, 2009 6:59 AM EST

Just this afternoon (Dec. 3), the Rasmussen poll released the following results:

"Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Americans say it's at least somewhat likely that some scientists have falsified research data to support their own theories and beliefs about global warming. Thirty-five percent (35%) say it's Very Likely. Just 26% say it's not very or not at all likely that some scientists falsified data."

Sounds like I'm not alone in my opinion!

- Weldon Burge

December 03, 2009 8:42 AM EST

Rather like the whole should she/shouldn't she with mammograms and pap smears, isn't it? Another huge muddle. But guess I'd rather err on the side of caution...catching any rogue cells before they take hold, and conserving what's left of the ozone layer and clean air while we still can.

- Ethne Clarke, Editor-in-Chief, Organic Gardening

December 04, 2009 3:21 AM EST

Ethne, I think air and water pollution are legitimate concerns, and we can take measures to curb them. I'm particularly concerned about fertilizer and pesticide runoff from farms into our water supply, for example, and that's one of the reasons I prefer organic gardening. I think global warming/cooling, however, is largely beyond our control and naturally occurring events. Eliminating the use of freon to save the ozone layer makes sense to me. Trying to reduce cow and sheep flatulence to stop global warming does not--mainly because I think such measures will do nothing to halt a natural event. Am I making sense?

- Weldon Burge

December 07, 2009 9:46 AM EST

I read this earlier today and think it speaks to your premise:

Climategate,” aka warmerquiddick, aka the CRUtape letters, aka the Mother of All Publicity Disasters, refers to the leaking of vast numbers of e-mails and other documents from a leading British global-warming outfit, the Climatic Research Unit. The e-mails show, depending on your outlook, anything from sloppiness, pettiness and dishonesty to outright fraud among some of the world’s leading climate scientists.

The e-mails don’t show that the scientists don’t believe global warming is real. Rather, they show that the scientists believe in global warming so much, they think they’re justified in doing anything to fight it.

- Sandi