Climate document leak leads to scientist’s resignation

Los Angeles Times : Peter Gleick, a noted scientist and environmentalist, has admitted to obtaining documents under false pretenses from the Heartland Institute, a libertarian group that questions climate change. The documents were leaked to the press last week. In a statement he posted on Monday on the Huffington Post, Gleick says that in early 2012 he received an anonymous document in the mail that seemed to describe the institute’s climate program strategy. He then “solicited and received additional materials directly from the Heartland Institute under someone else’s name.” Yesterday the American Geophysical Union announced Gleick’s resignation as chair of its task force on scientific ethics and criticized his deception regarding the institute. “Gleick’s admission is sure to further intensify an already bitter debate between those who accept the scientific consensus on climate change and those who doubt it,” writes Neela Banerjee for the Los Angeles Times.