Thread by @TerliWetter

“As the evidence became ever more compelling, the attacks on scientists escalated.

In late 2009, just before the Copenhagen climate summit, emails among climate scientists were hacked and released.” theconversation.com/ipcc-the-dirty…

“They were carefully selected to make it seem as if scientists were guilty of scaremongering.”

“The accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, caused primarily by the burning of fossil fuels, had been worrying scientists since the 1970s.”

“Some scientists, including Columbia University professor James Hansen, argue that the agonising efforts of scientists to avoid provoking accusations of alarmism have led to an innate optimism bias.”

“The official science reported by the IPCC may in some cases be a cautious underestimate. It’s likely worse – much worse – than we think.”

“In the late 1990s, Michael Mann, whose famous “hockey stick” diagram of global temperatures was a key part of the third assessment report, came under fire from right-wing thinktanks and even the Attorney General of Virginia.”

@MichaelEMann

“Mann called this attempt to pick on scientists perceived to be vulnerable to pressure “the Serengeti strategy”.”

“By singling out a sole scientist, it is possible for the forces of “anti-science” to bring many more resources to bear on one individual, exerting enormous pressure from multiple directions at once, making defence difficult.”

“It is similar to what happens when a group of lions on the Serengeti seek out a vulnerable individual zebra at the edge of a herd.”