"The absolute worst thing that humanity could do is mistake a short-term natural cooling for the absence of human-caused global warming and, in so doing, not transition as soon as economically possible from the fossil fuel age to the post-fossil fuel age. To make this mistake would leave a legacy of global warming for our children, grandchildren and multiple generations thereafter which they likely could not reverse, and for which they would likely not forgive us." - Michael Schlesinger, a climatologist at the University of Illinois,

Trust is hard to capture - even harder after you lose it.  Precisely what a lot of people in the science community have been dealing with recently after a British university said thousands of private e-mail messages and documents had been stolen from its climate center.  But sometimes good can come out of events like this, and that's exactly what's happening as prominent climate scientists are calling for changes in the way research on global warming is conducted following the East Anglia incident.  

You don't have to look far for evidence that anybody can claim to be a climate expert - go read the comments section of any environmental news site or blog.  At every turn, some commenter has a graph or a study trying to legitimize their skeptical beliefs.  It's dangerous, and as Schlesinger says above, it's the worst thing humanity could do.  While we don't want to discourage you from asking questions or being skeptical, we ask that you do research when it comes to climate science.  Trust only peer reviewed studies.  And trust that because of the incident at East Anglia, we're likely to see better evidence surface.  And when someone tries to argue otherwise - take advice from Ed Bagley Jr.

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