“When it rains, it pours”. This saying has become rather appropriate in the debate over Anthropomorphic Global Warming (AGW). For years the debate over climate change has become more characterised by hot tempers than cold science: either portrayed with honest scientists united to warn us about the dangers of change our pollution is risking, versus dishonest/paid-for scientists backing industries with vested interests denying the risk; or scaremongering doomsayers out to warn the worst and always looking for one catastrophe or another. It depends upon your point of view.

Recently however there have been a surprising number of “-gates” regarding some science behind AGW. Leaked emails in November from the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia have led to allegations of manipulated data. The IPCC has had to admit to a mistaken claim that the Himalayan Glaciers would disappear by 2035. In addition sampling points that have been used to show changes in temperature have been shown to be inconsistent comparisons, with major changes to both the locations and number of sampling stations. Politically, too, the international summit at Copenhagen could not honestly be described as a success.

With all this coupled with the coldest winter in decades in many parts of the Northern hemisphere, it is hardly a surprise that the received wisdom of AGW is starting to be questioned. A survey of attitudes in the UK has shown a dramatic change since just last November, with now 26% believing that climate change is happening and is manmade, and 25% believing that climate change is not happening, a change from 41% vs. 15% in Nov ’09.

It is time for some more honest debate on the whole issue of climate change; neither resorting to name calling, nor trying to manipulate the data to support one side or another. The truth is there is some evidence to suggest temperatures are undergoing a long-term change; however, it is also true that such changes have happened regularly in the past - we are cooler now than we were less than a thousand years ago. Whether or not AGW is real is one of the biggest questions we need to understand – understanding can only happen in an environment of both open and honest debate.