The 'battle of bad science' misses the real point

Dougal Paver

The controversy over the alleged corruption behind global warming science ensures the real story gets hidden, says Dougal Paver.

The media ding-dong over the leaked email scandal, dubbed climategate, is ramping up now that it's hit America's mainstream news channels.

Here's what we know. We've been lied to, deceived, wilfully misled and conned into group-think by a bunch of second-rate scientists dependent upon our taxes for their existence. As a result, governments have set down a path of bad policy and high taxes that could bankrupt the west.

The furious reaction of those scientists who always doubted the findings - and a grateful media and public that had refused to be taken in by it all - says that this is a gravy train that might just be juddering to a halt.

Yet as both sides retreat to their bunkers another shame emerges: that people forget that waste, of itself, is immoral and - from a business perspective - has to be paid for. As we say in our office, "waste isn't free."

Tomorrow we have our assessment for ISO 14001, the environmental management standard. The process has opened our eyes to how much waste we generate - and to the savings that we can garner with just a little effort.

But it's reminded us, too, that one of the central tennets of the green lobby - that we must use our resources more wisely - is a fair one. What's clever about denuding our planet of resources that might be saved for wont of a bit of effort and imagination? Not a lot.

So today we introduce our newest colleague, Gretna, our green guide (geddit?) who is now evident across the office to guide, encourage and chivvy us in to using resources more carefully.

That's something worth remembering amidst the PR war about whose science is right and whose is a lie - or series of lies, as the case may be.

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