A prominent water scientist and climate change defender has apologized for using a fake identity to obtain sensitive documents from the Heartland Institute, an American think-tank which questions the scientific basis of global warming.
"In a serious lapse of my own and professional judgment and ethics, I solicited and received additional materials directly from the Heartland Institute under someone else's name," Pacific Institute president Peter Gleick wrote Monday on the Huffington Post. "I deeply regret my own actions in this case. I offer my personal apologies to all those affected."
Gleick explained that he'd been extremely frustrated by "ongoing efforts -- often anonymous, well-funded, and coordinated -- to attack climate science and scientists."
The documents Gleick obtained earlier this year, which were first made public by DeSmogBlog, confirm that Heartland's core mission includes discrediting climate science, and that it's received the support of such wealthy donors as the Koch Brothers, Microsoft and RJR Tobacco.
They also reveal plans by the libertarian organization to spend $100,000 for "dissuading teachers from teaching [climate] science" in K-12 schools.
Gleick's apology comes after days of public threats by Heartland to find the person responsible for obtaining the documents and "see him or her put in prison for these crimes."
The organization has also noted that one of the published documents, entitled "Confidential Memo: 2012 Heartland Climate Strategy", is a forgery.
Naomi Klein has urged her Twitter followers to send Gleick "some Twitter love," writing "he took big risks to bring important truths about the deniers to light." Others, such as the Stockholm Environment Institute's Richard Klein, have decried his actions.
Still others think Gleick's ethical breach serves a wider public good.
"What Peter Gleick did was unethical. He acknowledges that from a point of view of professional ethics there is no defending those actions," Dale Jamieson, Director of Environmental Studies at New York University, told the Guardian. "But relative to what has been going on on the climate denial side this is a fairly small breach of ethics."
Geoff Dembicki reports on energy and climate change issues for The Tyee.
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Ricky
13 weeks ago
Why Apologize?
There was no breach of ethics. This is like apologizing for stealing and publicizing documents from the mafia in order to stop them from committing crime. Pretending that Heartland deserves the respect granted to civil groups denigrates the idea of civil society. What next, should we give cocaine smugglers and crystal meth producers a say in drug policy?
FatherTheo
13 weeks ago
It was just a sting.
Peter Gleick came into possession of a document with his own name on it that appeared to show the Heartland Institute plotting to teach climate denier anti-science to schoolchildren, among other things. Then he engaged in a sting operation to find out whether the information was in fact correct. When he found out it was correct, and when he found information of the Heartland Institute possibly abusing its tax-exempt status by spreading misinformation and engaging in lobbying, he released the information for public view. What Peter Gleick did was not only not unethical; it was--given that we are weighing the privacy of a corporation engaged in questionable activities versus the future of our civilization if climate change is not combated--the most ethical thing he could have done in the circumstances.