It's not a conspiracy, it's far more democratic than that. I would describe it as a "witch hunt" - where each person tries to show that he is more righteous and

It's not a conspiracy, it's far more democratic than that. I would describe it as a "witch hunt" - where each person tries to show that he is more righteous and dedicated to the cause than the last person, and you gain social capital by being the most loudly enthusiastic. Oil company funding barely exists (it is four orders of magnitude less than government funding), and the best skeptics aren't taking their money anyway. I suggest you read people like Steve McIntyre if you haven't[1][2]. My biggest criticism of McIntyre's blog is that it is too dry and technical, but that is exactly what you want if you are looking for truth. I don't trust the climate science community. I trusted them a lot more before Climate Gate. That's when I realized that climate science has become deeply, deeply politicized. One email from Phil Jones to McIntyre reads "Why should I make the data available to you, when your aim is to try and find something wrong with it?". Why indeed Mr. Jones, would you want to share data with a skeptic? This is science after all, and science is nothing less than a method for supporting correct conclusions, and the "correct" conclusion is global warming. Recent deviations of world temperature trends from climate models are only increasing my skepticism of the whole enterprise[4]. But I am alarmed to be going down such a path. If Global Warming were found out to be wrong, we would have to completely reevaluate how we come up with truth in society. That would be evidence of a massive misstep in our civilization. [1] http://climateaudit.org/2012/05/06/yamal-foi-sheds-new-light-on-flawed-data/ http://climateaudit.org/2012/05/06/yamal-foi-sheds-new-light... [2] http://climateaudit.org/2013/04/23/steigs-bladeless-hockey-stick/#more-17848 http://climateaudit.org/2013/04/23/steigs-bladeless-hockey-s... [3] http://www.therightplanet.com/2011/11/phil-jones-for-your-eyes-only-email-to-michael-mann/ http://www.therightplanet.com/2011/11/phil-jones-for-your-ey... [4] http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21574461-climate-may-be-heating-up-less-response-greenhouse-gas-emissions http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/2157446...