Community | February 09, 2010 | 7 comments

"I thought of killing myself" Climate scandal Professor Phil Jones talks suicide

source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7017922.ece

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THE scientist at the centre of the “climategate” email scandal has revealed that he was so traumatised by the global backlash against him that he contemplated suicide.

Professor Phil Jones said in an exclusive interview with The Sunday Times that he had thought about killing himself “several times”. He acknowledged similarities to Dr David Kelly, the scientist who committed suicide after being exposed as the source for a BBC report that alleged the government had “sexed up” evidence to justify the invasion of Iraq.

In emails that were hacked into and seized upon by global-warming sceptics before the Copenhagen climate summit in December, Jones appeared to call upon his colleagues to destroy scientific data rather than release it to people intent on discrediting their work monitoring climate change.

Jones, 57, said he was unprepared for the scandal: “I am just a scientist. I have no training in PR or dealing with crises.”

Jones has temporarily stood down as director of the climatic research unit at the University of East Anglia. He fiercely defends the unit’s science — “I stand by it 100%” — but now accepts that he did not treat Freedom of Information (FoI) requests for the data as seriously as he should have done. Jones believes that the unit was maliciously targeted with multiple FoI requests by climate change sceptics determined to disrupt its work.

Last week Graham Smith, the deputy information commissioner, ruled that by failing to release requested data Jones and his colleagues breached FoI regulations. The affair is now the subject of a review led by Sir Muir Russell, former vice-chancellor of Glasgow University.
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7 comments // "I thought of killing myself" Climate scandal Professor Phil Jones talks suicide

  • CarolynGillis
  • CarolynGillis
    • 0
      CarolynGillis  

    • I just posting something on this topic.

      They are nasty as can be but we can fight this.
      I already went through a long lonely pesticide battle at our condo complex in Maine. They make you feel like you are going insane. It took a long time but I kept at it and I feel on top of the world now.

      SO KEEP AT IT.

    • 2 years ago
  • cassie2009
  • Tim_Hjersted
    • 0
      Tim_Hjersted  

    • Glad he made it through the worst of it.

      Climate change is definitely real, but unfortunately the most prominent solution proposed - Cap & Trade - is unfortunately a scam to create new energy markets for investors to get rich off of.

    • 2 years ago
  • Guyatthebusstation
  • Nephwrack
    • 0
      Nephwrack  

    • "He acknowledged similarities to Dr David Kelly, the scientist who committed suicide after being exposed as the source for a BBC report that alleged the government had “sexed up” evidence to justify the invasion of Iraq."

      Bet Dr. Kelley was murdered.

    • 2 years ago
  • JanforGore
    • +1
      JanforGore  

    • And I bet the climate deniers who won't let this go because it is all they have and drove him to those thoughts would have loved if he had. Why they are featured here is frankly a mystery to me. It's like featuring someone who still debates the Earth is flat and giving it credence. BTW, have the criminal hackers been apprehended yet?

    • 2 years ago
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