Opinion by Anthony Watts and Charles Rotter

If you haven’t read Dr. Curry’s post about Cliff Mass, please do so before proceeding.

It is our viewpoint that Cliff Mass is an honest scientist. Some here may disagree with him as he believes AGW is a serious issue.

But unlike advocate scientists, and their media enablers, he is an honest broker who pushes back against the hyperbole advanced by those advocates. For this he is being viciously attacked. Being connected with a radio station for his popular science program, Dr. Mass is aware of both the public perception and the peer reviewed science. Having that unique perspective he sees when arguments for intervention go too far, beyond what the science can support, and because he has integrity, he is one of the few scientists with the courage to speak out about it.

Our idea is this: with the mob attacking Dr. Mass, it would probably be helpful if the administrators being bombarded by irrational hate mail against him received another side of the story, one of rational support for his commitment to truth and inquiry.

There’s some caveats to consider if you want to join in support.

• This is only about supporting a man with academic and scientific integrity
• This isn’t about arguing about whether AGW is real or not, if you go down that path, it won’t help Dr. Mass
• UW administrators aren’t going to be interested in letters that turn into diatribes
• Calm and respectful emails only. You don’t do anyone any favors with rants
• Intelligent and pertinent messaging please
• Academic credentials are a plus
• Independently created letters are a plus, which is why we provide no sample letter here

You can address the absurdity of points being made by critics, but please, only write a letter if you can be calm, on point, and polite.  

For reference, here are some pertinent links surrounding the issue:

That said, here are the contacts:

UW President Ana Mari Cauce  uwpres@uw.edu

Dean of College of the Environment Lisa J. Graumlich envdean@uw.edu

Mike Townsend, Secretary of the UW Faculty secfac@u.washington.edu

Remember, only write a letter if you can be calm, on point, and polite.