I know this isn’t a wholly original point, but I think it’s worth repeating. There are two reasons why climate science demands more transparency than most disciplines. The first is that we are being asked to hand over trillions of dollars and considerable amounts of our sovereignty over to the State and the world bureaucracy based on what a handful of scientists tell us. It’s only reasonable that we get as many credible second opinions as possible.
Second, there’s no lab that can recreate the world’s climate. This isn’t test tubes and Bunsen burner stuff. It’s all about what you do with the data and computer models. Remember all the folks who went bonkers about computerized voting machines? The (valid) argument is that without some kind of external fact-checking capacity (like a paper receipt), it is madness to hang our democracy on easily manipulated computer programs. Well, leveraging our wealth and self-government on even more easily manipulated computer programs is even nuttier. The Goreistas constantly demand “unity” in the battle against global warming. But unity requires trust. And these guys have done very, very, little to earn our trust. And a lot to lose it.