I work with scientists and engineers every day. Have my own Physics degree, too. I don’t see anything from a science impact in climate change that makes sense with the exception of solar related warming.
That being said - it would not suprise me to find they have no intent to deceive. Many of the science/engineering types become fixated on particular things. I see all the time where an engineer will argue and argue a point that is clearly wrong. They are so focused on these items that they get tunnel vision and literally cannot perceive the error.
Because it is such a strong response, I think it may actually be instinctual to prevent damage to the ego.
And I’m big enough to admit that I do it a lot of times as well. Usually someone finally pops me upside the head and I go “ah sh*t; where did that come from” or “geez, how did I miss that”.
I think a lot of these people really do believe what they are saying. However, I also believe that there are a lot of people that are just using it to pursue thier own agenda - whether for grants, power, fame, etc.
Well, if this snip is genuine it goes a long way towards explaining the baser motives:
http://motls.blogspot.com/2009/11/hacked-hadley-cru-foi2009-files.html