Katie Couric's Notebook: Copenhagen

There's a scandal in the scientific community right now...known as Climategate. Hacked emails reveal a handful of scientists may have manipulated or concealed evidence that would have weakened their argument...that the earth's temperature is in fact rising.

But at least 97 percent of climatologists believe global warming is real...and largely man-made.

A picture is worth a thousand emails...and pictures of the polar ice caps show a 20 percent decrease since 1979. NASA images of Arctic ice show a thinning of more than 7 inches a year since 2004.

What the scientists did was absolutely wrong, but most experts agree that the science itself is not...and the health of the earth should not be a political issue.

The atmosphere after all can't handle too many more people blowing smoke.

That's a page from my notebook.

I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.