Senator Inhofe speaks about climate change (Photo Creative Commons)

Climate scientists have shunned the media spotlight since the leak of hundreds of private e-mails led many conservative politicians to question the validity of their research late last year.

Now, with near 50 percent of newly elected representatives professing to be climate change skeptics, according to the Center for American Progress, hundreds of scientists have decided the time has come to enter the dirty game of politics.

"We are taking the fight to them because we are … tired of taking the hits. The notion that truth will prevail is not working. The truth has been out there for the past two decades, and nothing has changed,” said Scott Mandia, a scientist at Suffolk County Community College.

The move comes three weeks before the United Nations climate change conference is to meet again in Cancun.  Last year's closely watched conference in Copenhagen was largely panned as a disappointment after participating nations failed to agree to binding emissions reduction targets.

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