https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/doomed-planet/2019/12/the-settled-science-of-refusing-to-debate/
The silly season came early this year, at least to Ultimo and the ABC Science Show. According to the latter’s homepage, it offers “unique insights into the latest scientific research and debate, from the physics of cricket to prime ministerial biorhythms”. Yet the site also provides a safe space for climate wafflers and promulgaters of pejorative bile, while emphatically denying a voice to scientists who continue to question the alarmist orthodoxy.
Planet saviours, gender warriors and merchants of “climate change denialism” (CCD), however, seem especially welcome. They can share their eco-anxiety with the public free from harassment here, hit guys where it hurts , blame the lack of “climate action” on “fragile masculinity”, and pontificate sagely about all manner of alleged “links” until the methane-belching cows come home; the latest being between (naturally) white male “climate deniers and the anti-feminist far-right”:
The idea that white men would lead the attacks on Greta Thunberg is consistent with a growing body of research linking gender reactionaries to climate-denialism—some of the research coming from Thunberg’s own country. Researchers at Sweden’s Chalmers University of Technology, which recently launched the world’s first academic research center to study climate denialism, have for years been examining a link between climate deniers and the anti-feminist far-right. (The Misogny of Climate Deniers, New Republic, August 28, 2019)
Consider the following segments from the Science Show episode of December 7, 2019: “Students continue protests as bushfires destroy houses, farms, infrastructure and forests” (10mins 58secs); controlled burns destroy ecosystems and may not reduce fire risk (4mins 41secs); and the origins of climate denial tracked (5mins 45secs).
Why spend millions of dollars – probably billions globally – on climate modelling and so-called attribution studies? For according to presenter, Robyn Williams, AM: “The Science Show first broadcast warnings about climate 44 years ago.” Transcript here
Mr Williams then quoted the late Peter Ritchie Calder (1906-1982), described in his Wikipedia entry as a “Scottish socialist author, journalist and academic”.