Inquisitie Democraten opent heksenjacht op klimaatsceptici

Intolerantie bedreigt academische vrijheid.

Raúl Grijalva (democraat), lid van de commissie voor milieu en natuurlijke hulpbronnen van het Amerikaanse Huis van Afgevaardigden, heeft een brief gestuurd aan de rectoren van verschillende universiteiten om gegevens, inclusief persoonlijke correspondentie, op te vragen van een aantal klimaatsceptici. De betrokkenen zien dit als een doelbewuste poging om hen te intimideren en het werk onmogelijk te maken, alsmede een waarschuwing aan andere wetenschappers om zich te onthouden van kritiek op AGW ('Anthropogenic Global Warming').

In een 'posting' op zijn blog onder de titel, 'I am Under “Investigation', schreef een van hen, Roger Pielke Jr., daarover:

As some of you will already know, I am one of 7 US academics being investigated by US Representative Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) who is the ranking member of the House of Representatives Committee on Environment and Natural Resources. Rep. Grijalva has sent a letter to the president of my university requesting a range of information, including my correspondence, the letter is here in PDF.

Before continuing, let me make one point abundantly clear: I have no funding, declared or undeclared, with any fossil fuel company or interest. I never have. Representative Grijalva knows this too, because when I have testified before the US Congress, I have disclosed my funding and possible conflicts of interest. So I know with complete certainty that this investigation is a politically–motivated “witch hunt” designed to intimidate me (and others) and to smear my name.

For instance, the Congressman and his staff, along with compliant journalists, are busy characterizing me in public as a “climate skeptic” opposed to action on climate change. This of course is a lie. I have written a book calling for a carbon tax, I have publicly supported President Obama’s proposed EPA carbon regulations, and I have just published another book strongly defending the scientific assessment of the IPCC with respect to disasters and climate change. All of this is public record, so the smears against me must be an intentional effort to delegitimize my academic research. ….

Lees verder hier.

Inmiddels heeft Pielke zich uit de klimaatdiscussie teruggetrokken.

Een ander doelwit van deze door Grijalva cum suis georkestreerde heksenjacht was Richard (Dick) Lindzen. Onder de titel, 'The Political Assault on Climate Skeptics. Members of Congress send inquisitorial letters to universities, energy companies, even think tanks', schreef hij in de 'Wall Street Journal':

Research in recent years has encouraged those of us who question the popular alarm over allegedly man-made global warming. Actually, the move from “global warming” to “climate change” indicated the silliness of this issue. The climate has been changing since the Earth was formed. This normal course is now taken to be evidence of doom.

Individuals and organizations highly vested in disaster scenarios have relentlessly attacked scientists and others who do not share their beliefs. The attacks have taken a threatening turn.

As to the science itself, it’s worth noting that all predictions of warming since the onset of the last warming episode of 1978-98—which is the only period that the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) attempts to attribute to carbon-dioxide emissions—have greatly exceeded what has been observed. These observations support a much reduced and essentially harmless climate response to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide. ...

World leaders proclaim that climate change is our greatest problem, demonizing carbon dioxide. Yet atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide have been vastly higher through most of Earth’s history. Climates both warmer and colder than the present have coexisted with these higher levels. ...

Billions of dollars have been poured into studies supporting climate alarm, and trillions of dollars have been involved in overthrowing the energy economy. So it is unsurprising that great efforts have been made to ramp up hysteria, even as the case for climate alarm is disintegrating.

The latest example began with an article published in the New York Times on Feb. 22 about Willie Soon, a scientist at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Mr. Soon has, for over 25 years, argued for a primary role of solar variability on climate. But as Greenpeace noted in 2011, Mr. Soon was, in small measure, supported by fossil-fuel companies over a period of 10 years.

The Times reintroduced this old material as news, arguing that Mr. Soon had failed to list this support in a recent paper in Science Bulletin of which he was one of four authors. Two days later Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva, the ranking Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee, used the Times article as the basis for a hunting expedition into anything said, written and communicated by seven individuals— David Legates, John Christy, Judith Curry, Robert Balling, Roger Pielke Jr. , Steven Hayward and me—about testimony we gave to Congress or other governmental bodies. We were selected solely on the basis of our objections to alarmist claims about the climate. ...

Mr. Grijalva’s letters convey an unstated but perfectly clear threat: Research disputing alarm over the climate should cease lest universities that employ such individuals incur massive inconvenience and expense—and scientists holding such views should not offer testimony to Congress. ….

Where all this will lead is still hard to tell. At least Mr. Grijalva’s letters should help clarify for many the essentially political nature of the alarms over the climate, and the damage it is doing to science, the environment and the well–being of the world’s poorest. ...

Aldus Richard Lindzen.

Lees verder hier.

Voor video zie hier.

De acties van Grijalva en andere democraten getuigen van een geestelijk klimaat van toenemende intolerantie, waarin de academische vrijheid wordt bedreigd. Dat deze ontwikkeling uitgerekend in de Verenigde Staten plaatsvindt, het leidende land in de westelijke wereld dat vrijheid traditioneel hoog in het vaandel draagt, is extra zorgwekkend.

Voor mijn eerdere DDS–bijdragen zie hier.