{"id":42923,"date":"2018-08-27T07:57:27","date_gmt":"2018-08-27T06:57:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=42923"},"modified":"2018-08-27T07:57:27","modified_gmt":"2018-08-27T06:57:27","slug":"climate-change-is-real-we-must-not-offer-credibility-to-those-who-deny-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2018\/08\/27\/climate-change-is-real-we-must-not-offer-credibility-to-those-who-deny-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate change is real. We must not offer credibility to those who deny it"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following\u00a0 letter was published in The Guardian last night\u00a0<\/a><\/em>under the heading:<\/em><\/p>\n

If \u2018balance\u2019 means giving voice to those who deny the reality of human-triggered climate change, we will not take part in the debate, say\u00a0Jonathan Porritt, Caroline Lucas, Clive Lewis<\/strong>and 57 other writers, politicians and academics<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We are no longer willing to lend our credibility to debates over whether or not\u00a0climate change<\/a>\u00a0is real. It is real. We need to act now or the consequences will be catastrophic. In the interests of \u201cbalance\u201d, the media often feels the need to include those who outright deny the reality of human-triggered climate change.<\/p>\n

Balance implies equal weight. But this then creates a false equivalence between an overwhelming scientific consensus and a lobby, heavily funded by vested interests, that exists simply to sow doubt to serve those interests. Yes, of course scientific consensus should be open to challenge \u2014 but with better science, not with spin and nonsense. We urgently need to move the debate on to how we address the causes and effects of dangerous climate change \u2014 because that\u2019s where common sense demands our attention and efforts should be.<\/p>\n

Fringe voices will protest about \u201cfree speech\u201d. No one should prevent them from expressing their views, whether held cynically or misguidedly. However, no one is obliged to provide them with a platform, much less to appear alongside them to give the misleading impression that there is something substantive to debate. When there is an article on smoking, newspapers and broadcasters no longer include lobbyists claiming there are no links to cancer. When there\u2019s a round-the-world yacht race we don\u2019t hear flat-earthers given airtime: \u201cThis is madness; they\u2019ll sail off the edge!\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a workable model for covering fringe views \u2014 which is to treat them as such. They don\u2019t need to be ridiculed, just expected to challenge the evidence with better evidence, and otherwise ignored. As campaigners and thinkers who are led by science and the precautionary principle, and who wish to debate the real and vital issues arising from human-triggered climate change, we will not assist in creating the impression that climate denial should be taken seriously by lending credence to its proponents, by entertaining ideas that lack any basis in fact. Therefore we will no longer debate those who deny that human-caused climate change is real. There are plenty of vital debates to be had around climate chaos and what to do about it; this is simply no longer one of them. We urge broadcasters to move on, as we are doing.<\/p>\n

Jonathon Porritt<\/strong>\u00a0Chair, Sustainable Development Commission 2000-11<\/em>
\nJohn Sauven<\/strong>\u00a0Executive director, Greenpeace<\/em>
\nProf Richard Murphy\u00a0<\/strong>Director, Tax Research UK<\/em>
\nPeter Tatchell<\/strong>
\nProf Andrea Sella,\u00a0<\/strong>Michael Faraday prize winner<\/em>
\nProf Robert Ayres<\/strong>\u00a0Author<\/em>
\nCaroline Lucas MP<\/strong>
\nClive Lewis MP<\/strong>
\nProf Molly Scott Cato MEP<\/strong>
\nDr Rupert Read<\/strong>\u00a0Chair, Green House thinktank<\/em>
\nGeorge Monbiot<\/strong>\u00a0Author<\/em>
\nDr Doug Parr<\/strong>\u00a0Chief scientist, Greenpeace<\/em>
\nChris Rose<\/strong>\u00a0Former programme director, Greenpeace<\/em>
\nJeremy Leggett\u00a0<\/strong>Founder, Solar Century<\/em>
\nMayer Hillman<\/strong>\u00a0Senior fellow, Policy Studies Institute<\/em>
\nBea Campbell<\/strong>
\nEd Gillespie<\/strong>\u00a0Co-founder, Futerra
\nMark Lynas<\/strong>\u00a0Author<\/em>
\nDr James Garvey<\/strong>\u00a0Author<\/em>
\nOliver Tickell<\/strong>\u00a0Author<\/em>
\nChris Goodall<\/strong>\u00a0Author<\/em>
\nProf Clive Spash<\/strong>\u00a0Author<\/em>
\nProf Hugh Montgomery\u00a0<\/strong>Co-founder, UK Climate and Health Council<\/em>
\nProf Mark Maslin<\/strong>\u00a0Author<\/em>
\nProf Anthony Ryan<\/strong>\u00a0Director, Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures<\/em>
\nDr Sian Foch-Gatrell<\/strong>\u00a0Green Ocean Project<\/em>
\nDr Erik Buitenhuis<\/strong>\u00a0Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research<\/em>
\nDavid Wasdell<\/strong>\u00a0Director, Apollo-Gaia Project<\/em>
\nProf Paul Ekins<\/strong>\u00a0UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources<\/em>
\nDr Teresa Belton<\/strong>\u00a0Author<\/em>
\nDr Nick Brooks<\/strong>\u00a0Climatic Research Unit, UEA<\/em>
\nDr Simon Boxley<\/strong>\u00a0Centre for Climate Change Education, University of Winchester<\/em>)
\nProf Jem Bendell<\/strong>\u00a0Sustainability Leadership Institute, University of Cumbria<\/em>
\nDr David Drew MP<\/strong>
\nDr Ian Gibson<\/strong>\u00a0Former chair of the House of Commons science and technology select committee<\/em>)
\nKeith Taylor MEP<\/strong>
\nClare Moody MEP<\/strong>
\nCatherine Bearder MEP<\/strong>
\nCllr Jonathan Bartley<\/strong>\u00a0Co-leader, Green party<\/em>
\nCarne Ross<\/strong>\u00a0Former UK and UN diplomat<\/em>
\nNeal Lawson<\/strong>\u00a0Director, Compass<\/em>
\nBen Chacko<\/strong>\u00a0Editor, Morning Star<\/em>
\nDeepak Rughani<\/strong>\u00a0Co-director, Biofuelwatch<\/em>
\nPatrick Barkham<\/strong>\u00a0Author<\/em>
\nProf Gary Francione<\/strong>
\nProf Sarah Churchwell<\/strong>
\nDr Christine Cornea<\/strong>
\nDr Richard House<\/strong>
\nDr Abby Innes<\/strong>
\nDr Pierre Bocquillon<\/strong>
\nProf Del Loewenthal<\/strong>
\nProf Andrew Samuels<\/strong>
\nDr Jo Veltman<\/strong>
\nProf Peter Belton<\/strong>
\nDr Andrew Boswell<\/strong>
\nDr Katherine Kite<\/strong>
\nMark Crutchley<\/strong>
\nKaren Whiterod<\/strong>
\nAnne Dismorr<\/strong>
\nJonathan Kent<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following\u00a0 letter was published in The Guardian last night\u00a0under the heading: If \u2018balance\u2019 means giving voice to those who deny the reality of human-triggered
 Read the full article…<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[108],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42923\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}