Don’t worry, scientist Roger Pielke, Jr., informs us. He is doing fine — he has tenure.
It is too bad, though, that he no longer works in climate science.
He was drummed out of that endeavor by journalists, big-monied foundations, and the White House.
Are you skeptical? Well, drill down into the Podesta emails on WikiLeaks. There you can read infamous billionaire Tom Steyer gloating, “I think it’s fair [to] say that, without Climate Progress, Pielke would still be writing on climate change for 538,” a popular website. Pielke has not been published there at all since 2014.
Pielke had made the mistake of publishing the results of his research. He claims not to be heretical on the main points of the current orthodoxy. But Pielke ticked off all the wrong people with his demonstration that the evidence did not back up the climate change movement’s much-repeated charge that the weather has gotten more traumatic as the planet has gotten warmer.
Pielke relates all this in a fascinating Wall Street Journal commentary, “My Unhappy Life as a Climate Heretic.” Pielke is actually somewhat philosophical about the political and foundational forces arrayed against him — expressing more dismay at his betrayal by journalists and academics.
“You should come with a warning label,” jested one journalist who had merely quoted him. “Quoting Roger Pielke will bring a hailstorm down on your work from the London Guardian, Mother Jones, and Media Matters.”
This “hailstorm” is more widespread and damaging than the results of global warming itself. It effectively distorts both scientific research and the news.
Thus, a political orthodoxy rides herd over public opinion. Over us. By squelching good journalism and honest science.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
