Cancel culture came to climate science long before the current debacle surrounding critical race theory and COVID-19 science. To counter this censorship, on Oct. 12 the Climate Realists of Norway launched a new peer-reviewed international scientific journal to great enthusiasm and criticism worldwide. It is called Science of Climate Change.
Science in Exile
Until about the turn of the millennium, there was a vigorous scientific debate about the causes of climate change. The uncertainty was huge, and there was plenty of room for dissent and opposing views. However, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is fundamentally a political organization, with its leadership appointed by politicians from environmental departments worldwide. These political actors are mainly radical green activists with long track records of failed predictions and dubious handling of facts. Science, therefore, had to yield to political pressure.
Scientists who were not on board with the radical agenda were harassed, defunded, deplatformed, excommunicated, and labeled “climate deniers” – an apparent reference to Holocaust deniers. Many scientists chose to bend the knee to political intimidation, but some valued their integrity above their career. They are scientists in exile.
The Journal
Some of these have gathered forces into organizations under the rubric “climate realists.” The original one is the Climate Realists of Norway. Its scientific advisory board is filled with professors, PhDs and even one Nobel laureate, Dr. Ivar Giæver, who was awarded the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physics for his co-discovery of quantum tunneling.
The Climate Realists have produced Science of Climate Change, with Dr. Geir Hasnes as its editor. He told Liberty Nation that “the journal is founded to give space to all scientists who are having trouble publishing their science in other journals for political reasons.”
The journal was launched at the University of Stavanger with its rector, Klaus Mohn, speaking at the event. Mohn said in his speech that academia should be tolerant of dissent but did not endorse the journal or its views and advised the new journal to cease its operation as he regarded the topic to be settled science. Hasnes retorted that this view is precisely why the journal is needed.
The Reactions
Although Mohn was commended by many for his academic tolerance, some people expressed “embarrassment” and “shame” that he, as the university leader, would be speaking at the event, even with critical remarks. Green Party politician Eivind Trædal questioned the wisdom of Mohn’s participation with whom he called “climate deniers.”
Responding to this criticism, Mohn said, “I participate based on the idea that the University of Stavanger should be an open institution … It is about the principle of academic freedom and free speech,” adding that “knowledge and insight are generated through dialog, critique, and debate.”
Mohn’s tolerance of opposing viewpoints is in grim contrast to the cancel culture pushed by anti-liberal ideologues sweeping across the West. Whether the new journal will gain traction remains to be seen, but Hasnes reports that it has received “a flood” of new submissions.
~ Read more from Caroline Adana.
