02/09/2018

Climate Change Is Real. We Must Not Offer Credibility To Those Who Deny It

The Guardian - Letters

If ‘balance’ means giving voice to those who deny the reality of human-triggered climate change, we will not take part in the debate, say Jonathan Porritt, Caroline Lucas, Clive Lewis and 57 other writers, politicians and academics
A dry cornfield in Ahlen, Germany, where harvests have suffered as a result of this year’s extreme drought. Photograph: Martin Meissner/AP
We are no longer willing to lend our credibility to debates over whether or not climate change is real. It is real. We need to act now or the consequences will be catastrophic. In the interests of “balance”, the media often feels the need to include those who outright deny the reality of human-triggered climate change.
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 – 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 – because that’s where common sense demands our attention and efforts should be.
Fringe voices will protest about “free speech”. 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’s a round-the-world yacht race we don’t hear flat-earthers given airtime: “This is madness; they’ll sail off the edge!”
There’s a workable model for covering fringe views – which is to treat them as such. They don’t 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.
Jonathon Porritt
Chair 2000-11
Sustainable Development Commission 
John Sauven Executive
director
Greenpeace
Prof Richard Murphy
Director
Tax Research UK
Jeremy Leggett
Founder
Solar Century
Prof Andrea Sella
Michael Faraday prize winner
Prof Robert Ayres
Author
Dr Rupert Read
Chair
Green House thinktank
Dr Doug Parr
Chief scientist
Greenpeace
Chris Rose
Former programme director
Greenpeace
Mayer Hillman
Senior fellow
Policy Studies Institute
Ed Gillespie
Co-founder
Futerra
Prof Hugh Montgomery
Co-founder
UK Climate and Health Council
Mark Lynas
Author
Dr James Garvey
Author
Oliver Tickell
Author
Chris Goodall
Author
Prof Clive Spash
Author
Prof Mark Maslin
Author
Prof Anthony Ryan
Director
Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures
David Wasdell
Director
Apollo-Gaia Project
Dr Sian Foch-Gatrell
Green Ocean Project
Dr Erik Buitenhuis
Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
Prof Paul Ekins
UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources
Carne Ross
Former UK and UN diplomat
Dr Nick Brooks
Climatic Research Unit
UEA
Dr Simon Boxley
Centre for Climate Change Education
University of Winchester
Prof Jem Bendell Sustainability
Leadership Institute
University of Cumbria
Cllr Jonathan Bartley
Co-Leader
Green party
Dr Ian Gibson
Former chair
House of Commons
Science and Technology Select Committee
Peter Tatchell
Caroline Lucas MP
Clive Lewis MP
Neal Lawson
Director
Compass
Ben Chacko
Editor
Morning Star
Deepak Rughani
Co-director
Biofuelwatch
Prof Molly Scott Cato MEP
Bea Campbell
Patrick Barkham
Author
George Monbiot
Author
Prof Gary Francione Prof Sarah Churchwell
Dr Christine Cornea Dr Richard House
Dr Abby Innes Dr Pierre Bocquillon
Prof Del Loewenthal Prof Andrew Samuels
Dr Jo Veltman Prof Peter Belton
Dr Andrew Boswell Dr Katherine Kite
Mark Crutchley Karen Whiterod
Anne Dismorr Jonathan Kent

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