75% Of UK Students Support Banning 'Offensive' Views
The suppression of uncomfortable ideas may be common in religion or in politics, but it is not the path to knowledge, and there's no place for it in the endeavor of science. --Carl Sagan
Why has the sea ice cover surrounding Antarctica been increasing slightly, in sharp contrast to the drastic loss of sea ice occurring in the Arctic Ocean? Since the late 1970s, its extent has been relatively stable, increasing just slightly; however, regional differences are observed. A NASA/NOAA/university team found that two persistent geological factors — the topography of Antarctica and the depth of the ocean surrounding it — are influencing winds and ocean currents, respectively, to drive the formation and evolution of Antarctica’s sea ice cover and help sustain it. --NASA/JPL News, 20 May 2016
The European Union’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions rose in 2015 while American emissions fell, despite Europe’s environmentally conscious and progressive image, analysis by The Daily Caller News Foundation has found. The EU’s 2015 CO2 emissions increased by 0.7 percent relative to 2014, while U.S. emissions fell to its lowest level in two decades. The EU has spent an estimated $1.2 trillion financially supporting wind, solar and bio-energy and an incalculable amount on a cap-and-trade scheme to specifically lower CO2 emissions. TheDCNF’s analysis concurs with a report published in early May by the EIA, which found the primary reason for the decline in CO2 emissions is increased natural gas production from fracking. --Andrew Follett, The Daily Caller, 21 May 2016
Environmentalists have blamed the recent forest fires in Alberta, Canada on climate change. But there is very little evidence to support their claims. --GWPF Climate Briefing, 23 May 2016
Research by the Higher Education Policy Institute found that 76 per cent of all students would ban speakers who had views that offended them, while 48 per cent wanted universities to be declared “safe spaces” where debate would only take place only within strict rules to safeguard those of a particular gender, culture or sexuality. --Valentine Low, The Times, 23 May 2016
First they came for the bags of sugar, removing them from the campus shop. Then they blocked Six Nations rugby matches from being screened in the student union bar. After that coffee was targeted: Starbucks and Nestlé were subject to campus boycotts. Sombreros were next; handing out the hats at a freshers’ fair was deemed cultural appropriation. They even tried to ban Ukip after students said that inviting its candidate on to the campus would make them feel less safe and secure. So when the University of East Anglia discouraged graduating students from tossing mortarboards in the air during their official photograph it came as little surprise. “UEA is fast becoming one of the daftest campuses in the country,” Tom Slater, the rankings editor, said. --Greg Hurst, The Times, 21 May 2016
Last week, the Portland, Oregon, public schools board voted to “abandon the use of any adopted text material that is found to express doubt about the severity of the climate crisis or its root in human activities.” This is the party of “science” at work. Because the rigorous suppression of doubt and skepticism is the essence of a good science education, right? It reminds me of the old dictum attributed to Lenin: first you target the counter-revolutionaries, and then you target the insufficiently enthusiastic. This is no longer about suppressing us global warming “deniers.” It’s about erecting the global warming catechism as a dogma that cannot be given anything short of enthusiastic consent. You have to embrace it the way you love Big Brother. --Robert Tracinski, The Federalist, 23 May 2016
Brought to you by Benny Peiser's Global Warming Policy Forum
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