As Al Gore (the “Goracle”) has frequently told us, there is a scientific consensus that human-caused global warming is real. One way to achieve that consensus is to de-fund anyone who disagrees. And that is exactly what has happened to global warming contrarian Patrick Michaels.
Bob Gibson with the Daily Progress reports that Michaels has not only resigned as the official state climatologist, he has negotiated an early retirement package with the University of Virginia and will remain affiliated with the university only as a part-time research professor on leave. Here is Michaels’ explanation:
Michaels, whose utility industry funding and controversial views on global warming made him a lightning rod on climate change issues, called his resignation a sad result of the fact that his state climatologist funding had become politicized as “a line in the governor’s budget,” which he said compromised his academic freedom.
“It’s very simple,” Michaels said in an interview. “I don’t think anybody was able to come to a satisfactory agreement about academic freedom.”
Delacey Skinner, communications director for the Kaine administration, had no comment. Joseph C. Zieman, chairman of UVa’s Department of Environmental Sciences, had little to add either.
Global Warming advocates have attacked Michaels for his utility industry ties, suggesting that the source of his funding compromised the integrity of his research. Ironically, Michaels calls into question the objectivity of GW scientists by noting that government-funded climate research — which is heavily influenced by one-sided newspaper articles and grand-standing politicians holding congressional hearings — is highly politicized. But now skeptics like Michaels are being labeled “global warming deniers,” akin to Holocaust deniers, and there is an active movement to de-fund them. Thus the scientific “consensus” that Global Warming is caused by human activity becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. Orthodoxy shall prevail; heretics shall be punished.
Academic freedom and a diversity of viewpoints are core values at Virginia universities. If anyone within the UVa administration or faculty rose to Michaels’ defense, however, Gibson makes no note of it. Does academic freedom exist only for liberals and leftists? If so, this is a scandal of first-order magnitude. The circumstances of Michaels’ departure should be laid bare.
