Meteorologist on ‘March for Science’: Why must real scientists ‘whisper’?

by WorldTribune Staff, April 23, 2017

The politicizing of science took center stage on Earth Day (April 22) during the global “March for Science”.

The News & Observer reported that the rally in Raleigh, North Carolina and elsewhere “drew crowds as scientists are becoming increasingly troubled by policies and budget priorities put forward by the Trump administration. Organizers and marchers said they were motivated, in part, by President Donald Trump, who as a candidate described climate change as a hoax, raised questions about vaccines and their safety, then proposed a budget that would cut federal funding for research.”

March for Science in Washington, D.C. /Reuters

Meteorologist Niki Morock was one scientist who chose not to attend.

Writing for Front Porch Weather, Morock said the Facebook “March for Science” meme (science is unbound by borders, working at its best when ideas flow freely among peoples and nations) is “a beautiful thought, but it’s not reality, and President Trump is not to blame for that fact. The squelching of scientific free speech came long before he took office, and it came from within the scientific community itself.”

Morock continued: “Somehow the idea that climate change is caused by an increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been elevated beyond theory to some new belief system that is not allowed to be questioned. Anyone who proposes an alternate hypothesis or questions the quality of the data and experiments gets blacklisted, name-called, and pushed to the back of the bus, or worse, pushed off the bus altogether — figuratively speaking, of course. How is this behavior by other scientists exemplary and a free exchange of ideas?

“Many of us who are willing to look into potential alternative causes of climate change speak quietly amongst ourselves in hushed tones because we fear the kind of vehement judgment that our more outspoken counterparts have faced.

“Personally, I like to read everything I can find about alternative explanations to most super-popular theories because I am proud to be a scientist in the truest sense of the word. I like to keep an open mind, and it would be wonderful if those of us who do could speak above a whisper when we meet.”

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