Last month Professor Peter Ridd was sacked by James Cook University, Queensland. His crime – telling the truth about the state of the Great Barrier Reef (“GBR”). The reason given was that he was guilty of “failing to act in a collegial way and in the academic spirit of the institution”.

Climate “scientists” and fellow travellers had been claiming that the reef was 93% bleached caused by warmer water, in turn caused by climate change. And that it would totally disappear. Ridd sent out a team to study the reef and found that the vast majority of it was healthy.

The reason he was sacked was that a healthy reef would attract far less government research funding than one that was dying. He also had the temerity to criticise two of the leading authorities on the GBR, the Centre of Excellence for Coral Studies and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park – both had supported the 93% story.

Ridd has since raised $500,000 through crowd funding to support his lawsuit against the university.

In addition to Ridd, scientific integrity also loses. And so does the university, regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit.

One wonders about how common this politicisation of science really is. Here’s another example. Parts of the western Antarctic ice sheet are melting and that is put down to climate change. In fact, the ice in the west overlies a group of 91 volcanoes, some of which have become more active, thus melting the ice. However, ice is increasing in eastern Antarctica, possibly outweighing losses in the west.

18 June 2018 Macro