It was the early 1600’s. The Catholic Church, ie, government of the day, was opposed to the radical new idea that the earth was NOT the center of the Universe. The Copernican view, that the Earth revolves around the sun, was considered heresy. The infamous radical astronomer Galileo (himself a Catholic) was tried by the Roman Inquisition and forced to recant his views and spend the rest of his life under house arrest.
In a similar way today, climate scientists employed by the Canadian Federal Government (well, by taxpayers, really) are being told they no longer have the right to speak freely to the media or public, or they might just face their own form of house arrest – unemployed. In 2012, the Privy Council Office, an arm of the Prime Minister’s office, put the big freeze on Canadian scientists wanting to spread the news of the greatest summer arctic ice melt levels on record.
Neither the Vatican or the Harper Government can win at this game in the long term. Because natural systems don’t play politics. They just keep on doing their thing, as the evidence stacks up. Or melts away.
Previous: « The best organic winery brand you haven’t heard of. Yet.
Next: 3 Things I Bet You Didn’t Know About Our Waste – From Metro Vancouver’s Zero Waste Conference »
