'Warmist' attack smacks of 'sceptical' intolerance
It seems that something new, and not altogether welcome, may be happening in the politicking over climate change.
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Journalists, including your humble correspondent, receive our fair share too.
This week, for the first time, I am seeing the same pattern from their opponents.
, the physicist-cum-government-advisor-cum-polemicist, postedÌýa blog entry highly critical ofÌýthe Arctic ice article I wrote last week.
Headlined , it takes me to task, essentially, for not mentioning human-induced climate change explicitly.
At least, that is the surface complaint; what my omission hides, he hints heavily, is an agenda aimed at downplaying the impacts of humanity's greenhouse gas emissions.
He then gives my email address and invites his readers to send in complaints. Many have, perhaps swayed byÌýjudgemental terms in his post such asÌý"spin", "inexcusable",Ìýand "mis-reporting",Ìýwith severalÌýciting his interpretation as gospel truth.
He is as entitled to his views as anyone else.Ìý
ÌýBut this is, at least in my experience,Ìýthe first time that "warmers" - those who, like Dr Romm, believe climate change is taking us to hell in a handcart andÌýwho lobby for more urgent action on the issue - have resorted to the internet equivalent of taking banners onto the street in an attemptÌý to influence reporting of the issue.
It may be something that other journalists have seen before - I can only report that I have not. Always, in my experience, it has come from the side of "the debate" that Dr Romm abhors.
I am wondering, therefore,Ìýwhether it does presage the start of something - whether it is now going to be routine for those of us who attempt to report on climate change objectively to be on the receiving end of barrages of critical mail, stimulated by bloggers with a definableÌýagenda, whenever we write something that does not tally with their agenda.
What about scientists? If researchers publish papers on climate change that do notÌýinclude cataclysmic warnings of where the world is heading, will they receive the same treatment?
Anyone who sharesÌýDr Romm's viewsÌýshould, I suggest,Ìýbe hoping this is not the case.ÌýAs I have asked before in relation to pressure from the "sceptical" camp, what makes anyone think that organised abuse is an effective lobbying tactic?
Rather, it takes us further down the spiral of confrontation, where no-one listens to anyone with an opposing point of view, where every word has to be weighed for ideological purity rather than accuracy, and where free and effective discourse becomes impossible.
I'm Richard Black, environment correspondent for the Ö÷²¥´óÐã News website. This is my take on what's happening to our shared environment as the human population grows and our use of nature's resources increases.
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