[April 01, 2014] The United Nations’ report issued yesterday declared that future global warming impacts will be “severe, pervasive, and irreversible.” Many expected this conclusion but it is certainly not without strongly differing opinions. Yet, how leaders conduct themselves in the mist of such strong controversial issues and how they deal with dissent, tells us much about that leader’s character.
Leaders on both sides of the issue should be acting with patience and curiosity, but this has not been the case. Surprisingly, some supporters of climate change theory have argued that “climate change deniers” be put on “trial for criminal negligence.” No, this is not an April Fools Joke. Others are pushing for the banning of publications of dissenting views because they are simply “lies” – we are told that climate change is “settled science, overwhelmingly proven by current events.”
Regardless of where we personally stand on the arguments for or against humankind’s effect on climate change and its impact on the future of the planet, calling for the imprisonment of those who disagree harks back 400 years ago to the Spanish Inquisition of Galileo Galilei for his Copernican views. Banning opposing views is the antithesis of scientific inquiry and leadership.
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