Heretics, Heresies, and the new Inquisition

I cannot help but think about Gallileo a lot these days; he spoke out against the orthodoxies of the day, and suffered personally and professionally for it. In the end, however, he was proven to be right. When I see dogma and zealotry replacing scepticism and discourse in the discussion of anything that is supposedly science, I worry for the future of scientific enquiry.

Right now, David Suzuki (a geneticist), Al Gore (a political opportunist) and their intellectual and spiritual brethren are fostering a generation of eco-anxiety ridden kids. These two are being treated as authoritative speakers on an area as complex as global climatic trends. That's like seeking medical advice from the person who does your taxes. While I concede that Dr. Suzuki is an educated person, his education is in a very specific area. Expertise in the genetic expressions of Drosophila Melanogaster does not an atmospheric physicist, oceonographer, geologist, or climatologist make. As for Al Gore (BA, LLB), I highly doubt that he could even begin to fathom the math and physics.

The topic has become so politicized, any hope of legitimate scientific discussion goes out the window. When disagreement is branded as heresy, to the point where those who question the new orthodoxy are labelled as the ecological equivalent to Holocaust deniers something is dangerously wrong. Those who are labelled as heretics have credentials that are actually related to the topic being discussed and have well documented research which calls into question a lot of what has been presented as the definitive TRUTH.

Personally, I think that more people need to hear from the other side