{"id":264380,"date":"2023-06-28T18:26:36","date_gmt":"2023-06-28T16:26:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=264380"},"modified":"2023-06-28T18:26:39","modified_gmt":"2023-06-28T16:26:39","slug":"monash-a-fresh-clown-in-the-climate-circus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=264380","title":{"rendered":"Monash, a Fresh Clown in the Climate\u00a0Circus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From Climate Scepticism<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0TONY THOMAS<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Monash, a giant among Australian universities, has 103,000 students and faculty. Of course it\u2019s endorsed the Yes case to hand power to an unelected federal chamber of hereditary Aborigines. But Monash now risks being distracted from its climate crusade. It lists \u201cmitigating climate change\u201d on its \u201cWho We Are\u201d web-page as its core focus: \u201cClimate change threatens the fabric of our planet,\u201d it says. I\u2019ll explain here how Monash seeks to arrest global warming. This might give pointers to how Monash will \u201csave\u201d the referendum\u2019s collapsing Yes case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s start with 2019, when eleven Monash professors and associate professors, along with eight employees with PhDs and 25 other staffers all endorsed a petition calling for civil disobedience under the aegis of Extinction Rebellion\u2019s nutters. The petition began<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The science is clear, the facts are incontrovertible. We are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCivilisational collapse\u201d is coming, they say, and if we don\u2019t get to zero emissions by 2029 (i.e.<\/em> six years from now), \u201cthe future of our own species is bleak.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is unconscionable that we, our children and grandchildren should have to bear the terrifying brunt of this unprecedented disaster. When [the Morrison] government wilfully abrogates its responsibility to protect its citizens from harm and secure the future for generations to come, it has failed in its most essential duty of stewardship. The \u2018social contract\u2019 has been broken, and it is therefore not only our right, but our moral duty, to rebel to defend life itself.<\/em> (My emphases here and throughout the essay).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Extinction Rebellion UK, the inspiration for the petition, decided last December its extremist antics were alienating the public \u2014 just how alienated can be seen in the clip below. So stopped blocking trains and highways and\u00a0gluing hands to Goyas<\/a>. That decision leaves the Monash professors looking like stranded university assets, or some might claim stranded liabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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