(Calgary, Alberta) Veteran journalist Stuart McNish continues his exploration of the strange phenomenon of being deemed a ‘heretic’ or ‘denier’ for questioning climate change dogma in his latest long-form interview “Climate of Fear”.

McNish talks with Michelle Stirling, Communications Manager for Friends of Science Society, about the psychology behind the false 97% consensus claims and the “Big Green” money behind the environmental/climate change mass movements. McNish has interviewed a number of scientists in the field of climate science, ranging from Princeton University professor William Happer, to Greg Flato of Environment Canada.

Happer rejects the theory that carbon dioxide from human industrial emissions (Anthropogenic Global Warming) drives climate change and he does not rely on climate models (simulations). Flato is a lead author of the 2013 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, Chapter 9, on climate models. McNish is interested in all aspects of the climate debate.

In his conversation with Michelle Stirling, McNish explores the ‘soft science’ – the psychological factors that make the claim of a 97% consensus on climate change so compelling. Stirling refers to the ‘social proof’ that Robert Cialdini explained in his book “Influence” – that people are ‘herd animals’ and generally go with the crowd. Likewise, referring to the work of psychologist Kipling D. Williams, Stirling explains that the heretical 3% of the ‘consensus’ equation suffer from being ostracized. Williams calls this the ‘social kiss of death’. Thus, the claim of ‘consensus’ means most people won’t question, even though the Friends of Science report “97% Consensus? NO! Global Warming Math Myths and Social Proofs” shows the claim of a scientific consensus on climate change is unfounded.

The claim of ‘consensus’ has been further shaken by the recent establishment of the international CLINTEL – climate intelligence – group based in Holland of more than 800 scientists, scholars and professionals who state there is no climate emergency, climate models should not be used for setting public policy, and that natural factors are the principle drivers climate change.

This article appeared on the Friends of Science website at https://friendsofscience.org/assets/documents/News/Friends%20of%20Science%20Press%20Release%20June%2023,%202020.pdf

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