FIU hosting climate change denier detracts from message

The science is settled: 97 percent of climate change scientists agree that climate change is a redality and that it is man-made. Due to carbon pollution, our planet is warming and creating dirtier weather such as extreme droughts, super storms and wildfires.

FIU has supported many initiatives toward raising awareness of climate change —the College of Architecture + the Arts developed design solutions for the 22nd century coastal city, a project looks at the city, neighborhood and building scale, preventing further damage to our environment; FIU created the Sea Level Solutions Center, which coordinates and engages in local to global solutions-oriented research, education and strategic thinking.

So why would they bring an infamous climate change denier to participate in — what’s supposed to be — an engaging conversation surrounding the environment?

“CARTA 2018 Journalists & Editors Workshop on Climate Change in the Americas,” an annual two-day “forum for journalists, scholars and policy-makers to discuss the social, economic and political issues facing the hemisphere,” invited a speaker by the name of James Taylor — no, not the singer.

Taylor is a lawyer and a senior fellow of the Heartland Institute, a hard-right think tank funded by oil companies, carbon polluters, and other rich robber barons — basically, he’s someone who is paid by such companies to promote fake science that supposedly debunks climate change.

He is known for calling the concept of global warming “mythical;” argued that a warmer climate might be more “beneficial” to humans; and argued that natural gas, fracking and nuclear power could save the environment. Taylor has also been accused of fabricating and cherry picking data to suit his claims, according to Climate Feedback, a worldwide network of scientists who collectively assess the credibility of influential climate change media coverage.

Heartland Institute is infamous for a series of 2012 billboards in Chicago with the phrase “I still  believe in Global Warming. Do you?” alongside pictures of The Unabomber, Fidel Castro and Osama bin Laden.

Heartland has also taken cash from oil and gas giants, including Exxon Mobil, the Charles G. Koch Charitable
Foundation, and the Sarah Scaife Foundation, according to the Miami Herald.

The decision of inviting Taylor led one of Miami’s most respected meteorologists — NBC 6’s John Morales — to decline to participate in the event.

FIU didn’t respond when asked what motivated the University to invite Taylor to Miami Beach. We’re tempted to believe the University doesn’t want to have an informative and productive conversation about the environment at this event. Maybe their goal was to create buzz and publicity around it.

Putting Taylor on the same platform as recognized journalists and scholars affects the credibility of the panel and can easily lead to a petty battle on already-proven facts instead of moving the discussion forward.

A debate is only healthy and productive if you can agree on the same foundational facts from which you derive your opinion.

This decision doesn’t fall in line with what FIU has continously claimed its stance to be. Their events should follow suit and reflect that.

We’re already paying the price for consumerism, but a few years down the line, we’ll be paying the price for climate change in lives, livelihoods, food and water scarcity — and in every other way imaginable.

Photo taken from Flickr.