I’ve just listened to Julia Slingo being interviewed for BBC Radio 4’s The Life Scientific.
Podcast here:
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/tls/tls_20140408-0930a.mp3What struck me most was her total dignity towards the end of her interview (25 minutes or so in) when Jim Al-Khalilli probes her attitude towards the climate change skeptics and, in particular Lord Lawson, who once publicly referred to her as “this woman Julia Slingo”. It’s very clear that she’s suffered greatly from such attacks but seems to be bearing them with fortitude.
That prominent individuals in society should subject anyone working for the greater good to such aggression has to be totally unacceptable.
Professor Slingo has had a controversial term at the top of the Met Office but her public defense of her own position and of the efforts of mainstream science to unravel the climate issues being created by society’s determination to continue on a BAU pathway in the face of real and present risk is to be applauded.
There are folk on the other side of this debate who should hang their heads in shame for their behaviour if not for the views they hold.
It’s well worth a listen.