I usually love your work Ben, but really disappointed to see you promoting Matt Ridley here. His views on climate change are downright dangerous. Ridley has suggested the world need not worry about the problem as there will be "benefits" to a warming planet. He regularly cites climate sceptics like Bjorn Lomborg (an author who selectively quotes research to distort it). And he has repeatedly used his position of influence in UK politics to promote the fossil fuel industry and criticise clean energy. I appreciate your blog only links to his TED talk. But by promoting his other work it worries me that you're inadvertently endorsing an individual who has spent years working hard to hold back progress on the one of the most serious issues our planet faces.
Hi Richard, thanks for bringing this to my attention. Looks like I got carried away with the intellectual ideas in the talk and should have done some more research into Matt Ridley’s past. Mea culpa.
Whilst I want to emphasise that anybody I link to is not an endorsement of everything they have ever said or done, I fully recognise I have a responsibility as somebody with an audience in the individuals and topics I choose to cover. For the record I am firmly of the view that man-made climate change is an urgent problem.
I will be altering the online version of this article to reflect my position. Thanks again for reading and taking the time to respond. 🙏
Thanks Ben, appreciate the response. And totally take your point your post isn't meant to be an endorsement of everything he's ever written. To be honest, that was on my mind when I commented. But as Matt Ridley is probably one of the most prominent (and, sadly, highly influential) climate sceptic voices in the UK, it seemed worth raising. There's a good summary on the link below from De Smog on how he's made a career out of it that spans more than a decade:
I usually love your work Ben, but really disappointed to see you promoting Matt Ridley here. His views on climate change are downright dangerous. Ridley has suggested the world need not worry about the problem as there will be "benefits" to a warming planet. He regularly cites climate sceptics like Bjorn Lomborg (an author who selectively quotes research to distort it). And he has repeatedly used his position of influence in UK politics to promote the fossil fuel industry and criticise clean energy. I appreciate your blog only links to his TED talk. But by promoting his other work it worries me that you're inadvertently endorsing an individual who has spent years working hard to hold back progress on the one of the most serious issues our planet faces.
Hi Richard, thanks for bringing this to my attention. Looks like I got carried away with the intellectual ideas in the talk and should have done some more research into Matt Ridley’s past. Mea culpa.
Whilst I want to emphasise that anybody I link to is not an endorsement of everything they have ever said or done, I fully recognise I have a responsibility as somebody with an audience in the individuals and topics I choose to cover. For the record I am firmly of the view that man-made climate change is an urgent problem.
I will be altering the online version of this article to reflect my position. Thanks again for reading and taking the time to respond. 🙏
Thanks Ben, appreciate the response. And totally take your point your post isn't meant to be an endorsement of everything he's ever written. To be honest, that was on my mind when I commented. But as Matt Ridley is probably one of the most prominent (and, sadly, highly influential) climate sceptic voices in the UK, it seemed worth raising. There's a good summary on the link below from De Smog on how he's made a career out of it that spans more than a decade:
https://www.desmog.co.uk/matt-ridley
Thanks Richard, will have a read tonight.