Read the part transcript of James Lovelock's Saturday interview with Leo Hickman
On science:
Science is going down the drain terribly fast. It keeps dividing itself up into expertises and these expertises probably don't know much about the others. I think in order to be a fully rounded person you have to learn to be a pro at one thing, but then you can become a generalist.
On "greens":
The greens use guilt. That shows just how religious the greens are. You can't win people round by saying they are guilty for putting CO2 in the air. We do now know what we are doing when it comes to CO2 [emissions], but you don't have to go right over the top like the greens and shouting, "You're guilty!" I don't like it.
On the Met Office Hadley Centre:
I keep contact with the Hadley Centre. They are one of the best climate centres in the world. Something to be proud of. They should be given credit. They are under enormous pressure from government and are not allowed to say what they really think. But there's some really good scientists there. I like Richard Betts very much and respect him. He couldn't be a scientist and not discuss the uncertainties [in climate science]. Three cheers for him.
Article continues below this advert:
On his advice to environmentalists:
I wish I knew. One thing being a scientist has taught me is that you can never be certain about anything. You never know the truth. You can only approach it and hope you get a bit nearer to it each time. You iterate towards the truth. You don't know it. It's just the way the humans go that if there's a cause of some sort, a religion starts forming around it. It just so happens that the green religion is now taking over from the Christian religion. I don't think people have noticed that, but it's got all the sort of terms that religions use.
On climate sceptics:
The people who don't believe in the environment and climate science, etc, are the deniers. They are a totally different category [to the greens]. They've got their own religion. They believe that the world was right before these damn people [the greens] came along and want to go back to where we were 20 years ago. That's also silly in its own way. I don't see how any true scientist could be either a believer or a denier. The term "sceptic" has been hijacked, too.
On taking action on climate change:
Just look at our own bodies and medicine. We don't understand everything and there's no point pretending we do. It's far too complex. But we can still take preventative measures. And the same applies to the Earth. I compare it with medicine at the time of the Battle of Waterloo where some poor bloke got half his leg blown off with a cannon ball and the only thing he could do was put the stump in a vat of boiling pitch to quarterise it and seal it. It's not that we have to do nothing, but you have to try and survive and adapt the best you can and keep your eyes open for the next solution. Avoid instant solutions. The greens are very bad at picking up things, such as homoeopathy. Prince Charles is like this. But it's absolutely rubbish. It has no scientific basis whatsoever. It's quackery. But there are some environmentalists who are swinging around now and moving away from all this. They're the sensible ones.
Click source to read FULL transcript
Tweet Article
Post to Facebook
Print Article