A key claim in a January 2016 article in the scientific journal, Nature, is that there are no longer any living colonies of Acropora – a particular type of coral – at Stone Island off Bowen Harbour in the Whitsundays, and that other corals are now covered in mud.
Dr Peter Ridd’s path to dismissal by James Cook University began with an email questioning claims that the corals at Stone Island were bleached, dead and reduced to mudflats.
Dr Marohasy and her team went to find out the true state of the coral reefs around Stone Island.
What they found contradicts the Nature paper and proves this key reef system is very much alive.
Throughout history, individuals have been crushed by the masses, particularly when their evidence does not concur with the overall agenda. Rational argument is not possible when people think in terms of slogans, especially when some of those in authority have no real firsthand experience of nature
Dr Jennifer Marohasy
Please click here for IPA’s key articles on Peter Ridd’s case, and relevant Great Barrier Reef science.
Background on the court case
In May 2018, after an academic career of more than 30 years, Peter had his employment terminated as a professor of physics at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia. Peter had spoken against the accepted orthodoxy that climate change was ‘killing’ the Great Barrier Reef.
There’s some absolute rubbish being spoken about the reef and people’s livelihoods are being put in jeopardy. If nobody will stand up, then this is just going to go on and on and on. It has to be stopped.
Peter’s court case has enormous implications for the international debate about climate change, and for the ongoing crisis surrounding freedom of speech.
https://ipa.org.au/peterridd
