Australian climate scientists threatened with death

The debate over a carbon emissions tax heats up.

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Cracked soil at New South Wales, AustraliaCLIMATECHANGE.GOV.AU

A public smear campaign, death threats, and threats of sexual violence, have prompted leading Australian climate scientists to take drastic measures to secure their safety. According to The Guardian, several scientists at the Australian National University in Canberra were transferred to a secure facility following a deluge of threatening emails and phone calls. The threats “were so serious and so explicit that the Australian Federal Police have been called in to investigate,” The Telegraph reports. This is the latest chapter in a bitter argument raging in Australia since last February, when the prime minister proposed a tax on carbon emissions. The tax, which is fiercely opposed by the mining and petroleum industries, is designed to stave off the disastrous consequences of climate change—among other things, ...

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