On Monday, a group calling itself "Matt Ridley's Conscience" protested on Ridley's family estate, home to the largest open-cast coal mine in England. The group managed to shut down operations at the mine for a day by chaining themselves to excavators and blockading the entrance, which led to the arrest of nine protesters.
The protest's goal was to increase public awareness of the fact that Ridley—who frequently writes anti-science pieces about climate and who recently wrote that increased carbon dioxide would benefit humanity—profits financially from the continued extraction and sale of coal.
With coverage in BBC, The Times, Guardian, Independent, more local press and online outlets, and an op-ed in the New Statesmen by one of the protesters, the protest seems to have been successful in achieving its aim.
It was also well-timed, given that Ridley is ramping up promotional efforts for his latest book, which is slated for release next week. As part of this effort, Ridley wrote a lengthy Wall Street Journal piece about "The Myth of Basic Science," where he argues there should be less public funding for science because industry drives technological progress, not basic research. (Notably, WSJ fails to mention Ridley's coal holdings in his bio.)
In other words, Ridley—who financially benefits from industry-funded fossil fuel research that disputes publicly funded research thinks that industry-funded research is better than publicly funded research.
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