Prince Charles attacks ‘headless chicken’ climate change deniers

Prince Charles has spoken out against powerful groups of climate change deniers who use “sheer intimidation” to dismiss scientific evidence, describing them as “the headless chicken brigade”.

Speaking at an awards ceremony for green entrepreneurs at Buckingham Palace on Thursday evening, the prince praised young people engaging in sustainability for possessing “the far-sightedness and confidence in what they know is happening to ignore the headless chicken brigade and do something practical to help”.

He said, “It is baffling, I must say, that in our modern world we have such blind trust in science and technology that we all accept what science tells us about everything – until, that is, it comes to climate science.

“All of a sudden, and with a barrage of sheer intimidation, we are told by powerful groups of deniers that the scientists are wrong and we must abandon all our faith in so much overwhelming scientific evidence.”

The prince has long been an outspoken environmentalist. He has campaigned about the need to leave a hospitable environment for future generations, and has criticised those who are sceptical about or denied manmade global warming before.

While awarding the Sustainability Entrepreneur Prize to Gamal Albinsaid, who founded the Indonesian social enterprise Garbage Clinical Insurance, the prince admitted, “I have tended to make a habit of sticking my head above the parapet.” 

He added, “Perhaps it has been too uncomfortable for those with vested interests to acknowledge, but we have spent the best part of the past century enthusiastically testing the world to utter destruction; not looking closely enough at the long-term impact our actions will have.”

In November last year, the prince warned that the window of opportunity to tackle climate change was “rapidly narrowing”. He also criticised a mentality of “quarterly capitalism” in the financial world, while arguing that the pensions industry “has a duty” to be sustainable and tackle long-term issues.

Further reading:

Prince Charles: ‘bank’ of natural world in the red

Prince of Wales launches financial sustainability network

Prince Charles praises sustainable food and calls for polluters to pay

Prince Charles: window of opportunity to tackle climate change ‘rapidly narrowing’

Charles at 65: Prince of Wales, future king and environmentalist