Climate scientist faced backlash from the left & WH after his research questioned extreme weather claims

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A climate change scientist who challenged the status quo on extreme weather claims he faced such backlash from the left that he lost a writing job and wound up on the White House website.

Roger Pielke Jr, an environmental studies professor at the University Of Colorado, called himself a ‘climate change heretic’ in an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal Wednesday. Pielke Jr believes climate change is real but his research has concluded that there is little evidence that extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, flood and droughts, have increased in the United States or across the world.

That position, which he admits might be wrong, prompted  ‘an intense media campaign’ to have him fired from his position as a writer for Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight, Pielke Jr wrote. He said he was demoted from staff writer to freelancer and quit when it became ‘obvious’ that the website wouldn’t publish his work anymore.

Pielke Jr’s name came up in an email published by Wikileaks as part of its release of messages received by Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta. The email showed how the editor of a news blog funded by the Center For American Progress, a liberal think tank founded by Podesta, rejoiced at the thought that the blog had helped silence Pielke Jr.

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Roger Pielke Jr (left), a professor at the University Of Colorado, called himself a ‘climate change heretic’ in an opinion piece Wednesday. He mentions as evidence of the backlash against him an email written by Judd Legum (right), the editor of a climate change blog

The email, published by Wikileaks, was sent by Judd Legum, the editor of Think Progress, which has a climate section called Climate Progress.

Legum was writing to green billionaire Tom Steyer and his friend Ted White. Steyer, according to Pielke Jr, was one of the donors that had helped fund the blog.

The billionaire, a fierce advocate for clean energy, is currently listed on the Center For American Progress’ board of directors. He spoke as a panelist during a talk hosted by the center in September 2016, about energy, water, and transportation infrastructure.