I\u2019ve long thought that some aspects of modern environmentalism (particularly many of the attitudes and beliefs associated with, to use the shorthand, \u2018global warming\u2019) are in a good number of respects ‘religious’.<\/p>\n
Here<\/a> (via the Daily Telegraph<\/em>) is a story that would appear to give some official support to that view:<\/p>\n \nA former executive of a top property company has been told he can claim at a tribunal that he was sacked because of his “philosophical belief in climate change”. In the landmark ruling Tim Nicholson was told he could use employment law to argue that he was discriminated against because of his views on the environment. The head of the tribunal ruled that those views amounted to a philosophical belief under the Employment Equality (Religion and Belief) Regulations, 2003, according to The Independent. The case is the first of its kind and could open the way for hundreds of future claims to be made in the same fashion, the newspaper reported. Mr Nicholson, 41, was made redundant while head of sustainability at Grainger plc, Britain’s biggest residential property investment company, in July last year.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n There is, of course, the temptation to think that any company sanctimonious enough to hire a \u2018head of sustainability\u2019 deserves all the trouble it gets. That’s unless, of course, \u00a0the original idea behind that appointment was that it should be used as a cynical piece of corporate camouflage – in which case it can only be applauded.\u00a0<\/p>\n The following aspect of this story makes me suspect that’s just what it might have been\u2026.<\/p>\n \nMr Nicholson said that his frustrations were exemplified by an occasion when the company’s chief executive, Rupert Dickinson, “showed contempt for the need to cut carbon emissions by flying out a member of the IT staff to Ireland to deliver his BlackBerry that he had left behind in London.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019ve long thought that some aspects of modern environmentalism (particularly many of the attitudes and beliefs associated with, to use the shorthand, \u2018global warming\u2019) are in a good number of respects ‘religious’. Here (via the Daily Telegraph) is a story … Continue reading