“Alan Jones Is Wrong”: This Climate Scientist Had A Blunt Message On Last Night’s ‘Q&A’

“Alan Jones is wrong” might be the most evergreen statement I’ve ever heard in my life. The conservative shock jock has made a living spraying his terrible opinions out into the world, fuelling division, stoking outrage and generally being a bit of a shit. That’s particularly true when it comes to the subject of climate change — an area where, as atmospheric scientist David Karoly told Q&A on Monday night, Jones has no fucking idea what he’s talking about.

In a rare politician-free episode of the ABC panel show, a group of scientist including Karoly and celebrated physicist Brian Cox (who has had his share of run-ins with climate change deniers on Q&A in the past) answer questions about everything from pollution in the ocean to why stars sparkle. But the big moment came after a viewer asked about the stats Jones has been using to talk about climate change.

“I saw the radio commentator Alan Jones on TV recently, and he said that 0.04 percent of the world’s atmosphere is CO2,” came the question. “Three percent of that human beings create around the world, and of that, 1.3 percent is created by Australians. Alan’s words, not mine. Is that correct, and if it’s true, is human activity really making a difference.”

Karoly, to his credit, was fairly diplomatic about it.

“Alan Jones is a very well-known radio commentator but not everything he says is factually accurate,” he said.

“When [Jones] was on this program he prefaced his statements by saying ‘I am not a scientist but’…” host Tony Jones pointed out.

“I am a climate scientist, and Alan Jones is wrong,” Karoly shot back.

He then went on to debunk Jones’ statistics, explaining that the three percent was actually closer to 40, and that while Australia may only contribute 1.5 percent of that figure, it’s still an awful lot given we make up just 0.3 percent of the world’s population.

Karoly was backed up by geologist and astrobiologist Martin van Kranendonk. “If your car wasn’t doing well, would you take it to a butcher?” he asked. “No. You’d take it to an auto mechanic. So for the source of data on scientific matters, I personally wouldn’t go to Alan Jones.”

Watch the clip below.

Alan Jones quotes figures that imply human CO2 can’t cause climate change because it’s so small. Is he correct? #QandA pic.twitter.com/0cG5qnJGnz

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) June 17, 2019