Climate alarmism is "robbing" young Americans of their hopes and ambitions for the future, a geochemist and university professor said.
Dr. Matthew Wielicki, a University of Alabama earth sciences professor, believes many STEM professionals overstate climate change's immediate effects, like warning of imminent and unavoidable catastrophes. He said such alarmism harms students' mental health.
"They’re only giving one side of the story," Wielicki told Fox News. "They’re catastrophizing or over-exaggerating that side to try to make a point because they claim the ends justify the means."
"I think scientific integrity is way more important," he said.
Wielicki believes political ideology infiltrating college classrooms, particularly diversity, equity and inclusion and climate alarmism, has tarnished the teaching profession. He said young climate activists, like Greta Thunberg, aren't the problem since they're only believing what they're told.
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"I never blame the young people," he said. "I blame the adults that are experts in the field that sit and zip their mouths because they don't want to rock the boat."
Wielicki taught earth sciences at the University of Alabama for nearly eight years, fulfilling a lifelong dream to follow in his father’s footsteps as a college professor. Last month, he tweeted that he was resigning at the end of the semester because of the negative effects educators' political messaging was having on students.
"I loved science because it wasn't political," Wielicki told Fox News. "And now we're getting rid of that."
Over the past few years, he began noticing his students were increasingly distressed about climate issues.
"I started asking my students and polling my students and I realized they had an exactly upside-down view of the state of the climate," Wielicki said.
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Dr. Wielicki said he does not blame students for their misguided views on climate, but the adults who "know better." ( Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images)
Students told Wielicki they didn't plan on starting a family or having children because they believed the planet would undergo some sort of geological catastrophe in the next decade.
"I felt like as an earth scientist, that's my community that isn't speaking up and is letting false narratives get out there," Wielicki said. "Al Gore up there saying the oceans will boil—there's no chance that the oceans will boil."
Wielicki believes there are threats from climate change but he feels they're being overstated by people who stand to benefit from green initiatives or who want to scare Americans into action. He said the scientific community's credibility will be damaged if STEM professionals continue to push biased narratives.
"There's going to be bigger challenges in the future and then people like me that are scientists—nobody is going to listen to us," Wielicki said. "We saw it with COVID, we're seeing it with climate."
Dr. Matthew M. Wielicki resigned from the University Of Alabama because 'climate catastrophism' is harming the mental health of students. (Raymond Boyd/Getty Images)
After leaving his position, the doctor hopes to put young minds at ease by speaking honestly about the state of the climate.
"Young people should have hope for their future," Wielicki said. "We were robbing these young people of their ambition, of their hope."
"They should be thinking about sacrifices they make now to ensure that that future is brighter instead of just losing all ambition and hope," he said.