Alpha 
Post by fretslider on Dec 12, 2019 5:46:18 GMT -5
Bellamy, along with Desmond Morris (The Naked Ape) and the now discredited Attenborough, was a science hero when I was growing up.
Dr Bellamy spoke at my university while I was a student in the ’80s. He pulled no punches, but his enthusiasm and optimism were catching. Somehow, he didn’t seem like an establishment figure – he was edgier – a real campaigner. Back then he wasn’t afraid to speak his mind, or to go out and ‘get in the way‘ of construction projects he opposed. You got what you saw and he said what he thought and on the climate issue he was vilified.
diggingintheclay.wordpress.com/2013/01/24/poppycock-or-worse-than-we-thought/
He didn't go along with the alarmism, you could say he remained scientific when all the others became political.
How many times have we seen this?
The 80-yearold environmentalist and former broadcaster, admitted that his scepticism signalled the end of his career as he had known it.
“From that moment, I really wasn’t welcome at the BBC,” he said.
“They froze me out, because I don’t believe in global warming. My career dried up. I was thrown out of my own conservation groups and I got spat at in London.”
Mr Bellamy said things first began to change in 1996 when he spoke out against wind farms during one of his regular appearances on Blue Peter.
“That was the beginning really,” he told the Daily Mail. “From that moment, I was not welcome at the BBC.”
However, it was not until 2004 when he caused controversy by questioning whether the world was warming that his profile really began to slide.
“I worked with the Wildlife Trusts for 52 years,” he said “And when they dropped me, they didn’t even tell me. They didn’t have the guts.
“I read about it in the newspapers. Can you believe it?
“Now they don’t want to be anywhere near me. But what are they doing? The WWF might have saved a few pandas, but what about the forests?
“What have Greenpeace done?”
Mr Bellamy’s wife Rosemary admitted that they had both been devastated by the developments.
“It did upset us terribly,” she said. “But we pretended not to be upset, didn’t we David? The best thing to do was not to talk about it. So we didn’t.
It’s been very difficult, because he does feel strongly about things.”
Mr Bellamy insisted that he had no regrets about being so outspoken and had not changed his opinions about global warming.
“I still say it’s poppycock,” he said. "For the last 16 years, temperatures have been going down and the carbon dioxide has been going up and the crops have got greener and grow quicker.
"We’ve done plenty to smash up the planet, but there’s been no global warming caused by man.
“If you believe it, fine. But I don’t and there’s thousands like me."
He added: "Who cares if they’ve put me on the back burner? I can still talk to my flowers, which are all fine and growing amazingly and say, “Thank you very much, David!”
The Met Office this month downgraded its forecast for global warming to suggest that by 2017 temperatures will have remained about the same for two decades.
www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9817181/David-Bellamy-tells-of-moment-he-was-frozen-out-of-BBC.html
When someone who was a true giant and was then cast out, passes it puts the BBC in a real bind.
London-born Bellamy, who became a household name as a TV personality, scientist and conservationist, died on Wednesday, according to the foundation.
His colleague, David Shreeve, described him as a "larger-than-life character" who "inspired a whole generation".
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-50752089
The only person of note who paid any tribute to Bellamy was ornithologist Bill Oddie - of Goodies fame.
The Goodies star Bill Oddie wrote: “David Bellamy- unmistakable voice , looks, and character. Made for TV! But also a first class naturalist, with boundless skills to convey his enthusiasm. Maybe too much for the purists, but loved by millions. I was once mistaken for him. Not sure either of us was flattered!”
startsat60.com/discover/news/celebrity/david-bellamy-naturalist-dead-86
A man of principle - and now we're one less.
Dr Bellamy spoke at my university while I was a student in the ’80s. He pulled no punches, but his enthusiasm and optimism were catching. Somehow, he didn’t seem like an establishment figure – he was edgier – a real campaigner. Back then he wasn’t afraid to speak his mind, or to go out and ‘get in the way‘ of construction projects he opposed. You got what you saw and he said what he thought and on the climate issue he was vilified.
diggingintheclay.wordpress.com/2013/01/24/poppycock-or-worse-than-we-thought/
He didn't go along with the alarmism, you could say he remained scientific when all the others became political.
How many times have we seen this?
The 80-yearold environmentalist and former broadcaster, admitted that his scepticism signalled the end of his career as he had known it.
“From that moment, I really wasn’t welcome at the BBC,” he said.
“They froze me out, because I don’t believe in global warming. My career dried up. I was thrown out of my own conservation groups and I got spat at in London.”
Mr Bellamy said things first began to change in 1996 when he spoke out against wind farms during one of his regular appearances on Blue Peter.
“That was the beginning really,” he told the Daily Mail. “From that moment, I was not welcome at the BBC.”
However, it was not until 2004 when he caused controversy by questioning whether the world was warming that his profile really began to slide.
“I worked with the Wildlife Trusts for 52 years,” he said “And when they dropped me, they didn’t even tell me. They didn’t have the guts.
“I read about it in the newspapers. Can you believe it?
“Now they don’t want to be anywhere near me. But what are they doing? The WWF might have saved a few pandas, but what about the forests?
“What have Greenpeace done?”
Mr Bellamy’s wife Rosemary admitted that they had both been devastated by the developments.
“It did upset us terribly,” she said. “But we pretended not to be upset, didn’t we David? The best thing to do was not to talk about it. So we didn’t.
It’s been very difficult, because he does feel strongly about things.”
Mr Bellamy insisted that he had no regrets about being so outspoken and had not changed his opinions about global warming.
“I still say it’s poppycock,” he said. "For the last 16 years, temperatures have been going down and the carbon dioxide has been going up and the crops have got greener and grow quicker.
"We’ve done plenty to smash up the planet, but there’s been no global warming caused by man.
“If you believe it, fine. But I don’t and there’s thousands like me."
He added: "Who cares if they’ve put me on the back burner? I can still talk to my flowers, which are all fine and growing amazingly and say, “Thank you very much, David!”
The Met Office this month downgraded its forecast for global warming to suggest that by 2017 temperatures will have remained about the same for two decades.
www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9817181/David-Bellamy-tells-of-moment-he-was-frozen-out-of-BBC.html
When someone who was a true giant and was then cast out, passes it puts the BBC in a real bind.
London-born Bellamy, who became a household name as a TV personality, scientist and conservationist, died on Wednesday, according to the foundation.
His colleague, David Shreeve, described him as a "larger-than-life character" who "inspired a whole generation".
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-50752089
The only person of note who paid any tribute to Bellamy was ornithologist Bill Oddie - of Goodies fame.
The Goodies star Bill Oddie wrote: “David Bellamy- unmistakable voice , looks, and character. Made for TV! But also a first class naturalist, with boundless skills to convey his enthusiasm. Maybe too much for the purists, but loved by millions. I was once mistaken for him. Not sure either of us was flattered!”
startsat60.com/discover/news/celebrity/david-bellamy-naturalist-dead-86
A man of principle - and now we're one less.
