More Climate Elitism from UNLV Professor Leffel

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- May 20, 2025

“There’s a time and a place to platform climate deniers, and it’s never and nowhere.” (- Benjamin Leffel, professor, University of Nevada Las Vegas, below)

It began with this post from UNLV’s climate alarmist/activist Benjamin Leffel. previously profiled at MasterResource.

Fun bringing together some of the top minds on China and climate change during my visit to Berkeley, my friends Nan Zhou, Jingjing Zhang (Berkeley Lab), Weila Gong (California-China Climate Institute ) and Kaihui Song (Energy and Resources Group | University of California, Berkeley). Looking forward to further brainstorming new research on climate solutions!

I responded: “Any skeptics of climate alarm in the group? Should there be?”

Leffel: No to both, because unlike yourself, they’re credentialed researchers and do not take money from big oil.

Bradley: Oh, so you are saying I am not ‘credentialed’ and should not take money from those in favor of the free market and classical liberalism? Such elitism and closed-mindedness is why your positions are losing with the open-minded. You should moderate a real debate at UNLV on CO2 costs/benefits and the role of fossil fuels for intellectual integrity.

Leffel: There’s a time and a place to platform climate deniers, and it’s never and nowhere.

Bradley: This response just questions your credibility. You are a public policy person who does not know about Public Choice and Austrian economics–reality Political Economy 101. Are you including Judith Curry in your “never and nowhere”? Here is her latest.

Daniel Guenberg joined in, turning ‘denier’ on Leffel:

Thanks for proving Rob’s point beyond any doubt. There will be a special place for science deniers as yourself. You cannot platform opposing views? You sound very intelligent no doubt but why do you fear open debate? Isn’t that the very foundation of science? The hallmark of a true scientist is that he actively tries to falsify his own hypotheses.

You are a prime example of what is wrong with academia today.

—————–

Professor Leffel’s website is here. His UNLV description is as follows:

Expertise: Sustainability, Climate change, Corporations, Cities, Global governance, Diplomacy

Biography

Ben Leffel, an assistant professor in the School of Public Policy and Leadership, is an expert on sustainability governance by cities, states, and corporations globally.

Prior to joining UNLV, Leffel served as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan’s Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise and a lecturer at the University of California, Merced. His published work focuses on world cities fighting climate change, including the role of private climate consulting and city membership in transnational environmental networks, global urban pollution abatement, and climate finance allocation to local governments.

But a scholar and true educator he is not.