Climate Change Denial
Lindsey Graham has recently admitted climate change is real. The scientific debate has been settled for a long time, but his statement is one that should make the political sceptics wonder how much longer they can deny. Who will be next denier to come around? Who will be the last?
The scientific community loves to argue. It’s very competitive. There are more researchers than there are new ideas so, in order to be relevant, they must write and publish papers about existing ideas and theories that are read and reviewed by their peers. Their publications had better contain something compelling. In other words, to be relevant, every publication better damn well have some exciting content about the theory. Some new thinking. Either a point that advances the theory in a positive way, or some new thinking that casts doubt or pokes holes in the theory causing it to decline in acceptance.
It’s human nature, even for laymen, to be critical until you become convinced by the evidence. Scientists have huge egos. These are the brainiac kids that sat in the front of the classroom. They are hard-headed and brilliant. Their default position will always be, “show me”.
So, for an idea such as climate change to gain acceptance, the bar was already set very high. But even against these obstacles, as of today, when it comes to climate change caused by mankind, there is over 90% acceptance among the scientific community that it is real. That doesn’t happen overnight. No theory starts with that much acceptance.
Climate change has had to survive a long and deeply comprehensive scientific debate. Steadily, along the way, it has made professional climate scientists change their minds from their default, skeptical position, one by one, until now there are over 90% of that population that has accepted it. Of the remaining contrarians, I’ve yet to look one up that wasn’t openly and famously compensated by the fossil fuels industry. There’s enough acceptance.
So, from a group that still can’t agree over what killed the dinosaurs, there is consensus. From a scientific standpoint, the matter is settled. It’s now only a political debate. Which may be even more difficult to resolve as there are powerful opponents.
The fossil fuels industry has an influential and well-funded lobby. Who couldn’t blame them for pushing back on this. Fossil fuels are their livelihood and the source of their wealth. Know their motivations. But know also, that there is a bigger picture. The survival of our planet is at stake. It is easy to understand why they would challenge and push back hard on this idea.
When I say push back hard, I’m talking about desperate efforts by cunning and clever men. By wealthy men. The most powerful men on the planet. Men who have the power to make their voices heard. Men who have the power to insert their choice of leaders into political offices. Men who have the power to control media and “the news”. In many cases they are the heirs of great men from the industrial revolution who had ideas and took risks and created jobs and positive movement in our economy.
The industrial age was an amazing time of advancement in human society all over the planet. But we have to be honest with ourselves, it’s been a little dirty. And there are these unfortunate little things called Co2 emissions that get trapped in our atmosphere and could, if never mitigated, make the planet uninhabitable by our species.
Fossil fuels have given us nearly 200 years of jobs, lifestyle, and prosperity. But it has run its course. It’s not rational to think that it can go on forever without any consequence. Science has discovered the consequences and those consequences threaten the continued existence of mankind on planet earth.
We are only at the beginning. There is a lot of work to be done but we’re still not even aligned on the facts. If we love our children, we must save their planet. Stop denying climate change. It’s not sophisticated. You may as well be denying gravity. Don’t be the last guy banging that drum.
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