From the Al Gore testifying to Congress story:
Representative Joe Barton, the leading Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, challenged global warming science as "uneven and evolving".
"You're not just off a little, you're totally wrong," he said of Mr Gore's conclusions that carbon dioxide emissions contribute to global warming.
Given that people like Barton, N Lawson (snr), Crichton et al must appreciate that there is consensus among climate scientists, it strikes me they can't be too worried about what later generations think of them. I'm a bit surprised they're not more concerned about their Historical Legacy.
2 comments:
I think there's a large element of just not wanting to believe it with these guys. They see it as a personal attack, and an affront to their lifestyles. If the worst predictions about global warming turn out to be true, it turns us all into evildoers to some extent, which is hard to take. There's a chance they might be right (it would be a relief), but as you say, given the broad consensus, they have to be pretty arrogant and sure of themselves to reject it - either that or they are being deliberately misleading to suit their short term benefit, and they don't give a stuff about the future.
I think it's a case of so no wanting it to be untrue, that they actually believe it - much like some smokers still deny that it's bad for them.
As John Lanchester points out, scientists have actually known about the greenhouse effect for 30 years or so, in fact the scientific process has been understood for more than a century - so it's errant nonsense for these lunatics to write off the science.
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