UCSD Guestbook: The Republican War on Science

[asubjectiveopinion]

Does no-one in the US media or educational establishment see a correlation between falling educational standards and the rise of belief in conspiracy theories?

[werecow2003]

@atkimanchristmas No, those are not the details I'm talking about. The details are mainly about cloud feedbacks, the exact quantitative effects of aerosols and black soot, the way ice sheets will respond to the warming, the exact effects on precipitation and tropical storms, and so on. There is no real question that the climate has warmed significantly since the start of the industrial era, and there is practically no doubt that we're responsible. People who tell you otherwise are not skeptics.

[werecow2003]

...and just to add: I know that that's not how it's portrayed in the media, but if you consider yourself a skeptic, I suggest buying a couple of university textbooks and looking at the reports and consensus statements of every major scientific body in the world. The media and the blogosphere are unfortunately not reliable on this issue (nor are think tanks or grass roots movements). There's a lot of misinformation to wade through, and unfortunately it's not always obvious. }|:o/

[werecow2003]

@atkimanchristmas You have it backwards; the scientific community at large has formed a consensus on anthropogenic global warming. There is no significant scientific institution in the world today - not one - that takes the position that global warming is not already a reality. There is plenty of debate about the details, as there is with evolution, but ultimately the analogue to the evolution doubters are the climate change skeptics, not the people who support the basic science.

[johnsmdm]

mooney the cspan antichrist.....crucify him!

[Di66en6ion]

Decent talk, thumbs up!