[I recently added a page on this topic, under the AGW tab. This post is to bring it to your attention.]
By John Cook, University of Queensland
In a previous article on The Conversation, Stephan Lewandowsky asked, why do people reject science? I’m going to take a slightly different angle and consider how people are able to reject climate science in the face of strong evidence.
One of the better discussions of the uncertainty about global warming, its implications, and the common misinterpretations of it, deliberate and otherwise:
The way global warming and our efforts to stop it have been discussed in this critical Parliamentary week tells a sorry tale of Australian societys scientific illiteracy, myopia and psychological denial.
According to global warming sceptics and denialists, climate scientists are variously really stupid, prone to irrational herd behaviour, egotists pushing barrows, trying to feather their nests, or all of the above. According to the media they are apparently nerdy pains whose gloomy message is easily trumped by serious, reality-based political dramas. According to politicians they are another interest group to be placated. According to the Prime Minister they are radical greens.
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