Climate Change Denial and Majority Scientific Opinion.

Should we make policy decisions, create laws, restrict freedoms, tax the economy, etc. based on what a bunch of nerds have to say about something like, say, a global pandemic?

A better question is, does modern science have a track record of leading us astray? Sure, historical science was sketchy with its blood lettings, flat earthiness, and subservience to the Catholic church, but today’s method is much more autonomous from religion, emotion, culture, and all the other things that get in the way of discovery

Today, when a very large group of nerds agree on the same alleged fact, we should stop and take notice. During COVID, for example, epidemiologists from all over the globe prophesied that it would be a killer.

And when the government listened, a bunch of us got mad, until the death count grew to catastrophic proportions. Even then, we turned instead to non-experts who prescribed Ivermectin, et-al., crying “conspiracy” all the way to the feed store.

The other half of America didn’t seem to have much problem with scientific opinion on this particular matter, gladly accepting multiple injections of something we’d never tried before.

As it turns out, one side was right and one side wrong, as is usually the case when a country is so divided.

This isn’t the first time Americans have sharply disagreed on how science should relate to politics. It is however the first time that such a significant divergence in trust fell so sharply along political lines.

During the Trump/COVID administration, Conservative trust in science fell to an all-time low.

But maybe science isn’t the problem. Conservatives tend to get nervous when the government takes such big steps, with many believing that it causes more problems that it solves.

So, when science and government partner up – regardless of how many scientists are saying the same thing – policies that involve wide, sweeping, epic changes will always seem dubious to my Conservative brothers and sisters.

Or maybe it’s the long-standing tension between science and religion, coupled with the fact that so many Conservatives are Christian.

Whatever the reason, I’m sure it’s as complicated as any political phenomena can be, worthy of a deeper understanding.

Regardless of why and how we got here, America now sits in a tricky place where, should another existential threat arise, science won’t have a voice.

Enter Climate change, or better, “anthropogenic global warming.”

Like epidemiologists during COVID, a vast number of climatologists and other experts, globally, believe that the earth is warming due to human causes. If we don’t take drastic steps, bad things are going to happen.

Liberal politicians have taken this and run with it, while Conservatives see little more than another conspiracy brewing, aimed at policies intended to do little more than destroy our economy.

But if the scientists are right, the only way forward is to make the kind of big, epic, sweeping changes that make Conservatives nervous.

If we do that, it will seem like we’re declaring war on Conservative America.

Because so many experts are sounding the climate change alarm, the majority of people in America and beyond are listening. But because, for whatever reason, majority scientific opinion has such little sway in Conservative America, our political divide is going to widen, if you can imagine such a thing.

Note that in the coming political season, there will be no Conservative politicians mentioning anything about a majority of climate experts who believe that we have a problem.

That statistic should be front and center, in my opinion.

If it does get mentioned, it will be to convince anti-science America that there is yet another conspiracy afoot, driving their convictions even deeper.