Legislators, open minds to science

Rep. Kerry Gibson, R-Ogden, has called for a halt to the Environmental Protection Agency's attempt to slow global climate change because of a "conspiracy," "a well-organized and ongoing effort to manipulate ... data in order to produce a global warming outcome."

In the hearing, Rep. Gibson cited "inconclusive" science and asked us not to make "rash decisions" so as to let "science develop" to gather more evidence.

There is an obvious contradiction here. If you believe that climate science, the world over, is bought and paid for by corrupt government grants to the tune of $7 billion, as Randy Parker of the Utah Farm Bureau testified, what's the point of letting science develop? Your mind is already made up. People convinced of a conspiracy only see more reasons to believe in their fears, never fewer. In fact, the more our anti-global warming legislators are shown to be ignorant of evidence and tilting at windmills, the more emboldened and even proud they seem to feel.

Just how confused they are becomes apparent when you ask yourself, as thinking citizens should, "Well, what about the billions of dollars of government-sponsored research on cancer and other health issues. Should we distrust that science, too?" Or "I wonder how American science and technology came to lead the world if it is so corrupt?" You might ask, "Why would a government systematically fabricate a theory that runs counter to the very foundations of its economy?" Are we invited to consider that every argument in their joint resolution comes from the work of conservative think tanks well-funded by the oil industry? No. The point is not that the deniers' claims have been roundly disproved by scientists (though they have been).

It's the shameful double standard in their "follow the money" line.

Deniers are fond of saying that the jury is still out, but they never mention just how few legitimate skeptics are left in the scientific community. Some 97 percent of climatologists accept human-caused global warming, but for deniers such consensus is evidence of deception.