This Ignorance is Disturbing

Yesterday was another dark day for science and for our environment. In a hearing by the U.S. House of Representatives Science, Space and Technology Committee some Republicans uttered views that seems like they time time-travelled straight from the stone age.

^{Photo by Danting Zhu}

We all know that there are a lot of conservative views out there that seem to deny that climate change is real. But what is surprising in this case is the extent of nonsense that the climate change deniers come up with just to be able to stick to their views. Now some of them acknowledge that the sea level is rising, but this is not due to global warming. No, according to these men, the rise is due to rocks falling into the sea!

Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) claimed that the White Cliffs of Dover and the California coastline are constantly eroded. The rocks that tumble into the sea every year are the real cause of the sea-level rise. This, and large amounts of silt washing into the ocean from the world’s major rivers, including the Mississippi, the Amazon and the Nile, is contributing to sea-level rise.

Research scientists are not stupid. They have done those calculations many years ago and the effect of any erosion on the sea level are miniscule.

Brooks also claimed that the Antarctica ice was growing. This is clearly against all scientific observations. It seems that politicians like Brooks pick and choose the truth in a way that is most convenient for them.

Statements like “We should all be open to different points of view”, show the stark ignorance of what science is all about. Yes, scientific models are never fully final. But when a theory is underpinned by thousands of independent measurements, calculations and investigations then we can’t ignore this. The consensus in science is not built in the same way as a consensus in politics. Scientists keep on questioning each other’s ideas. To reach a consensus, scientists must be convinced by data, not by political arguments.

About thirty to forty years ago, when climate change started to be a topic among environmentalists, there was still a lot of doubt. Not only among normal people but also among researchers. This doubt was caused by lack of data. Since then we have collected data and analysed and come to the conclusion that climate change is real.

The situation reminds me of the situation when Galileo Galilei was told by the church that the Earth is flat and does not revolve around the sun. There was growing scientific evidence that Galileo was correct. But the church did not understand science, nor did it care. They needed to keep up a truth for political reasons. Nowadays, I think the main reasons to keep denying climate change are money.