Quote of the Day
This point seems both totally obvious and strangely unremarked. Environmentalists tend to view climate change denialism as a top-down, money-driven phenomenon. Energy producers, auto manufacturers, oil companies and other interested parties court politicians, buy friendly scientists, and groom armies of lawyers, lobbyists, and op-ed writers to push their agenda. Or so the theory goes. And, of course, therea€™s a lot of merit to that theory. You dona€™t need a compass to follow the trail of money.
But the theory only goes so far. A significant proportion of average American citizens reject the reality of climate change. Yes, years of dueling talking heads in the media has sown a certain amount of confusion. But confusion isna€™t whata€™s driving the regular flow of blog comments and email from the dedicated dead-enders.
Consider also that most of the large companies vested in the status quo dona€™t themselves refute the basic reality of global warming. Herea€™s the president of Shell Oil: a€oeWe have to deal with greenhouse gasesa€¦the debate is over. When 98 percent of scientists agree, who [can] say, a€Leta€™s debate the science.a€™a€A