by DonkeyHotey
GOP Not Listening to Its Own Scientists on Climate Change
[Via InsideClimate News]
A number of prominent U.S. climate scientists who identify themselves as Republican say their attempts in recent years to educate the GOP leadership on the scientific evidence of man-made climate change have been futile. Now, many have given up trying and the few who continue notice very little change after speaking with politicians and their aides.
[More]
Speaking from personal experience, one of the hardest things for a scientist to deal with in explaining the empirical facts to someone and having them simply ignore them. It is very frustrating. Kind of hard to stick with a political philosophy that twists the work you do and then sends out threats against your children.
I think this quote is telling:”The times I’ve tried to reach out to politicians, I have not been welcome. I think the basic problem is that it no longer pays to talk with scientists, but to those who fund you.” And not surprising, the same guys also fund anti-climate change rhetoric. One of them – Americans for Prosperity – brags about how it has turned the GOP into climate change denialists. “The vast majority of people who are involved in the [Republican] nominating process—the conventions and the primaries—are suspect of the science. And that’s our influence. Groups like Americans for Prosperity have done it,”
MAny of these groups are funded by the same organizations but act like they are independent, simply to increase confusion. But they also appear to be working on very specific responses to those who speak out.
Here we have conservative researchers who understand the field and understand the data. And the response to their attempts – hate mail and death threats.
Online conservative bloggers publish their email addresses so that low lives and knuckle draggers can threaten the wives and children. This is the standard response now to any scientist who steps out of line by discussing climate change.
The goal is to intimidate researchers away from doing climate science.The same approach was used – and was quite successful – with regard to cigarettes. Physical intimidation like this does appear to be orchestrated by some of the same groups involved in the tobacco wars.
A majority of moderate Republicans acknowledge climate change. Just about the same amount as the general population. It is a minority of voices that are driving this discussion. well, not a discussion since they refuse to listen.
As I wrote before “If your rhetoric only has lies to support it, you should just stop.” These liars, in fact, are upping the ante by trying to get researchers from standing up at all. So far they seem to have failed. But all it takes is one nutball – a nutball these denialists support.
