In a word, yes. Obviously a big factor is the short term self-interest of big business. But that being said, I am also taken aback by the sheer intensity of the anti-science irrationality in the US. How does one explain that ? Bad education, populist politics, emotional attachment to a particular kind of consumerism ? I find the craziness of it all hard to explain satisfactorily. Certainly, the media pretending there is a 'debate' on whether global warming is taking place, when amongst serious scientists there is not, is a very bizarre phenomenon.
Well said, Juan Cole.
In a word, yes. Obviously a big factor is the short term self-interest of big business. But that being said, I am also taken aback by the sheer intensity of the anti-science irrationality in the US. How does one explain that ? Bad education, populist politics, emotional attachment to a particular kind of consumerism ? I find the craziness of it all hard to explain satisfactorily. Certainly, the media pretending there is a 'debate' on whether global warming is taking place, when amongst serious scientists there is not, is a very bizarre phenomenon.