Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Yet another reason to not be a Republican....

I have had some epic rants about the anti-science strain currently inhabiting the modern Republican party, but this National Journal article is just plan demoralizing...

I seriously do not expect the parties to agree on most things. But when there is consensus as widespread and durable as that of climate change in the scientific community you would think that both ideologies would offer solutions based on their world view. But that is not what we are seeing. Instead we are getting this:
One senior House Republican who appears comfortable with his positions on climate science is Texan Ralph Hall, chairman of the House Science Committee. Asked if climate change is causing the Earth to become warmer, the lawmaker charged with shaping national science policy responded, “I don’t think it’s the cause. I don’t think we can control what God controls.” Hall said that on the issue of climate science, he is “pretty close” to the stance of his fellow Texan, Rick Perry—believing that climate science may be a conspiracy theory put forth by scientists who are working in concert to receive funding for research. A reporter pointed out that last year, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published a survey concluding that 97 percent of climate-science researchers are in consensus that human activities have led to global warming. “And they each get $5,000 for every report like that they give out,” Hall scoffed. He added, “I don’t have any proof of that. But I don’t believe ’em.”
It is hard to have a useful conversation in this sort of setting.

-Cheers

1 comment:

Bradley said...

I believe the term I used in the previous post was "ill-informed and uneducated."