WHO CAN WE BELIEVE?

We must reduce the unbelievable hostility that is tearing us apart. Ad hominem attacks, incendiary language, and belittling replace constructive dialog. This might be the norm for politicians, but we all are being dragged into it with climate change. We have lost friends and family on account of it. (Incredible!)  Much of the animosity centers around the question of who we believe. There is no shortage of contributors or should we say combatants. Qualified scientists debate human causes versus natural causes of climate change. The issue is not black and white but multifaceted. It is wrong to say the scientists are split is 97% to 3%.

The leaderships of NOAA and NASA have duties different from their scientists and engineers. Management is concerned with the prestige of their organization and must obtain funding from congress. In this respect they are subjected to the same pressures as the media to sell their product. This leads to exaggerations and worst-case scenarios. The danger is that employees are pressured to be a team player, not good for objective science, (and not a problem unique to government.)

Science in universities lives on R&D grants. For climate studies, most comes from the government. Government money is considered untainted while private funding is infected by corporate greed. So, some say. Universities are under the same pressure as NOAA and NASA. It is up to the scientists doing the work to stay free of their funder’s bias, an impossible task!

An ogre has crept up on us. Before industrialization and the huge productivity gains it provided, the common person was too busy growing food to get involved with other peripheral issues of life. We then sent our manufacturing jobs to China. Ninety percent of us had to find other occupations. 

The Internet has allowed anyone who can read and write the ability to make money by selling merchandise online, practical, or not. Young journalists could earn a living by writing articles that attract viewers and make more money selling ads than subscriptions. NGOs live on donations. If the world is healthy and hearty, selling panic is tough.

The IRS allows nonprofit organizations like social advocacy groups to collect donations without being taxed. Check the public records and see how much of the collection of non-profits go to salaries and benefits! How many NGOs are there? Zillions! (No one wants to go back to subsistence living.) 

Our jobs, self-worth, and professions are important to each of us. It is understandable to get upset, even hostile, when we are questioned. The bigger our ego, the madder we get. Getting mad will not solve anything. May the Force be with you.
TR397