It's a pretty bright group around this place but I just want to input that a lot of the conclusions being reached are like the blind man touching an elephant and trying to draw conclusions as to what it is. We have some information and an inquisitive mind. We know just enough to...
I have published research, not on any of these topics, but in a field that often elicits a lot of emotion. I would get blistering criticism from people that knew just enough to form what they thought was a knowledgeable opinion. But it really wasn't. It was just a layperson regurgitating disconnected pieces of information and drawing unscientific conclusions. I respect their beliefs and emotions, but I also knew what the science told us.
I'm kinda like that with global climate change. Probably everyone else here is, too. I don't know. I've seen lots of research. I've seen lots of opinions...and politics. At the end of the day I know what the overwhelming consensus is. At the end of the day, I'm a researcher, too. That being said, my opinion will probably have as much effect as the warmth of my own breath.
A lot of things are going to change in the next couple of decades. Civilization won't end. Nobody will agree what happened and, absolutely, they won't agree why.
My hope is that science will one day be viewed without a political lens.
