The letters to the editor of the Mountain Xpress are proving the most interesting part of local news these days. Today, following the caption, “Climate-Change Deniers Lack Scientific Authority,” one reads:
[Regarding the] letter “CO2’s Effect on Climate Is Debatable” [Aug. 5, Xpress]: No, it’s not. Every scientific body of national or international standing, like the National Academy of Sciences, disagrees with what this Aug. 5 letter says. NASA has a full list of all 230 of them on its website.
We could write this off as a rogue comment were it not that the “scientific consensus” preceded the “scientific authority.” I understand we all want world peace and some geniuses out there think creating pariahs of infallability is a great way to corral people. I don’t want to sound like I’ve been smoking the peace pipe too long, but I wonder how far trusting each other with the truth would go toward mutual respect.
Viva la Empiricism! (And that’s not French for imperialism.)
