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Politics and 'An Inconvenient Truth'
Frogbeater writes "The producer of 'An Inconvenient Truth' is accusing the National Science Teachers Association of being in the pocket of Big Oil because she can't get preferential treatment for her film. The entire situation is turning into a 'if you're not with us, you're against us' yelling match. Regardless of the viewpoint, is it even possible that science can remain apolitical? Has it ever been?" The Washington Post makes things out to be less than above board: "In the past year alone, according to its Web site, Exxon Mobil's foundation gave $42 million to key organizations that influence the way children learn about science, from kindergarten until they graduate from high school ... NSTA's list of corporate donors also includes Shell Oil and the American Petroleum Institute (API), which funds NSTA's Web site on the science of energy. There, students can find a section called 'Running on Oil' and read a page that touts the industry's environmental track record -- citing improvements mostly attributable to laws that the companies fought tooth and nail, by the way -- but makes only vague references to spills or pollution. NSTA has distributed a video produced by API called 'You Can't Be Cool Without Fuel,' a shameless pitch for oil dependence."
I give you props for persistence, but you're wrong about both of these points. If you are holding out for universal acceptance, that ain't gonna happen on any topic. Expert consensus is not universal acceptance, it is acceptance by the vast majority of experts in a field. In this case, the consensus has been reached and it is that human fossil fuel use has profoundly affected the environment. And, as recent studies show, the problem of carbon dioxide pollution is accelerating (while interestingly methane levels have been contained, at least temporarily).
It always astonishes me to hear conservatives complain about the restrictions of the EPA, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, etc.- given that those laws and associated agencies are part of the proud heritage of the Republican Party! It also astonishes me to hear the helplessness and despair of the conservatives, that "nothing can be done to stop it so we shouldn't even try." Wah wah wah! It's too bad that the conservatives fell for Ronald Reagan's soundbite that "government isn't the solution to the problem, government is the problem." That's an attitude that guarantees incompetence in government and which has given us the past six years of vast governmental stupidity.