How to Shut Down the World
On 17 May 2013, then-President Barack Obama tweeted “Ninety-seven percent of scientists agree: #climate change is real, man-made and dangerous.” This is the moment the climate debate changed. With one tweet Obama cast climate change sceptics as looney outsiders, akin to flat-earthers and believers in ancient aliens. They became deniers . Let’s face it: there comes a point when it is simply unreasonable to be sceptical. If tough policy decisions on economic development, the environment and public safety need to be made, it is simply irresponsible to pay attention to fringe beliefs, no matter how poignant references to Galileo battling the world view of the seventeenth century might be. Steven Novella, a clinical neurologist at Yale, discusses the distinction between deniers and sceptics in detail. He argues that in situations where “ you yourself lack appropriate expertise” then “deference should be the default position, and your best bet is to unde