The latest from the right

Based on observation of social media, the latest from climate science deniers appears to be in two areas: backlash against Climate Activist Greta Thunberg, and statements to the effect that science has been wrong about the climate in the past (with the implication that we therefore shouldn’t believe it now).

The first is easy. In this Vox.com article, the author, David Roberts, states that in its typical vile fashion, the right has attempted to use Ms. Thunberg’s mental health against her. But the attempt has backfired. She is patently authentic, direct in a way that is unique among public figures, and not at all subject to coercion.

Thus, we have Greta’s impassioned appeal to the governments of the world through her speech at the United Nations and others, the enormously successful Global Climate Strike that she helped lead, and the miserable failure of attempts to discredit her. Watching it all unfold, and even taking part in the Strike itself, has been more than gratifying.

But we are also now seeing a resurgence of climate-denial talking points to the effect that as late as the 1970s, scientists thought that the earth was cooling, and that even when global warming became widely accepted science, predictions have often been wrong. Let’s break this down a little.

1) Science isn’t always right, and scientists will be the first to admit that as a discipline devoted to understanding and pursuit of knowledge, there have indeed been errors. So yes, before the effect of greenhouse gasses on atmospheric temperatures became widely understood, there were theories about a current ‘ice-age cycle.’ The thing about science is, however, that it’s self-correcting. And we should trust this mechanism. Just because people once thought the earth was the center of the universe does not mean we should disbelieve scientists when they now say that it is not.

2) Some of the "previous science" being brought out now never was. It's a pack of lies. Like the doctored Time Magazine cover and the purported scientific predictions about the polar ice cap melting before its time.

3) Climate science has only existed in its present form for about 35 years. Yes, the climate had been studied before that, but it was only in the 1980s that global temperatures could be measured precisely over time, and that computer models could become powerful enough to become useful. They are more useful now than previously, and they will continue to improve. This is not to say that we should wait to act because the "science isn't complete" yet. Science is never complete. At this point, however, it's certainly complete enough to understand the path forward.

The Right continues to try to muddy the waters of science and the green movement. We’ve lamented it before, but this shouldn’t have ever become political at all. Unfortunately, powerful forces continue to purchase goons on the Right to use as political hacks and spread nonsense. More unfortunately, these forces, such as Exxon and Koch Industries, have resources that are virtually unlimited.

But we, the people, have Greta. And a couple million other Kids.