This chapter examines the intricate relationship between climate science, politics, and public perception, particularly in light of the Climategate incident. It highlights the significant contributions of notable scientists and the impact of political decision-making on climate initiatives, reflecting on the struggles faced by climate advocates. The discussion also addresses the complexities of climate change as a collective action problem that demands government intervention instead of relying solely on market solutions.
Shermer and Lipsky discuss: the scientists who first sounded the alarm about climate change • science consensus that global warming is real and human caused • the politicization of climate change • George H.W. Bush and Obama • a collective action problem • climate skeptics • Climategate • strategies of global warming skeptics • connection between cigarette smoking/tobacco industry and climate change • what is to be done now.
David Lipsky is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Best American Short Stories, and many others. His new book is The Parrot and the Igloo: Climate and the Science of Denial.