โIt is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understandingย it.โ
Among the ideologues in the climate change denial camp, this quote has several strikes against it. First, it was penned by theย Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Upton Sinclair, a socialist firebrand whose early investigative journalism led to the passage of the Pure Food and Drugs Act and the Meat Inspection Act, both inย 1906.
A journalist, a socialist, an advocate for regulating the free market; actually, that’s three strikes rightย there.
Worse still, the quoteย warranted a two-page spread in Al Gore’s book, An Inconvenient Truth, a fact that is guaranteed to rile those defending America’s right to be wrong on climate change.
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But leaving aside the political connections, consider the quote on its own merits. Does it make sense? Does it explain whyย objectively intelligent people like Financial Post Editor Terrance Corcoran or National Center for Public Policy Research President Amy Ridenour tie themselves up in such elegant knots trying not to believe in climateย change?
There is, in the executive offices of ExxonMobile or Peabody Energy, an evident disregard for the evidenceย – a ruthless disregard. But among the think-tankers and contrarian scientists – maybe even in the writings of Corcoran and Ridenour – youย can sometimes see a flicker of real sincerity, so desperately do they want to believe what Exxon or theย Scaife orย Koch foundations tell them toย believe.
If Scaife, Koch or Exxon really cared about science – if they really were interested in the truth about climate change – you’d think that they wouldย invest inย scientific research, working hard to ensure that the researchers’ credentials were impeccable. Instead, they fund policy hothouses like the Cato Institute or the George C. Marshall Institute, or Ridenour’s NCPPR. They fund โscientistsโ like Pat Michaels or Sallie Baliunas – scientists whose current publications appear not in peer-reviewed journals, but in think-tank brochures and in the mainstreamย press.
It is, indeed, difficult to get a man – or a woman –ย to understand something when his – of her – salary depends upon not understanding it. That explains the committed contrarians. For the rest of us, the science isn’t thatย hard.
Climate change is a problem; and there is still evidence that we can fix it if we try.ย Let’s.
