I just got done appearing on a rightwing talk radio show, hosted by one of the B-list Limbaughs that fill the drive-time airwaves across the country. He was all in a lather about Heidi Cullen; it became clear during his intro that he’d invited me on because he assumed I’d defend her (after all, I want to execute skeptics!).
"I assume you support Cullen’s attempts to censor her political opponents," he said at the opening.
"Eh," I said, "it doesn’t seem worth the bother." That flummoxed him a bit.
I used my time on air to make three simple points:
- The number of deniers is tiny and shrinking, and they have no credibility in the scientific community.
- The IPCC is one of the most rigorous scientific processes ever developed, and its new report pegs it at greater than 90% confidence that humanity is driving recent warming.
- Accepting the basic science of climate change does not mean you have to become a socialist treehugger; there are plenty of market-based policies on offer. Wingnuts are ill-served by trying to make political points by denying accepted scientific facts.
The host was somewhat taken aback that I wasn’t a bomb-throwing wacko. He didn’t know what to make of me. I think my reasonableness bored him.
