When scientists become priests

I'm greatly saddened by the current controversy over how reliable the IPCC is - and the IPCC's response. I don't think I need to go on about how great the IPCC is on this website - I don't hear many conversations here discussing whether or not climate change is happening. Though maybe that's a sign of how little 'we' - those who 'believe' in climate change are distant from those who do not believe.

When I looked through some recent online environmental photos, I was surprised at how many of them related to climate change. The blossoms pictured here are blooming earlier than usual, which is being attributed to global warming. The American pica pictured below has become the latest symbol of climate change (though still nothing rivals the drowning polar bear). Obama's administration just declared that the pica is resilient enough to survive 3 degrees of global warming. Scientists from environmental groups say this is ridiculous - the pica populations are already dwindling. I'd go with the pica being unable to survive - and its worth reminding us all that people, such as many of the (now dead) victims of hurricane Katrina, also a population native to the United States, did not survive. I've yet to see a case putting 'homo homo sapiens' on the endangered species list, but I'm sure it will happen eventually. No doubt that global warming isn't only happening, its already effecting the sustainability of species on our pretty blue planet- including us.

"An American Pica."

But the question, 'do you believe in climate change', as if it is a faith, and their are those who believe and those who doubt and those who do not believe, is a curious and disturbing larger trend. That IPCC (and other) scientists have assumed an air of distance, holier-than-thou righteousness doesn't help, even if I am one of the 'believers'. Scientists (and also economists and bankers, but that's a different blog) are often described as the priests of modern society, speaking in a language and with a universal authority that seems far removed from most people. When you have a set of priests, it is not surprising that you have those who do not believe these priests.

That the scientists are not allowed to make mistakes - that they might rush too fast into something, publish too quickly, forget to do the numbers, etc., is something that can happen in any field and any discipline, especially under a lot of pressure. Sure, its not ideal. And maybe there is a bit of conspiracy somewhere in the ranks. Hardly the first time a group of passionate people concerned for a larger goal stepped over a few lines. That so many people now make the jump from a few mistakes to questioning all of climatology further suggests the tendency of people to treat a mere discipline as some kind of religion, where any mistake threatens the 'truth' of its entirety.

I believe - that people are people. People make mistakes. Let's not expect scientists to be anything more than they are. Let us not getting into yet another 'religious war' over some details - and ignore the real deaths that are occurring to species around the world - including our own.