“…in the denial of global warming, we are witnessing the most
vicious, and so far most successful, attack on science in
history.” Those strong words are from James Lawrence Powell in
his recent book The Inquisition of Climate Science. The book
chronicles the campaign of denial which has resulted in the
widespread failure of public understanding of climate science
and the long delay in addressing what is now an urgent and
pressing threat to the human future. Powell, a former geology
professor, college president and museum director who also served
as a member of the US National Science Board for twelve years,
is rightly disturbed at the treatment meted out to climate
science. The evidence of global warming has accumulated over the
past twenty years until it has become overwhelming. Yet climate
scientists have been denounced and ridiculed, their ethics and
honesty have been questioned, and Congressional committees have
subjected them to Kafkaesque interrogation. A sustained attempt
has been made to attempt to ne