The Money Behind The Climate Denial Movement (2013)
&gt; And yet, for some reason, the idea persists in some peoples&#x27; minds that climate change is up for debate, or that climate change is no big deal.<p>Hold it right there.<p>Anthropogenic climate change (not just that the earth is warming, but that we are responsible) is a <i>scientific hypothesis</i>. Like all hypotheses, it cannot be proven true, only disproven by contradictory evidence.<p>Doubt is a critical element in testing any hypothesis. Success by doubters in poking experimental holes in hypotheses is how science moves forward.<p>When a hole is poked into a widely-held hypotheses, that&#x27;s the stuff of scientific revolutions. Also, groupthink is a real thing and has exerted a powerful hold over scientists of every generation. For these reasons, widely-held hypotheses should be viewed with some skepticism anyway.<p>Every scientific hypothesis is &quot;up for debate,&quot; and the day that isn&#x27;t true is the day science dies, replaced by yet another form of tyrannical religion.<p>It&#x27;s disturbing to see this kind of talk coming from Smithsonian.