Can this IPCC lead author, who is employed in the global warming hoax industry, convince Tea Party senators that carbon dioxide is overheating the planet?

New [Junk] Scientist: Climate change sceptics: just regular folk, in denial

Denial is a "valid response" of people when confronted with tough times, and this response explains climate change deniers. So said Graeme Pearman, a climate consultant at the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney, during the Greenhouse 2011 conference in Cairns, Queensland, Australia today.

According to Pearman, a large proportion of sceptics are "the type of people" that deny any problems facing them. "It is a normal coping mechanism," he said.

Recently, profiling a typical climate sceptic has become fertile research ground. Behavioural scientists hope to unpick why so many people continue to deny human-made climate change, despite strong scientific evidence [like what, specifically?] of its existence. The research will help policy-makers plan how to change those seemingly unchangeable minds.

Benjamin Preston, currently at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, worked at the Pew Centre on Global Climate Change in Washington DC and was tasked with "educating" Tea Party senators about the risks associated with climate change. At today's conference, Preston said political persuasions influenced climate change opinions more than the mere denial of catastrophe.

Benjamin L. Preston | climatechangescience.ornl.gov

Preston received a BS in biology from the College of William and Mary and a PhD in environmental biology from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he also minored in public policy.... He is also a lead author for Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fifth Assessment Report.