“I can say that my field is almost unanimous in saying that we are facing serious risk,” is the way Dr. Emanuel put it to me. “Things could turn out to be fine — I hope they do. But there’s no evidence at all that would support an assertion that we’re not facing serious risk at this point.”
...As he contemplates the seeming inability of the body politic to heed that warning, Dr. Emanuel has been repairing lately to a study of history. He has been reading, for instance, about the mass delusion that settled over Germany in the 1930s. Without drawing any moral comparison between the issues posed then and now, he points out the willingness of many people today to believe that climate scientists are engaged in some sort of hoax, and wonders if we are seeing another instance of mass delusion at work.
“You know, it’s a crazy idea, that thousands of scientists are corrupt,” Dr. Emanuel said. “But some people believe that.”
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