What is the justification for rejecting the advice of American scientific organizations on global warming?
I am not American so forgive my presumption. Firstly I suppose the American law makers have the right to reject any advice (from anyone) if they see so fit. In particular if they see that there is not sufficient acceptance from those they govern and who vote them into office to enact laws on the matter. Americans emit by far the largest amount of greenhouse gases per capita of any country with a large population and as such are subject to large expectations of action by those who think it is necessary. Americans also value their individual independence of thought perhaps more than any other country and this combined with typical ingenuity has led to a plethora of arguments resisting the need to change. I think things will change gradually, and I agree the problem is urgent, but it will take time before America steels itself to act in really significant ways.
There are two kinds of people. Free-thinkers and followers. When what free thinkers see, hear and feel contradicts what they’re being told, they go with their own experience rather than the self-proclaimed experts, no matter how many letters the experts have after their names. There’s something uniquely American about that. I’m proud of it. Each Summer has been cooler than the last, ever since I moved to a place specifically to enjoy the Summer weather. And the Winters have been bad as well. I notice this. I’ve noticed the weather wherever I’ve traveled, and it has ranged from normal to cool in most instances. There is no logical reason why my experience would somehow always be the exception rather than the rule. And there are millions of people, apparently, who have experienced the same disconnect between what they’re told and what they see, hear and feel. Moreover, catastrophic man-made global warming is a prediction. It is, more accurately, a series of predictions. So far, the predi
