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Shifting Opinion

Entry 418, on 2006-11-01 at 17:54:15 (Rating 3, News)

I saw in the news, as a result of a new report, that climate change is now being taken seriously by the British government. That's another major country which has shifted policy based on the mounting evidence that climate change must be dealt with. Now Australia and the US should reconsider their positions on the subject, although maybe it will take the eventual removal of Bush from power before anything can happen there.

Scientific consensus on complex and controversial subjects is never easy, but on this subject the movement seems to be in one direction only. Every year more scientists are accepting the reality of global warming (or climate change) and that there is a significant human effect on the phenomenon.

Against the ever increasing scientific evidence are those who oppose action. These include industrial concerns who must keep polluting to maintain profits, political leaders who act for the industrialists for various reasons (including their monetary support), religious groups who let dogma override evidence, and the apathetic majority who just don't care.

But the truth has a way of having the final say. In other controversial areas political, religious and popular beliefs are just ignored while the real truth controls what really matters. For example, in the US most people don't accept evolution. But its undoubtedly true and is used continuously in medicine, biology, etc. So what people think doesn't really matter. Eventually everyone will be forced to do something about climate change - the sooner we start, the easier it will be.

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