The fact that the climate could change on human timescales scared many people. NASA began to shift in the late 70's away from planetary study, and more towards the study of earth. With more funding, climate research began to put together a clearer picture of a climate linked to greenhouse gases among other factors. Despite the long history of research, the issue of global warming is more polarizing today than ever. Intelligent professors on both sides interpret the same study differently. Talk show hosts, pundits and presidents all use inflammatory rhetoric to argue against straw men.
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This is where the debate connects to our study. We need another "ad fontes" movement. Scientific journals are more accessible than ever before. The general people need to stop listening to only people who agree with them, and actually read the studies, in order to decide for themselves. Simply trusting the authority is as bad as trusting the Catholic church for Protestants. The Protestants who went back to the Bible found differences in what was said, and what was actually in the Bible.
Most people who either believe or don't believe in global warming have never actually read a study. It is interesting that with the changing frames of reference, many people in the 17th and 18th century began to believe more in the epistemology of science. They began to trust the results and publish journals of interesting scientific innovations. Today, with more people are simply listening to you-tubers and new disruptive medias, rather than trusting themselves to read the science and learn directly.
Image: Fire earth digital art: free from pixabay, no artist attributed
