Jeb Bush: It’s “Intellectual Arrogance” to Embrace Scientific Consensus on Climate Change May 22, 2015

Jeb Bush: It’s “Intellectual Arrogance” to Embrace Scientific Consensus on Climate Change

Jeb Bush is tired of the arrogance that abounds in the discussion of climate change.

That’s right, he’s tired of the legislators who think that a snowball trumps science. He’s fed up with the graduates of the University of Conspiracy Theories and the Research Fellows at the Institute of I-Googled-That-So-I’m-An-Expert who think that 97% of the subject matter experts who have spent years studying the topic are either wrong, part of a global-warming-promoting-cabal, or both.

Nah, I’m just kidding. He’s really tired of the people who think that those goofy “experts” know what they’re talking about and the “arrogance” of refusing to acknowledge a non-existent controversy.

As he has before, Bush acknowledged “the climate is changing” but stressed that it’s unknown why. “I don’t think the science is clear of what percentage is man-made and what percentage is natural. It’s convoluted,” he said at a house party in Bedford, New Hampshire.

“For the people to say the science is decided on this is really arrogant, to be honest with you,” he continued. “It’s this intellectual arrogance that now you can’t have a conversation about it, even. The climate is changing. We need to adapt to that reality.”

Percentages aside, this is a fairly typical line among science deniers: Well, sure, the climate is changing… but we really don’t know why.

Earlier this year, for instance, the Senate — even Senator James Inhofe, whose snowball antics I mentioned earlier — was able to vote on a resolution noting that climate change was real, but would not pass a resolution attributing it to humans. This is a political, not scientific, objection. If climate change “just happens,” rather than is driven by our actions, it’s not our problem, but just a fact of life. Conservatives might not appreciate that the it-just-happens notion isn’t one that has caught on in the scientific community like it has in the conservative political atmosphere, but that doesn’t mean we need more “conversation.” It just means the facts don’t align with conservatives’ wishful thinking on the topic. (Imagine that…)

Scientists have studied, are studying, and will continue to study the planet’s changing climate, and our impact on it. So far, that research has led to overwhelming agreement that we’re playing a big role in our changing climate.

It’s not arrogant to acknowledge that. On the contrary, it’s arrogant to disregard science simply because it doesn’t suit your politics.

(Image via Andrew Cline / Shutterstock.com)

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