A couple weeks ago, there was a story making the rounds about a vegan environmentalist democrat named David Siegel who studied up on climate change and came to the conclusion that "the science is not settled." With a giant article on Medium, he was the "it thing" in the deniersphere for a few days, offering an example of a reformed alarmist who hit the books and saw the light.
Except he really seems to have just hit the blogs and bought in to the conspiratorial denier mindset. Given that his screed was giant (over 9,000 words, he says) it took a little while for some actual experts to unpack and debunk it, but fortunately they have. In a rebuttal posted on Medium, a group of climate bloggers have taken on the herculean task of debunking Siegel's gish gallop.
But more than that, they also explain the conspiratorial thinking and denial tendencies that Siegel employs in his article. Demonstrating that conservatives don't have a monopoly on unscientific thinking, the piece is valuable for its thorough breakdown of not just how Siegel got so many points so very wrong, but also for its help explaining why someone might fall into denier traps.
Though it's possible the days of denial are dwindling, as Wednesday's undercard GOP debate featured none of the outright anti-science rhetoric that has plagued the party. Instead, both Graham and Pataki had pro-science messages, scolding their party, and Chris Christie, when asked during the main event about taking action on climate, bragged about New Jersey's solar power (perhaps too enthusiastically).
Equally promising is a new Green Working Group, formed by four moderate GOP senators, which suggests the rift between GOP climate deniers and the reality-based community may be growing. Hopefully Siegel isn't successful in convincing any Democrats to question the science, creating a similar rift in the Democratic party. But with the in depth debunking, it seems unlikely he'll win any converts.
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