Scientist-versus-activist debates mislead the public

摘要

The British are famous for conversations about the weather, and this winter there has been much to talk about. The United Kingdom's December-February rainfall was the highest since records began in 1910. Tracts of southern England have been flooded for weeks. The army has been deployed to build flood defences. Once again, climate change has floated to the top of the UK political agenda. Extreme weather tends to do that - a similar dynamic has been seen across the world. After Hurricane Sandy hit the United States in 2012, climate change became a presidential election issue. In Australia, floods, droughts and heatwaves have pushed the topic in a way that reports from climate scientists could not.