Will-fully Ignorant

The two most recent posts at Real Climate, the excellent blog run by bona fide climate scientists, deal with two commentaries published recently in the Washington Post -- one by George Will, the other by Robert Novak, both conservative pundits, both responding to recent stories in the press about global warming.

To summarize: Will, responding to Time Magazine's special edition on global warming, attacks what he sees as "big crusading journalism" and the "science journalism complex" for stoking public fears. Novak, meanwhile, goes after NASA's James Hansen, accusing him of pretending to be muzzled by the Bush administration in order to advance his personal agenda in the press. As if those claims weren't preposterous enough, Will and Novak also trot out the usual (and easily debunked) arguments made by the "skeptics."

But this isn't skepticism on display: This is denial buttressed by a willful misrepresentation of the facts, with a generous dose of innuendo and ad hominem thrown in for good measure. It's clearly frustrating to the Real Climate crew that they have to keep refuting such widely read media figures. The question is: How do you get through to people like Will and Novak, who seem bent on denying not just scientific theory but observable fact? What will it take to convince them that, far from being some weird conspiracy cooked up by mysterious evil geniuses, it's actually a real and pressing concern for each and every one of us -- right, left and center?