With data interpretation and general circulation models in open dispute, the climate debate has turned decidedly political. And it’s all about messaging in this election year.
Climate activists hurl the pejorative “denier” at their critics—as in Holocaust denier. The more neutral term, skeptic, is avoided since the climate complex contends that the science is settled and the threat existential. “Climate change poses an existential threat to our future,” states Joe Biden, “and we are running out of time to address it.”
