Folly to reject science

If my car is running poorly and my neighbor the NASCAR mechanic tells me how I can fix it, will I say, “Nah, that can’t be right”? Only if I’m a fool.

The same sort of fool, perhaps, who rejects the near-unanimous verdict of climate authorities worldwide: that human activity is driving global warming. But even if those authorities are wrong, or if we think pollution is wonderful, we’d be smart to take their advice.

Why? Because much of the world leads us in going green, and the cost of clean energy is tumbling as technology advances. Meanwhile, the cost of fossil fuels can only rise as we work ever harder to extract remaining reserves. By deferring our own green revolution, we face rising energy prices while other nations reap the fruit of foresight in falling prices. As our products fail to compete, our industries and working class will suffer, and when finally we come to our senses we’ll pay the piper as a poorer nation than today. Why choose this future?

The U.S. prospered after World War II because we embraced science and prized innovation. We cannot regain those glory days by dismissing science and racing against progress.

Eric Went

Pullman