As the world gathers for negotiations billed as likely to determine the very future of life on earth, many on the outside are feeling weary of the Doomsday prognoses and wary of the plodding process meant to prevent them from coming true. The world's leaders ought to be noting that.>The easy thing would be to link those people to the sceptics who vocally deny the existence of a problem. I prefer to think of them as climate agnostics, or as the non-partisan millions still seeking clarity.Whether they are a silent majority or a substantial minority depends on how you count them. But whether the next fortnight goes down in history rather than as a footnote to it will depend on how well the public at large receives the result. And the agnostics are a substantial presence in that public.A Harris poll released last week found just 51 per cent of American adults believe the fundamental argument that greenhouse gases will cause the Earth's average temperature to rise. That was the lowest level measured in 12 years and down from 71 per cent two years ago.The US has long been the bogeyman of climate change talks, but it would be wrong to say the scepticism is limited to America and its fossil fuel-guzzling SUV drivers.
As the world gathers for negotiations billed as likely to determine the very future of life on earth, many on the outside are feeling weary of the Doomsday prognoses and wary of the plodding process meant to prevent them from coming true. The world's leaders ought to be noting that.>
The easy thing would be to link those people to the sceptics who vocally deny the existence of a problem. I prefer to think of them as climate agnostics, or as the non-partisan millions still seeking clarity.
Whether they are a silent majority or a substantial minority depends on how you count them. But whether the next fortnight goes down in history rather than as a footnote to it will depend on how well the public at large receives the result. And the agnostics are a substantial presence in that public.
A Harris poll released last week found just 51 per cent of American adults believe the fundamental argument that greenhouse gases will cause the Earth's average temperature to rise. That was the lowest level measured in 12 years and down from 71 per cent two years ago.
The US has long been the bogeyman of climate change talks, but it would be wrong to say the scepticism is limited to America and its fossil fuel-guzzling SUV drivers.
While right-populism is the new centrism, it appears being stupid is the new agnosticism. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
