During an unusual stop in California, Sarah Palin took some jabs at global warming. At a logging conference in the conservative, rural Northern California town of Redding, Palin blasted global warming as “a bunch of snake oil science.”
While there is some disagreement if global warming is caused by humans or is just a natural cycle, the majority of scientists in the world do claim global warming as fact. To call it “snake oil science” shakes the entire debate to a different level.
Snake oil medicine is considered a deliberate sham. Sure, there are probably some disingenuous scientists who are pushing global warming and cooking data. Yet, there are probably some who are just as disingenuous about trying to disprove it by cooking data.
I am not a scientist and neither is Sarah Palin. I have not looked at all the global warming data, and I doubt that Palin has either. The layman must look at what knowledgeable people have to say, examine some evidence and make a judgment on faith.
We are not talking about the law of gravity here that can be proved by dropping a ball. This is complicated stuff. Dismissing scientists who know more about the climate than Palin is a bit scary coming from a prominent politician.
At the same conference, Palin also dismissed the science that listed polar bears as endangered.
I would like to hear Palin dismiss the science about polar bears and global warming in her own words. That would probably be an opportunity to hear about some real snake oil. I doubt that she can put a cogent, scientific argument refuting the scientists who hold a different belief.
That does not mean Palin cannot have an opinion on science, but it takes more than an opinion to dismiss even snake oil scientists. Major claims need major facts. That works on both sides of the debate.
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