A Climate Science Report That Changes Minds? Don’t Bet on It<br />“While there remains some debate about the cause of climate change, there has been a documented change in weather patterns<br />over time in Wisconsin,” the report noted, adding later, “Climate resilience is a state and national priority.”<br />Dr. Hayhoe has also found that many conservatives are more skeptical about climate science when they think<br />that the solutions to global warming look suspiciously like a liberal wish list involving extensive government intervention.<br />“If someone is already not on board with climate science or is just disengaged<br />and feels like it doesn’t matter, more information about ocean acidification or attribution of extreme weather events isn’t going to change their minds,” said Katharine Hayhoe, a professor of political science at Texas Tech University who contributed to the federal climate report.<br />Similarly, few observers expect this new report to influence the Trump administration, which has pushed to repeal federal regulations on the greenhouse gases<br />that lead to global warming and whose officials have expressed doubt about the causes of a warming planet.<br />But there is little reason to think that yet another scientific report will fundamentally<br />shift attitudes on global warming — either among policymakers or the public at large.
