Is independent thinking still prized in science? Perhaps not on climate change

In February, before the situation in the Ukraine really heated up, Secretary of State John Kerry focused on a hotter issue, making it clear that when it came to saving the earth from human-caused climate change, he and President Obama did not have time for members of the Flat Earth Society.

I am not very concerned by the fact that my country’s president and secretary of state think that I am some sort of “flat-earther.” They think this of me simply because I am unconvinced (like so many other knowledgeable professionals) that humans are substantially responsible for long-term global climate change. You see, after 35 years of practice in the atmospheric science field, I’ve heard a lot of bluster.