Day: April 26, 2012

Robyn Williams: I know it’s risky to quote John Maynard Keynes, especially before a federal budget, but I’m sure you’ve heard this one from the mathematical genius and economic don from King’s College Cambridge before: ‘When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?’

This is Science Show number 1,857, I’m Robyn Williams, and you’re about to see a film erupt on ABC1 next Thursday, I Can Change Your Mind About Climate, in which former senator Nick Minchin goes on the road with Anna Rose, co-founder of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition. You’d imagine that Nick Minchin would be clear on the facts as he was a minister for science in the Howard government, and you’d expect Anna Rose, whose training is in law, to be well briefed. Each was supposed to introduce the other to well-credentialed experts. We ran an example of one of Anna’s last week, Naomi Oreskes. Professor Oreskes does not appear in the final cut.

Here is one of Nick Minchin’s selections in America.

Narrator: We’ve arrived at Capitol Hill, the centre of power in the US, and where the ultimate fate of climate action might be decided. Anna doesn’t know it yet, but she is about to get a lesson in politics, Washington style.

Nick Minchin: Well Anna, I was keen for us to come to Washington because I’d like you to meet one of the more interesting climate change sceptics in the United States, a guy called Marc Morano who worked for Senator James Inhofe who’s probably Congress’s leading climate change sceptic.

Anna Rose: I have heard of him.

Nick Minchin: Yes, I imagine you would have.

Narrator: He’s not a scientist, he’s not a politician. Online journalist Marc Morano runs a popular sceptic news website, and he’s the man credited with bursting the climate belief bubble in the US.

Anna Rose: Nick, I wanted to say, I’m quite surprised that you brought me to meet Marc, because I know in Australia people haven’t heard of him, but in the US I feel like he has actually been quite discredited because he misrepresents scientists, he has been shown to just make things up, and the most worrying thing to me, he publishes scientists’