they get research money to study climate change. It really is ludicrous — a scientist by definition is skepti- cal, and if someone could prove human-caused climate change isn’t happening, that would be done in a heartbeat,” she says. The evidence continues to pile up showing human-caused climate change is real and having dire con- sequences for the globe. Thirteen federal U.S. agencies released a comprehensive report concluding that, based on extensive evidence, it is “extremely likely that human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases, are the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century. For the warm- ing over the last century, there is no convincing alternative explanation supported by the extent of the obser- vational evidence.” The U.S. Global Change Research Program Climate Science Special Report, approved for release by the White House itself (despite President Donald Trump’s continued doubts about the reality of climate change), goes on to state that, “In addition to warming, many other aspects of global climate are changing, primar- ily in response to human activities. Thousands of studies conducted by researchers around the world have SEPTEMBER 2018 GERMINATION.CA 53 “IFYOUSHOWPEOPLEYOURDATA, THEQUESTIONIS,‘YEAH,BUTWHOPAIDFOR THATRESEARCH?WHAT’SYOURMOTIVATION? SOMEONEPAIDFORYOUTODOTHAT, THEREFOREYOUHAVEABIASINTHEDATA.’” –MollyCadle-Davidson documented changes in surface, atmospheric, and oceanic temperatures; melting glaciers; diminishing snow cover; shrinking sea ice; rising sea levels; ocean acidification; and increasing atmospheric water vapour.” Despite the overwhelming evidence for human-caused climate change and massive support for measures to curtail it, efforts to undermine those messages are promi- nent. That disinformation is so effective due, in part, to the American political climate. Trump famously tweeted in 2012 that climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese to steal American jobs. Combine that with a lack of efficiencies in science education and the general pub- lic’s mistrust of science, and you have a recipe for climate change skepticism. “It used to be that scientists were trusted. Now people take a scientist’s results with a bit more caution,” Cadle- Davidson says. That’s due to a number of factors, a big driver being a perception that scientific research is funded by corporate entities with nefarious intentions.