I think old colonel and Larry have it right: it all comes down to numbers, whatever the science says. If you've got the numbers you carry the day. Authenticity of numbers as representative of reality is as ephemeral and accurate as the news today that the "Republican Party" made Trump its nominee.
Canada's most controversial environmental debate of the 70s was whether to spray Nova Scotia forests to protect from the spruce budworm. Medical researchers "linked" spraying to children's deaths from Reye's Syndrome. Public protest withdrew protection, makingthe largest clearcut on the continent, observable by astronauts in space.
I campaigned for protection---forests can't be managed without protection. All of the august authority of the doctors won with the public. The federal government investigated the so-called link of the insecticide with Reye's Syndrome. I announced its findings to an US international forestry conference: another case of bad science.
The Colonel's right: triumphs of reason are victories only for today. The reality is that there are more antis than us. Numbers count, right or wrong.
