It is absurd that the increasingly small amount of CC deniers can still exert a disproportionate amount of influence over the debate. They are quite comfortable accepting the 3% of scientists that "do not believe" in climate change instead of the 97% who do believe. It comes down to fear (fear that they will lose out) and money. In fact to my mind the two are inextricably linked. So why do they actually get as much traction as they do?
Basically they have no scruples and are very comfortable lying. I suspect most of us were brought up believing the majority of what we were told and it takes quite a large step to divorce ourselves from that mindset. For example: a certain QLD Premier's catch phrase was " It'll be right. Don't you worry your head about that." It has taken the internet and the vast array of information available to everybody that has taught us to question. However, the internet is itself the biggest source of mis-information and human nature is such that it believes what it wants to believe. I frequently draw automotive analogies and my analogy here is that if you revel in the raw power of a V8 car you probably do not want to relinquish that for a Prius. However, when a Tesla blows your muscle car into the weeds over the standing quarter you sit up straighter (or be extremely P...e Off).
Without completely going along with Al Gore, his "inconvenient truth" was right on the money and I often wonder how things would have gone if little Georgie hadn't pulled a swiftie. Maybe Al would have been different if he had been the incumbent.
Regards
Paul