Climate Change Discussions Among Engineers

What is interesting about the climate change and global warming debate is the fundamental attack on science and the scientific process. In many cases listed on the ASCE blog site, one can remove "climate change" and insert "evolutionary biology" knowing that Darwin is probably smiling down from Heaven (OK - - maybe not Heaven). In the minds of many people evolutionary biology is not settled science and it never will be. The old debates of science versus religion (Galileo, Newton, Darwin, etc.) have been replaced by new debates of science versus economic and political philosophy. And all of this is good, healthy and productive - mankind at its best debating and discussing issues of science, religion, economics and philosophy. We as engineers really need to get more comfortable with history and the flow of ideas in society - these are the sorts of ideas we've got to begin trying on - less for the specifics of their particular notions that for the spirit they suggest.