The New Yorker: THE MISTRUST OF SCIENCE

[Warpy]

2. People go to work every day and do a decent job while they're there

They manage to cope with traffic or mass transit both ways. When they get home, they care for their kids. On weekends, they catch up on chores and might even take a Sunday drive somewhere. They like to think they've got a pretty good handle on life.

And they do, until some egghead comes along and says their car is killing the planet.

That's why people mistrust science, that and most of them think it's just more doubletalk, like the stuff banks and insurance companies and politicians do to them all the time.

I have a great deal of sympathy for people who are afraid of what science is uncovering and none for boneheaded editors who sensationalize it in the news magazines and TV news. I also know these people have been doing a good job at reducing their carbon footprint over the years as their major appliances have gotten more efficient and maybe they've gone from an SUV to a sedan or even a compact. Being unable to buy incandescent bulbs has some of them very annoyed, but most have made the transition in spite of themselves. After all, they don't have to get up on the stepladder to change bulbs all the time if they're CFL or LED.

This is likely how things will be done and they will be done. You can't talk people out of SUVs and incandescent bulbs but you can price them out and make the products superior.