It’s very much a shame that global climate change has broken down along the political fault lines, because unlike other political issues, it affects us all, seriously so—it should be an issue that brings people together. My belief is that it is a part of a larger problem in the United States, of a cultural of anti-intellectualism, for lack of a more specific term. There is a significant portion of Americans who regard academics, scientists and other topical experts with scorn and distrust. I hear many Americans talk about the ivory towers as being in opposition to the real world (or worse, the church), and a kind of animosity towards higher education and its denizens that troubles me deeply. If so many Americans hold a deep distrust of our nation’s experts and academics, what hope do we have? The political characterization of academia and expertise as a liberal threat prevents even many mainstream Republicans from trusting the scientific literature or consensus.