Oh, I'm a very smart cookie, but surely I'm often wrong, as is everyone. However, if I were to present you with Ph.Ds that agree with me, what would you say? Who is right? Would your instinct be to fall back on consensus...or to fall back on the scientific method?

Watch Dr. Patrick Moore's 2015 talk on this: "The Sensible Environmentalist" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFHX526NPbE

Or Dr. Richard Lindzen's 2018 talk: "Global Warming For The Two Cultures" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2q9BT2LIUA

Or geologist James Kanis's talk on Plate Climatology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=10&v=GX1e_uU5u3A...

Or you could also dig into the science yourself, with a skeptical, rational mind and care for the scientific method, and come to your own conclusions. I would recommend learning about everything from thermodynamics to geology to atmospheric science. It's fascinating stuff. We live in an era where it's easy to do that.

On topics were you personally don't do research it's always a good bet to fall back on the consensus of people who actually know the topic.

Never outsource your thinking to someone else. We live in an age where you can do your own research quite easily.

With any other hard physical science, the math is derivable. I can look at the equations for special relativity, I can read about the aether-related theories that preceded it (which were consensus at the time), I can see where they fell short and how they failed to measure up, I can read about Einstein's thought experiments that the led to the theory, I can read about the fundamental experiments that validated the theory. I can see how it evolved since then and led to developments in quantum physics. I can do all this. And I submit to you that if quantum physics is accessible then certainly climate science and geology are accessible. We have Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, numerous sources for contemporary publications and you can absolutely follow it and you can play a part in it. And then you will know the topic.

I have a PhD and did some research. It would be ridiculous to suggest that people can do research in my field without first investing years of training. I assume it's equally ridiculous to assume that I can do research in climate science without years of training.

I outsource thinking to other people all the time. That's essentially what it means to live in a modern society.