MAINE MONITOR • November 8, 2020
In her Supreme Court confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Justice Amy Coney Barrett sidestepped questions about climate change, saying it was a “very contentious matter of public debate.” As a matter of fact, it is not. An overwhelming scientific consensus recognizes human-caused climate change, and two-thirds of Americans want the government to address it. How governments go about tackling this existential threat may provoke controversy, but the stark-as-wildfires reality of climate upheaval is not up for debate. Recent surveys and polls conducted in Maine demonstrate far more consensus than controversy around climate realities and the urgent need to confront them.