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Climate <br />Should You Trust Climate Science? Maybe <br />Eclipse <br />At ieft, a lbse;rv'in ; a solar e.a,i'ilCpse; 'iin Ilindlaaule s: as 'iin 2016. At rigllhd, as de.lC..r'ia:,d oin of Ga:aHle o sllhov ing dllle. ICpoe t Joplin WPtoin <br />n s telc:;aa:,olpe:. <br />LEFT: ALOES RUDIANTO / ANA60LU AGENCY, VIA GETTY IMAGES; RIGHT: BETTMANN, VIA GETTY IMAGES <br />AUGUST 18, 2017 <br />mania will peak on Monday, when millions of Americans will <br />upend their lives in response to a scientific prediction. <br />Friends of mine in Georgia plan to drive 70 miles to find the perfect <br />Justin Gillis spot on a South Carolina golf course to observe the ;soala..rr „_e..a;°:ll i ).s. °.. Many <br />BY DI GIRT IES Americans will drive farther than that, or fly, to situate themselves in <br />the "path of totality,” the strip of the country where the rrrrrr „r.. is <br />predicted to blot out the sun entirely. <br />Thanks to the work of scientists, people will know exactly what time to expect the <br />eclipse. In less entertaining but more important ways, we respond to scientific <br />predictions all the time, even though we have no independent capacity to verify the <br />calculations. We tend to trust scientists. <br />For years now, atmospheric scientists have been handing us a set of predictions <br />about the likely consequences of our emissions of industrial gases. These forecasts <br />are critically important, because this group of experts sees grave risks to our <br />civilization. And yet, when it comes to reacting to the warnings of climate science, <br />we have done little. <br />