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But a bigger reason is that these changes threaten vested economic interests. Commodity companies benefit from exploiting forests. Fossil -fuel companies, to protect their profits, spent decades throwing up a smoke screen about the risks of climate change. Most of them now say they have stopped funding climate denial, but they still finance the careers of politicians who say they are skeptical of climate science and who play down the risks. In the face of such attacks, the scientists soldier on, offering us more predictions even as the old ones come true. ADVER71IS=MFNI They tell us that we are now at risk of causing the great ice sheets in Greenland and west Antarctica to collapse, which would raise the sea level 30 feet or more over some unknown period, wiping out many of the world's great cities. They tell us that under a worst -case scenario, it might get so hot across large parts of the world that people would be unable to work outdoors without risking death. They tell us that we stand a good chance of causing the sixth mass extinction of plants and animals in the Earth's history. These kinds of forecasts are painful to consider. By contrast, something like a solar eclipse is just fun. But as you watch it on Monday, spare a moment to think about the role of science in society. When the moon throws Corvallis, Ore., into near - darkness at io:16 a.m. local time, or eclipses the sun over Kansas City, Mo., at 1:o8 p.m., or Nashville at 1:27 p.m., think about the long scientific journey that allowed us to know precisely when it would happen. Think about Galileo standing in the dock of the Inquisition, forced to recant his belief that the Earth moves around the sun. Legend has it that he whispered under his breath: "And yet it moves." Think about the centuries of patient effort that followed to work out the precise motions of the solar system, now understood so thoroughly that we can use them to predict eclipses centuries in advance. If you respect and honor the scientists who did this work, then spare another moment to think about the scientists whose work is under attack today, and why. E.o.].11.2.w...... ),INy.".�.. Il,ii „in; at c�ir�.......11 °ii.:ttei:. RELATED COVERAGE C' - apllic I...:lo A nnerica ns `I`llli nk About Cli nnate I;Iuabn e, ill Six Maps 4S MAR 21, 2017 If You Fix "I` ➢n ➢�, You Fix a Big Discs of ffie Climate Puzzle JUL 13, 2017