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"Okay, well, I seeslight cooling referred to here," Evans said. "I also see warming of the peninsula ofseveral degrees. That certainly seems more significant. And that peninsula's a pretty big part of the continent, isn't it?" He tossed the paper aside. "Frankly, I'm not impressed."
Sanjong said, "The peninsula is two percent of the continent. And frankly, I am surprised that you did not comment on the most significant fact in the data you were given."
"Which is?"
"When you said earlier that the Antarctic is melting," Sanjong said, "were you aware that it has been melting for the lastsix thousand years? "
"Not specifically, no."
"But generally, you knew that?"
"No," Evans said. "I wasn't aware of that."
"You thought that the Antarctic melting was something new?"
"I thought it was melting faster than previously," Evans said.
"Maybe we won't bother anymore," Kenner said.
Sanjong nodded, and started to put the computer away.
"No, no," Evans said. "I'm interested in what you have to say. I'm not closed-minded about this. I'm ready to hear new information."
"You just did," Kenner said.
Evans picked up the sheet of paper again, and folded it carefully. He slipped it into his pocket. "These studies are probably financed by the coal industry," he said.
"Probably," Kenner said. "I'm sure that explains it. But then, everybody's paid by somebody. Who pays your salary?"
"My law firm."
"And who pays them?"
"The clients. We have several hundred clients."
"You do work for all of them?"
"Me, personally? No."
"In fact, you do most of your work for environmental clients," Kenner said. "Isn't that true?"
"Mostly. Yes."
"Would it be fair to say that the environmental clients pay your salary?" Kenner said.
"You could make that argument."
"I'm just asking, Peter. Would it be fair to say environmentalists pay your salary?"
"Yes."
"Okay. Then would it be fair to say the opinions you hold are because you work for environmentalists?"
"Of course not--"
"You mean you're not a paid flunky for the environmental movement?"
"No. The fact is--"
"You're not an environmental stooge? A mouthpiece for a great fund-raising and media machine--a multi-billion-dollar industry in its own right--with its own private agenda that's not necessarily in the public interest?"
"God damn it--"
"Is this pissing you off?" Kenner said.
"You're damn right it is!"
"Good," Kenner said. "Now you know how legitimate scientists feel when their integrity is impugned by slimy characterizations such as the one you just made. Sanjong and I gave you a careful, peer-reviewed interpretation of data. Made by several groups of scientists from several different countries. And your response was first to ignore it, and then to make an ad hominem attack. You didn't answer the data. You didn't provide counter evidence. You just smeared with innuendo."
"Oh, fuck you," Evans said. "You think you have an answer for everything. But there's only one problem: Nobody agrees with you. Nobody in the world thinks that Antarctica is getting colder."
"These scientists do," Kenner said. "They published the data."
Evans threw up his hands. "The hell with it," he said. "I don't want to talk about this anymore."
He walked to the front of the plane and sat down, crossed his arms, and stared out the window.
Kenner looked at Sanjong and Sarah. "Anyone feel like coffee?"
Sarah had watched Kenner and Evans with a certain amount of uneasiness. Even though she had worked for the past two years for Morton, she had never shared her employer's passion for environmental issues. All during that time, Sarah had been in a tempestuous, exciting relationship with a handsome young actor. Their time together consisted of an unending series of passionate evenings, angry confrontations, slammed doors, tearful reconciliations, jealousies, and infidelities--and it had consumed her more than she cared to admit. The truth was that she had paid no more attention to NERF or Morton's other environmental interests than the job required. At least, until the sonof-a-bitch actor appeared in the pages ofPeople magazine with a young actress from his TV show, and Sarah finally decided she had had enough, erased the guy from her cell phone, and threw herself into her work.
But she certainly held the same general view about the state of the world as Evans did. Perhaps Evans was more aggressive in stating his views, and more trusting of his assumptions, but she basically agreed with him. And here was Kenner, casting doubt after doubt.
It left her wondering whether Kenner was really correct about everything he was saying. And it also made her wonder just how he and Morton had become friends.
She asked Kenner, "Did you have these same discussions with George?"
"In the last weeks of his life, yes."
"And did he argue with you the way Evans is?"
"No." Kenner shook his head. "Because by then, he knew."