The Anthropogenic Trap

Just because we've screwed up the climate doesn't mean we're to blame for everything.

This year may be remembered as the year the weight of climate change finally began to sink in. It only took climate scientists two decades of banging their heads against the wall to accomplish it.

While most observers call that cause for celebration, a few researchers are worried the climatologists have been too successful. They point to an increasing tendency to blame humans for ecological mysteries, a bias that's shaping funding priorities and hampering attempts to better understand natural history.