Climate change skeptics are hanging around with the wrong crowd...

Climate change skeptics, please meet your new best friends, extreme creationists. Consequently, this chance meeting might turn out to be your downfall.

An article in the New York Times identified this budding relationship and how it is proving advantageous to both movements in the southern United States. School systems throughout the US have come under fire for several years from the far-right for teaching evolutionary theory and never making reference to alternative views, most notably creationism and intelligent design. Proponents of this exclusion have long argued that they must preserve the separation of church and state. But that hasn't stopped some states from passing laws ordering schools to include both sides in their curriculum.

But most of the time, the creationist movement hits big snags with the government, largely because it focuses purely on a religious topic. But by teaming up with the climate change skepticism movement, it hopes that the government will look at it in a much broader sense. Climate change skeptics have been fighting a similar battle as curriculums tend to focus only on the "pro-climate change" science, while ignoring the views of skeptics. Together, they might be able to use the legal system to get at least something through.

But if you're an environmentalist, you should be licking your lips the same way Democrats are at the thought of Sarah Palin running for president in 2012 -- please run, Sarah, please. And if you're a semi-legitimate skeptic -- not a garden variety looney -- you're kicking yourself. The skeptics and creationists might be winning small battles in a few schools in the southern United States, but the war over climate science could very well tip to the side of environmentalists.

Creationists, at least those of the extreme variety, are largely viewed by the rest of the United States as radical and out of touch. Strong beliefs that dinosaurs are a myth and the Earth is only a few thousand years old are taken seriously by a diminishing minority largely situated in a few specific regions of the US. The majority of the population simply doesn't take them seriously. 

The climate change skepticism movement, on the other hand, has some momentum and a lot of potential support. The leaked emails from East Anglia, overblown claims about glaciers melting and a realization that lifestyles might have to change considerably have fueled a growing movement towards skepticism, in the United States and throughout much of the developed world. Quite simply, the skepticism movement is serious and serious people are paying attention.

But as soon as it links itself to extreme creationists, it will lose considerable credibility. The short term benefits might be nice, but in the long run, it could sink you. Having friends can be nice, but sometimes picking the wrong friends can make things worse. Want some free advice from the other side? Start hanging out with another crowd.