The concept of sub-optimization describes a very old practice: making sure what you are interesting in is taken care of at the expense of everything else.
The study of climate was a rather arcane area of science relegated to those who were fascinated by weather and geological studies. Then the alarm bells sounded: CO2 was going to make earth uninhabitable. That made a great story and newspapers and television and the internet began to crawl with all of the horror tales... doom was upon us. Billions of dollars began to pour into climate studies. Every political and environmental special interest began to claim that they had the answers to save us. Governments were ready to pass laws!
Climate science = CO2 abatementExcept that Climate Science has become a forum for scientists who say, "Wait a minute!" How about looking at the facts? For example, did you know that agriculture has much more impact on our climate than CO2 could ever achieve?
Minor issue... let's keep our focus on CO2. That's where the money is.See, if your interest is funding, then you are willing to sub-optimize an entire discipline of science to promote your position. There's gold in doing so.
How about those studies funded by industry? A great come-back! A few million dollars in private funding versus billions in government funding.Sure, but we can't trust private funding. The results always are tainted.
Yes, we can always trust the government... and those seeking government funding......