Global warming denial

The NYT has a good opinion piece expressing an argument I couldn't quite formulate. For me, I suppose, it comes down to the difference in the following two examples:

• I believe in ghosts and it's no surprise that scientists can't prove their existence because...
  
• I don't believe in global warming or mankind's contribution thereto because the pro-warming crowd is self-motivated to predict dire things, and I read these retired engineers and meteorologists who have good arguments against aspects of the pro-warming case. And just because there's consensus, the scientific truth of the matter doesn't come down to a vote.
  

The latter case does not dismiss science, but rather selectively chooses the science they "believe" despite the fact that they have no expertise with which to make such choices.