Originally Posted By ecdc Climate change is real and is manmade. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/may/16/climate-research-nearly-unanimous-humans-causes" target="_blank">http://www.guardian.co.uk/envi...s-causes</a> In a survey of over 4,000 papers published in peer reviewed journals for the last 20 years, 97.1% of scientists concurred that climate change is real and is caused by human behavior. The lead author of the survey put it best: "There is a gaping chasm between the actual consensus and the public perception." So here's what I don't get: What is with the arrogance of climate change deniers who are not experts, who know next-to-nothing about this, and yet talk is if they are experts? Can you imagine if 97.1% of oncologists said, "Hey, to prevent cancer, do X" that half the country and most conservatives would say, "No way! It's all just a hoax!" What is with this total disdain for experts people seem to have?
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance Because experts tend to tell you things you don't want to hear.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan I think a lot of the denial has to do with how scientific discovery gets reported in popular media. We've all read how ______________ is bad for your health one week, while a couple weeks later, the health benefits of the very same thing are lauded. Back in the late 1970s, there were many stories, including in Time, worrying about global cooling! This dramatizing things and see-sawing back and forth makes people weary and it becomes the common wisdom that scientists can't make up their minds, when usually it's a news report not giving the full story or context, or reading too much into preliminary findings. And now that climate change has become a left/right political thing, it's harder than ever for people to handle the truth.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance I agree with you K2. Everyone seems to have an agenda, and getting the actual facts can be difficult for someone who knows exactly where to look, let alone the average person who doesn't have a clue. It comes down to who seems to be most trustworthy on things that really should have no basis in trust, only in facts.
Originally Posted By Daannzzz But many people who deny that climate change is happening do so in such a vehement manner. Why are they so angry about the issue?
Originally Posted By mawnck >>Why are they so angry about the issue?<< Their brainwashers told them to be.
Originally Posted By DDMAN26 Alright, not sure what I should do, I think the environmental products they sell are kind of a rip off.
Originally Posted By TomSawyer "Why are they so angry about the issue? " For the businesses, they don't want to have to deal with anything that might affect their shareholder returns this year even if it kills us all in twenty years. For low-information voters, the ones who get angry are probably also the ones who get mad when scientists talk about evolution or the big bang.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>Why are they so angry about the issue?<< I think for many, they see environmentalism as a holdover issue from the days of the hippie. It was politicized back then, and it's even worse now. The interesting thing is that you'd think self-described conservatives would want to, you know, conserve things. We have a guy here in the Bay Area who used to do the weather on TV. He's the most vehement climate change denier you'll ever hear, now that he has a gig on one of the far right talk radio stations. He has conducted no peer reviewed studies that I know of, but because he is (or was) a TV weatherman, he's enough of an expert to convince the gullible. Guys like this are part of that 3% who think it's all some hoax.
Originally Posted By TomSawyer The dumb thing about their position - well, one of the dumb things - is that even if climate change scientists are incorrect the practices that would mitigate global climate change are just good policy for the environment and health and the economy.
Originally Posted By ecdc >>Why are they so angry about the issue?<< That's a great question and there's been some great answers. I'd offer that I think they somehow see this as a political issue, and their default is to be outraged at anything the other side does. It's gotten a lot better since he's faded from the spotlight, but remember how climate change seemed tied closely to Al Gore? It wasn't uncommon to point out that carbon dioxide levels were rising, sea levels were rising, etc., and get the response, "You know Al Gore lives in a big inefficient mansion and has his own private jet, right!?!" Uh...and this has to do with...? Seriously, if anyone on the left touts damn near anything, it gets a visceral, screaming, spit-flying reaction from many on the right. We actually cured cancer - we have an actual vaccine that prevents cervical cancer - and many on the right screamed, "It'll cause promiscuity!!!" What do you do with that, when we literally cure cancer, we do something that's been dreamed about for decades, and some on the right politicize it and fight against it. It's insanity.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>It's insanity.<< Just like how many conservatives hate Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" campaign which encourages socialistic ideas such as... eating more fruits and veggies and getting some exercise. I mean, can there be less of a radical idea than that? And yet, Mrs. Obama gets slurred, hated and vilified for it as if she was suggesting children go out and burn down churches.
Originally Posted By ecdc ^^^^That's about as perfect an example as I can think of. Michelle Obama says maybe we shouldn't give our kids an oil drum full of Coke, and next thing you know Sarah Palin is baking cookies in retaliation. Yup. Insanity.
Originally Posted By Tikiduck Denial is one thing. I would guess that a lot of these people just don't give a damn. I mean, these are the same types who think oil drilling rigs in a pristine wilderness are a sure sign of prosperity. They don't go to Yosemite or Zion, they go to NASCAR or wrestlemania. These are the same clowns who would go to some protected sanctuary, like Point Lobos on the California coast, and lament the waste of prime real estate.
Originally Posted By Daannzzz ""We have a guy here in the Bay Area who used to do the weather on TV."" I grew up in Cupertino and live in the bay area all my life. Is this gut Pete Giddings?
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 I am so sick and tired of the stupid stereotyping on this board, so if you like wrestling you are anti environment? Not everyone fits into your idiotic view of conservatives...
Originally Posted By DDMAN26 Well if you eat nachos and cheese while watching wrestling there's probably a good chance your emitting greenhouse gases.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>I grew up in Cupertino and live in the bay area all my life. Is this gut Pete Giddings?<< Nooooo. Brian Hackney.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan No wait, strike that! I besmirched Brian Hackney -- not him. It is Brian Sussman.
