Why do so many people deny climate change

[daveman]

If the government waits for business to welcome the future we'll be stuck here for ever. The future is risky. The present is profitable.

What's the government's track record on green energy investment?

Not so hot, actually. The left points to the Tesla as a successful electric car. But its $60K price puts it out of reach for most of America.

Industry will lead the way to sustainable energy -- if government gets out of the way.

 

[westwall]

Actually they are very good sources for transportation seeing as most driving gets done during the day. People don't realize the energy storage capacity of millions of electric cars.

Electric cars don't eliminate pollution; they merely relocate the source.

But have you seen an electric vehicle that can replace these?

Battery technology will have to improve by several orders of magnitude before these types of vehicles can run off electric motors.

And as far as electric passenger vehicles go, they're simply not practical yet, either. Limited range, too high a cost. A Chevy Volt is fine in the city -- out here in rural areas? Not so much.

Between then and now they'll run on CNG.

CNG has half the efficiency of diesel....I doubt it.

 

[Saigon]

Industry will lead the way to sustainable energy -- if government gets out of the way.

Actually it already has...starting about 20 years ago.

I can list a dozen profitable private companies selling sustainable energy products - but we both know that you won't support them.

 

[westwall]

Industry will lead the way to sustainable energy -- if government gets out of the way.

Actually it already has...starting about 20 years ago.

I can list a dozen profitable private companies selling sustainable energy products - but we both know that you won't support them.

Then do so. Please...

 

[Saigon]

To answer the OP, people deny climate change for political reasons, and political reasons only.

Certainly literacy is also a factor, and it is clear that some of our sceptics on this board simply cannot read and write well enugh to read science or news concerning science. Most can, however.

If we list the 5 - 10 most commonly cited 'issues' with climate change, they are all political.

They are also arguments which the posters themselves frequently know not to be true, and in that this topic may be unique. Every week we see posters claiming that scientists only do what government wants them to do - and then going strangely quiet when reminded that scientists in most conservative countries also back AGW.

Such arguments are simple non sequitors, tossed out purely as an excuse to justify denying science.

There is a postive side to this in that (on this board) there are probably only one or two posters who genuinely do not understand or believe in AGW. There are simply 20 or so who will not admit to it.

 

[westwall]

Still waiting.....

 

[rdean]

Ice Melting Faster in Greenland and Antarctica in UN Leak

Ice in Antarctica and Greenland is disappearing faster and may drive sea levels higher than predicted this century, according to leaked United Nations documents.

Greenland’s ice added six times more to sea levels in the decade through 2011 than in the previous 10 years, according to a draft of the UN’s most comprehensive study on climate change. Antarctica had a fivefold increase, and the UN is raising its forecast for how much the two ice sheets will add to Earth’s oceans by 2100.

The changes in the planet’s coldest areas are a “very good indicator” of a warming planet, according to Walt Meier, a research scientist with the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

--------------------------------

Scientists aren't smart like Republicans.

 

[syrenn]

I just finished reading a post in which Abraham responded to a comment by posting a graph. After realizing the person he was talking to was taking visual cues from a picture and ignoring the information in the graph, I started thinking about why people deny climate change.

Tim Prosser wrote an interesting article on the subject and it came down to just a few ideas:

One is that many people who deny global warming do not have a science background. Therefore, they find themselves in a bind when dealing with the materials explaining the issue.

Additionally, climate change discussion has become so politicized and misinformation so regularly injected by those with incentive to do so that the conversation is overwhelming for many people to sort through.

And last but not least, I think the prospect of declining living standards creates an emotional response in people that in many ways shares the stages of grief. People are emotionally attached to lifestyles and it is VERY difficult to accept data that may point toward new behaviors.

K.

what i find intrusting is that the warmers... deny the earth. They deny what the earth has done since the earth was formed.

The earth has always warned and cooled. That little fact has nothing to do with politics or humans for that matter.

anyone with a science background.... knows that little fact about the earth. The earth warms and cools.

sadly... politicians don't understand it very well at all.

 

[daveman]

Industry will lead the way to sustainable energy -- if government gets out of the way.

Actually it already has...starting about 20 years ago.

I can list a dozen profitable private companies selling sustainable energy products - but we both know that you won't support them.

We do? Why is that, do you suppose?

Name them, and let's find out, shall we?

 

[Saigon]

Syrenn -

anyone with a science background.... knows that little fact about the earth. The earth warms and cools.

and WHY does it warm and cool?

Because anyone with a science background knows that the earth does not warm or cool simply because it feels like it. There is no "natural cycle".

If the earths warms, it is because something makes it warm. If it cools, it is because something makes it cool.

You really might want to read a bit more on this topic before you ignore this point.

 

[syrenn]

Syrenn -

anyone with a science background.... knows that little fact about the earth. The earth warms and cools.

and WHY does it warm and cool?

Because anyone with a science background knows that the earth does not warm or cool simply because it feels like it. There is no "natural cycle".

If the earths warms, it is because something makes it warm. If it cools, it is because something makes it cool.

You really might want to read a bit more on this topic before you ignore this point.

the earth warms and cools....

 

[daveman]

To answer the OP, people deny climate change for political reasons, and political reasons only.

So it's "settled", huh?

You guys really should stop making such absolute statements. They always turn around and bite you on the behind.

I don't deny climate change. I deny that man has had any appreciable impact on climate change.

See? You even got THAT wrong.

Certainly literacy is also a factor, and it is clear that some of our sceptics on this board simply cannot read and write well enugh to read science or news concerning science. Most can, however.

That faux superiority is getting pretty old -- especially from someone who refuses to acknowledge science that counters his dogma.

Note: For someone claiming to be literate, there sure are a lot of misspellings in your post.

If we list the 5 - 10 most commonly cited 'issues' with climate change, they are all political.

They are also arguments which the posters themselves frequently know not to be true, and in that this topic may be unique. Every week we see posters claiming that scientists only do what government wants them to do - and then going strangely quiet when reminded that scientists in most conservative countries also back AGW.

Such arguments are simple non sequitors, tossed out purely as an excuse to justify denying science.

There is a postive side to this in that (on this board) there are probably only one or two posters who genuinely do not understand or believe in AGW. There are simply 20 or so who will not admit to it.

That's the problem: You don't want anyone to understand it -- you want everyone to believe in it. Accept it. Endorse it. Above all, don't question it.

Those of us who value science and the scientific method simply can't do that. We have to speak up when we see science being perverted and bastardized for political ends.

Your problem is NOT that skeptics don't understand. Your problem is that skeptics understand all too well.

 

[Saigon]

Dave -

So it's "settled", huh?

Try and respond to what I post, and not what you think I might post.

The details of climate change are far from being settled, and I doubt they ever will be totally settled, because climate is in constant flux. The basic trends, however, are settled, and have been for a decade or more.

However, on this board the argumentation from sceptical posters is almost entirely political. Those are the arguments we see presented here most often.

btw. Sceptics do not question science, they ignore it. They also tend to swallow whatever they see on blogs and do so without hesitation. THAT is the problem in a nutshell - poor sources of information.

 

[Saigon]

Syrenn -

anyone with a science background.... knows that little fact about the earth. The earth warms and cools.

and WHY does it warm and cool?

Because anyone with a science background knows that the earth does not warm or cool simply because it feels like it. There is no "natural cycle".

If the earths warms, it is because something makes it warm. If it cools, it is because something makes it cool.

You really might want to read a bit more on this topic before you ignore this point.

the earth warms and cools....

Jesus wept....and WHY do you think it warms and cools, Syrenn?

Because today is Sunday and the earth likes to cool every Sunday?

 

[Saigon]

Industry will lead the way to sustainable energy -- if government gets out of the way.

Actually it already has...starting about 20 years ago.

I can list a dozen profitable private companies selling sustainable energy products - but we both know that you won't support them.

We do? Why is that, do you suppose?

Name them, and let's find out, shall we?

Well, how about Siemens?

Ocean Power - Siemens

For someone claiming to be literate, there sure are a lot of misspellings in your post.

No there aren't. I make typos like anyone else, and my space bar sticks, so I occasionally post wordstogether but I am more literate in my third language than most sceptics are in their first.

 

[edthecynic]

The right wing thinks 75% of scientists have no integrity.

And they think that big oil corporations and people like Donald Trump, do.

"Big Oil" is essentially non-existent in the U.S. It is the Independents that are the workhorses of liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons within our nation. Independent as in non-integrated non-multinational concerns. Calm down, do your homework, and get a grip.

The Rockefeller Family are laughing hysterically at you!!!

 

[Mr. H.]

Ed you're out in left field, as usual.

 

[Abraham3]

Ed you're out in left field, as usual.

Having fallen off the right-hand edge of the world, I'm surprised you can see that.

 

[PMZ]

"Big Oil" is essentially non-existent in the U.S. It is the Independents that are the workhorses of liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons within our nation. Independent as in non-integrated non-multinational concerns. Calm down, do your homework, and get a grip.

Tell that to Exxon Mobil. They won't agree.

You don't know shit, so shut the fuck up troll.

I love it when someone posts things that send the message,

''Look over here! I'm a conservative. Look at what an ass I am.''

 

[PMZ]

Electric cars don't eliminate pollution; they merely relocate the source.

But have you seen an electric vehicle that can replace these?

Battery technology will have to improve by several orders of magnitude before these types of vehicles can run off electric motors.

And as far as electric passenger vehicles go, they're simply not practical yet, either. Limited range, too high a cost. A Chevy Volt is fine in the city -- out here in rural areas? Not so much.

Between then and now they'll run on CNG.

CNG has far less power than gasoline or diesel.

But we're running out of gasoline and diesel and not natural gas.

More evidence that the world is not as you wish it was.