The public is growing increasingly skeptical about the supposed crisis we face from human-caused global warming. From the story:
The drop off in public support for the idea that global warming is a fact mostly caused by human activity looks most pronounced in Canada. In November, 63% of Canadians supported global warming as a man-made phenomenon. By Dec. 23, that support had fallen 52%. Among Canadians, 13% are now not sure.A similar trend has been noted in the United States, where confidence in global warming theory has dropped to 46%, down from 49% in November — and down from 51% in July last year. In Britain, only 43% believe man-made global warming is a fact, down from 47% in November and from 55% in July. In all three countries, there are signs of growing skepticism.
I think there are many good and rational reasons for the dramatic decline in public belief in global warming hysteria. In no particular order, and without attempting to be comprehensive, they are:
- Climategate: True, the scandal did not disprove global warming, but it shredded the myth that global warming scientists are objective investigators. Moreover, the clear intent of the global warming community’s top scientists to stifle heterodox thinking, exposed in the purloined e-mails, reveals a lack of faith in their ability to win the debate based on a full review of the scientific evidence.
- Al Gore: Al Gore’s is the face of global warming, and that has profoundly hurt the cause. His many factual “exaggerations,” his refusal to debate–if you really think the world is coming to an end, you take on all comers in every possible venue–his hypocritical lifestyle, the fortune he has made off of global warming hysteria, his inability to answer non fawning questions on the few occasions they are asked, the clear propagandistic nature of his movie, his imperiousness, the queasy feeling that something is off in his personality, his ridiculous persona, all combine to undermine belief in a climate crisis among regular folk.
- The Media’s Booster Mentality: The media’s credibility on this issue–among many others–is utterly shot because journalists have acted as boosters rather than skeptical reporters. People notice and tune out the increasingly shrill stories of the coming catastrophes of melted ice, dead polar bears, and planetary breakdown.
- Ignored Inconvenient Truths: Climate changes. Five thousand years ago the Sahara was green and the San Francisco Bay was an inland valley. Temperatures were warmer circa 1000-14000, so warm that grapes grew in England and Iceland, and Greenland sustained farming communities. The Medieval warming period has been often ignored in the climate models, adding to the belief that “the scientists” are stacking the deck.
- The Crisis is Always Years Away: The steady warming predicted by the climate models has not happened. Instead, over the last decade, temperatures have remained static, perhaps with a slight tick down. But, we are told, warming will begin again in ten years. As I pointed out in an earlier post, we have been told the end is about ten years away for almost ten years now. Eventually, such assertions come to seem akin to the deadbeat promising, “The check is in the mail.”
- The Weather: Global warming proponents have used every heat wave and serious hurricane as evidence that the catastrophe was almost upon us. Then, when the weather became arctic, they sniffed that the ignorant masses just don’t understand the difference between climate and weather. There is a difference, but people understand weather: It is something they experience, touch, and feel. When the warming trend was clear, people tended to believe. Now that it isn’t, people don’t.
- The Cure is Worse Than the Disease: People see that global warming alarmists want to raise their heating bills, increase the price of gasoline, dismantle entire industries, and give away tens of billions to developing nations, most of which, people suspect, will end up in Swiss bank accounts. Moreover, the stated intent by the bureaucrats and technocrats to use global warming as a pretext to establish global governance–with themselves in charge–along with the statements by some alarmists extolling China’s tyrannical one child policy and their promotion of radical population control, leaves many preferring to face the risks of warming rather than be subjected to the policies supposedly needed to stop it.
- The General Collapse of Authority: “Trust us, we’re the experts,” used to go a long way. No more. With the sciences clearly politicized, with ubiquitous corruption across the breadth and depth of the governing and intellectual classes–both liberal and conservative–people no longer believe what they are told.
Increasingly, the governing class seeks to push the governed where they don’t want to go. That works in autocratic societies. But we are still free. Unless the global warming alarmists change their ways, the public’s support for fighting “climate change” will continue to deflate like a tire punctured by a nail.
January 7th, 2010 | 1:22 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Vince Humphreys and Wesley J. Smith, Ellen Wetherill. Ellen Wetherill said: RT @CO2HOG: Global Warming Hysteria: Declining Poll Numbers From a Rational Public http://rly.cc/azNG0 [...]
January 7th, 2010 | 1:48 pm
[sarcasm]All must bow before the great prophet of all humanity – that Great One, AlGore![/sarchasm]
Actually,when AlGore speaks, sensible people shake their heads and laugh. (or groan at his influence over gullible people.)
January 7th, 2010 | 2:10 pm
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by CO2HOG: Global Warming Hysteria: Declining Poll Numbers From a Rational Public http://rly.cc/azNG0...
January 7th, 2010 | 2:16 pm
Oh dear, oh dear.
We must all believe the oh so great scientists who know all. They seem to be able to predict anything,just lie 2012 right? *scoff*
January 7th, 2010 | 2:58 pm
On a serious note, the main reason people do not believe in Global Warming is the climategate emails brought to everyones attension the lies, and people starting to observe the real evidence for themselves rather than depending on the media or science. Also the simple reason freakin COLD EVERYWHERE!!!
On the humorous side has anyone seen frozengore.com , It’s FUNNY AS HECK!!!
January 7th, 2010 | 3:20 pm
All average global temperatures since 1895 are accurately predicted by a simple model using the first law of thermodynamics and the time-integral (same as ‘running total’ if time steps are equal) of sunspot count. The standard deviation of concurrent measured minus predicted temperatures since 1900 is 0.064 C. There was no need to consider any change to the level of CO2 or any other greenhouse gas. Climate change is natural.
The model, with an eye-opening graph, is presented in the October 16 pdf at http://climaterealists.com/index.php?tid=145&linkbox=true. (One of the discoveries made during this research was the effective sea surface temperature oscillation. The integral of the PDO Index http://jisao.washington.edu/pdo/PDO.latest indicates a substantial measure of sea surface temperatures, as does the time-integral of ENSO 3.4, but not all so replace all references to PDO with ESST for Effective Sea Surface Temperature).
This model predicted the ongoing temperature decline trend. None of the 20 or so models that the IPCC uses did.
January 7th, 2010 | 3:53 pm
Smith,
Good job with the rhetoric and vaccuous emotional fluff, I’m sure that works in a courtroom with the common masses.
Now, how ’bout some DATA and EVIDENCE. Convince the scientists and experts that global warming isn’t real and/or has little to no impact on the biosphere.
I recommend in your next post you, rather than citing Spock, 1970s warnings about cooling due to particulate matter released into the atmosphere which has since lessened due to the clean air act, and Monckton questioning a greenpeacer (jeez!!) you offer several dozen findings – experimental or data – that disprove global warming.
That is, unless you are afraid or not up to this challenge.
Wesley J. Smith Reply:
January 7th, 2010 at 4:00 pm
There you go again, being snobby. Keep it up.
I don’t have to disprove global warming. You have to 1: Prove it, 2) prove it is mostly man caused, 3) prove that it will be catastrophic if the current trends continue, 4) Prove that the current trends are likely to continue, 5) Prove that destroying our economies and the morality of society (e.g. radical population control) will stop it, and 6) Prove that a better way isn’t adjusting as events show the need–and that’s at a minimum. And you have to let the scientists who are skeptics to be able to weigh in openly and freely. You have to make the data available to everyone. You have to have a free and open inquiry into the Climategate scandal, with testimony under oath. You have to reveiw the other e-mails scientists have sent and find out why some was destroyed. You have to stop warning against the plague of frogs and locusts. Open the doors and windows and let the lights shine in! And we have time, since there is a great pause that will last for ten years. Do that, and then we unwashed masses can judge fairly. Don’t do that and grind your teeth, because you are not dictators.
January 7th, 2010 | 3:58 pm
… and also in your next post
Seriously, explain how SF Bay being a valley 1000s of years ago DISPROVES modern/recent global warming due in large part to CO2 emissions. jeez.
Wesley J. Smith Reply:
January 7th, 2010 at 4:01 pm
Jeez. It shows that climate change is NORMAL.
January 7th, 2010 | 4:59 pm
Come on, let’s face it – Climate Change is about model making, statistics, not science and anyone who has studied statistics knows that you can get the end result to say whatever you want. The weather is changing and the IPCC models do not follow what is currently happening with our weather, so how can they say with 100% certainty that what their models say in 5o years will also be correct. Hell, our weathermen got yesterday’s weather wrong, again. Models are not scientific fact. It is man’s attempt to prophesise about the climate’s future based on his/her frame of reference. At its best, this can really only be considered a “best guess”. Is this really reliable enough to increase the cost of living with a “Cap and Trade” emissions trading scheme (tax)?
What I really can’t get over is how inflexible both sides of the debate are – I’m right – you’re wrong – I win – You lose – my sources are better than your sources – I am more intelligent than you are. Sounds like all some people are saying is “I am better than you”, which to my understanding has more to do with self-esteem than climate change. When will we ever learn…
January 7th, 2010 | 6:33 pm
[...] Pangburn posts an interesting tid bit in the comments at FirstThings.com blog (emphasis [...]
January 7th, 2010 | 8:30 pm
Bravo Wesley.
January 8th, 2010 | 12:03 am
Excellent and succinct article. The “man in the street” is not as stupid or gullible as some politicians and scientists think. There is a very good analysis of key sections of the climategate e-mails here:
http://assassinationscience.com/climategate/
A new hour long video discussing the science has just been released here:
http://www.climategate.com/church-of-global-warming-the-movie?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climategate%2FROux+%28CLIMATEGATE%29
January 8th, 2010 | 12:05 am
[...] Categories "Rational" Suicide (3) Abortion Politics (2) Adult Stem Cell Research (9) Advance Directives (2) AIDS Prevention (3) Animal Research (7) Animal Rights (16) Anti-Humanism (12) Assisted Suicide (40) Bestiality (1) Big Biotech (4) Bioethics. Smith (1) Plant Rights (1) Popular Culture (4) Pro Suicide Culture (4) Quality of Life Ethic (3) Radical Environmentalism (55) Rom Houben (3) Secondhand Smoke (2) Stupid Scientific Studies (4) Suicide. Moreover, the stated intent by the bureaucrats and technocrats to use global warming as a pretext to establish global governance–with themselves in charge–along with the statements by some alarmists extolling China's tyrannical one child policy and their promotion of radical population control, leaves many preferring to face the risks of warming rather than be subjected to the policies supposedly needed to stop it. On a serious note, the main reason people do not believe in Global Warming is the climategate emails brought to everyones attension the lies, and people starting to observe the real evidence for themselves rather than depending on the media or science. What I really can't get over is how inflexible both sides of the debate are – I'm right – you're wrong – I win – You lose – my sources are better than your sources – I am more intelligent than you are. read more [...]
January 8th, 2010 | 12:11 am
Two things have caused me to doubt the Global Warming theory: the deceit revealed in the emails and the fact that nothing of substance was done in Copenhagen afterall. I don’t think our world leaders really believe that much in global warming either. But it is something they wish to keep in their back pocket to use later when they want to control the Earth’s populations for other reasons.
Good job, Wesley.
January 8th, 2010 | 2:00 am
Are you angry about this obvious RICO Act fraud and the national media’s complicity in the cover-up, misinformation, reframing and misdirection of the issue and the related “carbon derivatives” market Obama’s Administration is spinning up? Take responsibility and take action. STOP all donations to the political party(s) responsible for this fraud. STOP donations to all environmental groups which funded this Global Warming propaganda campaign with our money, especially The Environmental Defense Fund. They have violated the public trust. KEEP donations local, close to home. MAKE donations to Oklahoma’s Senator Inhofe, the only politician to stand firmly against this obvious government/media coordinated information operation (propaganda) targeted at its own people. People that government leaders and employees are sworn to protect. WRITE your state and federal representatives demanding wall to wall investigations of government sponsored propaganda campaigns and demand indictments of those responsible. WRITE your state and federal Attorneys General demanding Al Gore and others conducting Global Warming/Climate Change racketeering and mail fraud operations be brought to justice, indicted, tried, convicted and jailed. Carbon is the stuff of life. He (Obama) who controls carbon, especially CO2, controls the world. Think of the consequences if you do nothing! For one, the UK is becoming the poster child for George Orwell’s “1984” and the US government’s sponsorship of this worldwide Global Warming propaganda campaign puts it in a class with the failed Soviet Union’s relentless violation of the basic human right to truthful government generated information. Given ClimateGate’s burgeoning revelations of outrageous government misconduct and massive covert misinformation, what are the chances that this Administration’s National Health Care sales campaign is anywhere near the truth?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bdneX1djD0
January 8th, 2010 | 7:05 am
I’d say, according to the global warming theory. This global ‘cold snap’ absolutely disproves global warming.
The theory relies 100% on the ‘positive feedback loops’ that a small amount of Co2 educed warming creates. e.g. less snow cover to reflect sunlight etc.
The fact that record amounts of snow cover the northern hemisphere, is as definitive an observation as possible that this ‘feedback loop’ is NOT occurring as predicted in computer sims.
January 8th, 2010 | 10:24 am
[...] near hysteria of the global warmists any easier to bear. There’s a very cogent summary up at First Things’ Second Hand Smoke, on, precisely, global warming [...]
January 10th, 2010 | 1:10 am
This is why no one will ever solve global warming. Every cold snap will be used to justify our wars to keep the oil flowing and refute the underpaid scientists who study global warming. Glenn Beck is no dummy. Refuting global warming is easy. Solving the problem is hard.
Wesley J. Smith Reply:
January 10th, 2010 at 1:59 am
Not sure if there is a problem, it can be “solved.” But we sure don’t need to dismantle the economy chasing phantoms. Best to drill baby, drill–as we work toward renewable energy. If you didn’t freeze today in this arctic snap, thank an oil company for providing the means of heat!
January 13th, 2010 | 4:16 am
Global temperatures have been rising. Here is the link to NASA’s temperature graph:
http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs/
It is very dangerous to our survival to publish incorrect information.
January 13th, 2010 | 12:03 pm
The one fact that is always overlooked in all of this, because the vast majority of global warmist hysterics have formed their own “eco-religion”, is that God is in charge. As a catholic, I cannot believe in this globaloney because God gave us the Book of Revelation which doesn’t forcast man-made destruction of the natural world.
Yes, climategate helped debunk the myths of “scientific fact” and “concensus”. The truth will always win out, but not after a lot of damage has already been done. We regular folk have a lot of cleanup to do after this all blows over.
fiat voluntas tua
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