Slashdot Mirror
Losing the Public Debate On Global Warming
Hugh Pickens writes "Dr. James Hansen, director of the NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, who first made warnings about climate change in the 1980s, says that public skepticism about the threat of man-made climate change has increased despite the growing scientific consensus. He says that without public support, it will be impossible to make the changes he and his colleagues believe need to occur to protect future generations from the effects of climate change. 'The science has become stronger and stronger over the past five years while the public perception is has gone in completely the other direction. That is not an accident,' says Hansen. 'There is a very concerted effort by people who would prefer to see business to continue as usual. They have been winning the public debate with the help of tremendous resources.' Hansen's comments come as recent surveys have revealed that public support for tackling climate change has declined dramatically in recent years. A recent BBC poll found that 25% of British adults did not think global warming is happening and over a third said many claims about environmental threats are 'exaggerated,' compared to 24 per cent in 2000. Dr. Benny Peiser, director of skeptical think tank The Global Warming Policy Foundation, says it's time to stop exaggerating the impact of global warming and accept the uncertainty of predictions about the rate of climate change. 'James Hensen has been making predictions about climate change since the 1980s. When people are comparing what is happening now to those predictions, they can see they fail to match up.'"
If there's anything we learned from the climategate emails, it's that a lot of the scientists working on this problem are not working in good faith.
Yet there have been numerous independent inquiries that found no wrong-doing. I've read the email myself, and find the "skeptics" interpretation to be laughable. Nature magazine called the interpretation laughable.
The scientists in question are being hounded and bullied in a witch hunt designed to chill discussion on the topic. When people engage in such horrible behaviour, they almost always justify their behaviour by disparaging the victim. The human mind will clutch at straws to hold onto false beliefs, and this is especially potent when done in groups. Do yourself a favour, and stop reading purely partisan blogs on the issue, and learn something about what the actual scientists have to say on the issue.
Of course, the scientists are all untrustworthy, because that is emotionally easier for you to deal with -- right?
Like all pain, suffering is a signal that something isn't right
From the Daily Mail link:
‘If temperatures continue to stay flat or start to cool again, the divergence between the models and recorded data will eventually become so great that the whole scientific community will question the current theories,’ he said. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2093264/Forget-global-warming--Cycle-25-need-worry-NASA-scientists-right-Thames-freezing-again.html#ixzz1s2afhAhY
For in politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. - Publius
The only reason the science is being contested is the same reason evolution is: because some people have agendas that don't care about facts.
This is complete and utter crap. This kind of arrogance is why people are pushing back against you. You've created a theory that, rather conveniently can't be disproven. Too hot? Climate change. Too cold? Climate change.Unseasonably wet? Climate change. Long dry spell? Climate change. Never mind all of the predictions that haven't come true... the islands and coasts under water, the ice-free arctic, the drowning polar bears. And your answer to that? See, climate change is so severe that even our models can't get it right. Get rid of your car, now.
It's over. We're tired of the charade. We're tired of the guilt trips. We're tired of the threats. Just like "dark matter", a bunch of scientists set themselves up as a priesthood and made predictions they can't back up, and the rest of us are luddites if we don't go along. Worse, we're "deniers", equivalent to people that ignored Jews in Dachau. Well, you know what? Tough. Scream all you want from now on. Point and sneer, and call us every name in the book. We're not listening anymore. We...the vast majority are tuning you out now. Make all of the disaster movie references you like. Compare the Earth to Krypton right before it went because those fools wouldn't listen to Jor-El. More CO2 is being pumped than ever, especially with China and India's rapid industrialization, and warming essentially stopped 15 years ago. It's actually cooled in some places. The models are wrong. Admit it. Or don't. We don't care anymore. The rest of us are going to go on with our lives while you scream that the sky is falling. We've learned to tune you out.Further, we've learned not to trust you in the first place now. You're not scientists. You're a cult making dire threats.
Life is hard, and the world is cruel