This is what a recent Yale University study showed: "The conventional explanation for controversy over climate change emphasizes impediments to public understanding: Limited popular knowledge of science, the inability of ordinary citizens to assess technical information, and the resulting widespread use of unreliable cognitive heuristics to assess risk. A large survey of U.S. adults (N = 1540) found little support for this account. On the whole, the most scientifically literate and numerate subjects were slightly less likely, not more, to see climate change as a serious threat than the least scientifically literate and numerate ones." (Intelligent) comments? :yelwink2:
i have said it a million times but i believe climate change is happening, just like it always has. i see no reason to believe that humans influence it, and even if they did, i would see no reason to quit influencing it, and i would think that our efforts to fix it would be counterproductive at best, and perhaps tremendously destructive. the need to feel like we are important is pervasive. even if it means writing ourselves into every story, good or bad. we believe this for the same reason primitive men thought they could cause rain by sacrificing a virgin or tossing a goat into a volcano.
Scientific research is self perpetuating. Find stuff and get grants. Nobody is worried about the effect of humans on global climate except those who get paid to find stuff to scare humans with.
Wait, I thought you were supposed to sacrifice the goat and toss the virgin into the volcano.....what have I done?!?!?!?!
I believe in climate cycles. I believe "manmade" global warming is more about shifting money from oil to "green". Am I scared about global warming?...NO. If global warming is real...and is immediate...and is such a threat...why are the most vocal supporters using more energy than most of us combined? Where's the leadership? Where's the "setting the example" people? Why are some getting filthy rich? If clean energy is SO great...and SO smart...and SO easy...why aren't we seeing successes in private industry? Why do we need government funding and why are the biggest success stories (Solyndra) such failures? It doesn't take a genius to realize we can do things better. I'm glad I rarely see glass or pop tops on the beach like I did as a kid. I hated the smog in L.A. and San Diego when I lived in California. I hate litter. I hate cigarette butts on the ground. There are many things we can do better but using scare tactics in an attempt to move billions into the pockets of political supporters CAN'T be tolerated. If they were honest about global warming and had a non-political/non-Hollywood figure supporting the effort it may get traction. Having a lying-ass bastard like Al Gore as the spokesperson won't get you far. On that note...thank GOD he was never elected President. I can't even imagine how bad he would have screwed up 9/11. What a nutcase!
OK professor, that was the first half of the abstract of that paper. Let us examine the rest of the abstract. "More importantly, greater scientific literacy and numeracy were associated with greater cultural polarization: Respondents predisposed by their values to dismiss climate change evidence became more dismissive, and those predisposed by their values to credit such evidence more concerned, as science literacy and numeracy increased. We suggest that this evidence reflects a conflict between two levels of rationality: The individual level, which is characterized by citizens’ effective use of their knowledge and reasoning capacities to form risk perceptions that express their cultural commitments; and the collective level, which is characterized by citizens’ failure to converge on the best available scientific evidence on how to promote their common welfare. Dispelling this, “tragedy of the risk-perception commons,” we argue, should be understood as the central aim of the science of science communication."
No, its ignoring all evidence to believe what you want to believe. I'd like to believe it's not true, but all the glaciers are melting, drought all over, and the ten hottest years on record have happened in the last 13. Who you gonnna believe, me or your lying eyes?
