Why are people so cynical about global warming?

Question

There seem to be many cynics out there, claiming this is just an excuse to raise 'green' taxes, etc, but for anyone over the age of 30, is it not crystal clear that the climate is changing at a frighteningly rapid pace? I mean, NYC was downright hot at Christmas. Today, it is snowing in London, but 3 days ago it was 20 degrees....regardless of what is causing it, this is clearly bizarre and worrying, is it not?

Answer 1

The average global temperature, this year, is the highest in recorded history. California started wildfire season three months early this year and 500 homes in Orange County were recently evacuated because of a wildfire. However, a late snowstorm in the Atlantic states is proof to some people that global warming doesn't exist. I think that this is because global warming is about personal responsibility. People would rather be in denial than admit that they are part of the problem rather than be part of the solution. It's not asking much to conserve energy use or start using alternatives. As long as some people can send off other people to fight wars for oil, they will not change their consumption habits. It's easier to call someone else a socialist than take personal responsibility. The losers are the ones who cannot see the opportunities present in finding and marketing innovative alternatives.

Answer 2

since i haven't figured it out either i have no answer. it boggles the mind that some take such a strong stance against the very idea the the earth is warming up. i mean why? why would someone be so adamant about such a thing? do they feel it's a "liberal" notion? promoted by "hippies"? that's all i can think.

EDIT well here you have it. the people have spoken. and yes indeed they do think it's a liberal plot, lol.

as for predicting an ice age back in the seventies, that's a load of krap. i was very much a part of the world in the seventies and no such thing. indeed this global warming issue began in the late seventies.

in the late seventies "The Big Ten" (the major money in the world) funded a study by the worlds top scientists. what these scientists found was vastly disturbing. they found for instance that LA radiates more heat than it absorbs from the sun! they found that the world is practicing a kind of contrived desertification planet-wide. what that means is reducing arable land. (and increasing soil temperature).
although they were studying population sustainability their findings on global warming were shocking. and this was thirty years ago.

but this isn't really the problem you might think. the core study was population sustainability. they found that by 2020 the earth will no longer be able to produce enough food for the total population. when seventy million people keel over one fine day maybe people will start to care.

i guess basically those who deny mans affect on the weather are just no good at basic math, and they failed basic earth sciences in high school (if they made it that far).

Answer 3

I do not believe the science is proven. But you know what makes me the most skeptical? It's because the skeptics are trying to be silenced.

Do any of these phrases sound familiar? "The Debate is over," or "The Deniers hold as much credability as the Holocaust Deniers."

Are the skeptics ideas ever debated? Never, they are ridiculed or attacked as tools of the oil companies. We are told that if they aren't on board, they should have their credentials pulled.

Take the longer view. Over the last thousand years, the earth has been warmer than it is now (the global warming crowd doesn't tell you that do they) and colder. The earth's climate naturally varies. Local weather varies widely too. There have been ancient civilizations that had to abandon their cities because the environment changed and their water supplies dried up. This was before SUVs and coal powered power plants.

Is the earth warming? Yes. Just like it was cooling from the 50's thru the 70's. It's been on a cooling trend since 1998 too.

Did you also know that ALL of the climate models used for global warming do not take precipitation into account?

There are just too many problems for man-made global warming to be considered proven.

Yes, the earth's climate is changing, just as it always has. But it is far from proven that man has caused catastrophic global warming that will harm us all terribly in the future.

Answer 4

Golden, If you were really around during the 70s then why don't you remember the Global Cooling Panic? The panic was so serious that Time Magazine did a big story on the coming ice age in June of 1974.

See the attached link.

Answer 5

What is and isn't bizarre is relative. for people over 30 the changes seem dramatic - if people lived to 3,000 they wouldn't seem so. 500 years ago in London they had "Frost Faires" on the Thames River, which froze over in winter. 900 years ago England was a major wine exporter (I know, it is again now, but back then the only wine grapes were the same grapes grown in the South of France and Italy, not grapes that have been bred to grow in colder climates).

Clearly it is warmer than it was 100 years ago but not warmer than it was 1000 years ago, and it's been warming off and on since 15,000 years ago, when both NYC and London were the boundaries of the still-melting polar ice cap.

That doesn't mean it is necessarily NOT us - it just means that the fact that it's happening doesn't automatically mean that it's us.

And there's nothing unprecedented about the pace - the climate went from wine grapes in England to wheat crop failures in France in a little over 100 years.

We're cynical because the same people who are saying that it is us and that we therefore need to empower them to limit our lifestyles are the same people who said 30 years ago that it was going to get COLDER because of us, and the same people who told us about Monsanto butterflies and Patagonian sheep - - - this crowd is constantly throwing assertions at the wall to see what sticks, and the only constant is that they need to be empowered to limit other people's lifestyles.

That doesn't necessarily mean they're wrong this time - even a stopped clock is right twice a day. But in a free society there needs to be some proof that an otherwise free activity causes the harm in question before the people alleging this harm are empowered to curtail the activity in the way they seek.

It isn't workable to place that burden of proof on the people who wish to engage in an activity - it's hard to prove a negative and anyone who disapproved of an activity could just make up false assertions about it and require the participants to "prove them wrong" before being allowed to engage in it.

So the burden of proof in a free society has to be on those alleging the harm.

And you can't reduce the burden of proof because of the severity of the harm alleged - or people will just allege more severe harm.

Even if there were an instance in which you could reduce the burden of proof based on the severity and/or immediacy of the harm alleged, those making the assertions would have to have a very good track record for accuracy.

And that, I'm afraid, is where the cynicism comes in...

If you're convinced that Al Gore is right, consider it a "boy who cried wolf" phenomenon - - - he and Greenpeace and the other activist groups have grossly exaggerated their case or have been just plain wrong so many times now that people are disinclined to believe them.

And the argument that "well car exhaust also has carbon monoxide and sulfur and still some lead" is a non-sequitur - limits WERE imposed to address those substances (originally by Republicans, in fact) and the bar is continually raised. The question is whether new limits are to be imposed to deal with CO2 which, if global warming isn't largely caused by us, isn't a pollutant.

Answer 6

In the 70's, there was a report that said we only had 10 years to fix our global cooling problem. Guess we fixed it too well. While the leader of this fiasco (Al Gore) says do as I say not as I do while riding around in his limo, his private jet and buying energy credits from his own company. Ask about his mining company that is leaving the entire area bare. Remember a few weeks ago, the report about his energy bill at home. It appears global warming is a new cause for him and his friends to line their pockets at the expense of some people who believe his inconvenient lie. Many scientists are questioning his facts and maybe the truth will come out when he answers to the energy and commerce commitee.

Answer 7

Well considering the Earth goes through warming periods and considering our data goes back maybe a few thousand years at best, I'd say there's a lot to be cynical about. We don't know what causing it and every time a climatologist (the people who study climate change) comes out and tries to debate the other scientists (those who promulgate the global warming but don't actually study climatology) about their propagandized points on global warming they get black-balled or get berated in the press.

Also there is new data that says the sun has been putting off more radiation and heat in the past decade and perhaps that has something to do with why its hotter. Hmm...that kind of makes sense no, if the sun puts off more heat then it will probably get hotter? Amazing what a little bit of logic and understanding can do for one's opinions. Thanks and have a nice day.

Answer 8

I don't think there are many that doubt the earth is getting warmer (and will have some consequences), people are just cynical about the politicizing of it, and if these political solutions are really valid solutions at all.

Personally, if people can make any difference, I prefer the basic grass roots "hey turn the lights off when you leave the room" over these political resolutions that don't really seem to help anything (like still letting developing countries pollute all they want).

Answer 9

Because people believe its just a scam to increase taxes that's why. Yes the climate is changing and there are some extremes recently and some records been broken . But is this due to man ? or Nature? . In my opinion its both the Question is how is much is man a contributor ?

Answer 10

All you have to do is look at the solutions the man made global warming crowd is offering to come to the conclusion that all this is is a government grab for more money and power at the expense of the freedom of the people. Yes climate is changing, it has in the past it will again in the future. How will my paying more in the form of a carbon tax stop more people from being born, more energy from being used, more goods being produced, or third world countries achieving a modern life. When energy prices are too high people die(lack of aircondidtioning in Europe in 05) This is just the current attempt by anti-human liberals to depopulate the planet