Is it just denial, or is there some other reason people think Global Climate Change is a hoax?

Question

Honestly, I am frustrated, surprised, and confused about why so many people refuse to recognize Global Climate Change (also called global warming) as a serious problem. I can barely understand why not all people are convinced that it has been made significantly worse by humans, but really don't get why anyone thinks humans are *incapable* of slowing it down.

No one who has seen the skies above smoggy cities has any problem noticing that we have created smog. And obviously, if we can create it, we humans can stop creating it!

The science showing that the cycles of global warming and cooling have never happened this fast are so clear--how can people say that this is "normal" when all the evidence shows that it is NOT normal at all.

Will the level of disaster that befalls our planet in order to prove this to the nay-sayers be so bad that by then, we probably won't be able to do anything to slow it down?

Why do some people insist on arguing total human inability to fix this problem?

I am happy to hear from people who really think that Global Warming is a hoax, and why you refuse to believe even NASA. I am happy to hear from those who do understand the problem, and have a guess as to why people ignore solid science.

Anyone who tries to "explain to me" why Global Warming IS a hoax, however, will be flagged as a spammer.

I am really trying to figure out how to help get people to understand how important it is for humans to do everything in our power to slow the climate change down.

To be clear: since my question is why people deny Global Climate Change, explaining to me that my premise is wrong is spam, since it doesn't remotely answer my question.

For those who don't know where NASA stands, please look at:
http://globalchange.nasa.gov/Resources/pointers/glob_warm.html

They have an entire section of their website dedicated to this problem. There is no debate "against" Global Warming. Here is their page explaining the science:
http://globalchange.nasa.gov/Resources/FAQs/glob_warmfaq.html

.I don't understand why people insist on being rude, but such is life. Before I choose the best answer, I just want to say that I appreciate the link to the NPR comments of the NASA Chief Administrator, who said that NASA's job was to "study global climate change" and NASA didn't have a mandate to "take actions to affect climate change in either one way or another."

That information led me to find out that NASA *did* have that kind of wording in their mandate until ten months after Michael Griffin was appointed by President Bush to run NASA, When Griffin quietly (see http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/22/science/22nasa.html?ex=1183262400&en=9af955ae9e8ad9c7&ei=5070 ) removed the part of the mandate that said “to understand and protect our home planet.”

Now I better understand how it is possible for regular people to believe that there is not agreement among the scientists at NASA.

I very much appreciate all of the answers that were directed at my question (even the rude one).

Answer 1

i have to think it's mostly a combination of denial, skepticism and the kick some people get from challenging authority, regardless of circumstances. for the record, i believe global warming is a serious problem and it is mostly man made.

denial is just the most obvious of the three. if we're right about global warming, then major changes have to be made. not just little things like turning the lights off when you're not in the room, but big things, like using public transportation or buying a bicycle instead of a car. things that will not be merely an inconvenience or a habit, but a major lifestyle change. too many of the things we see as status symbols today would have to be given up, and people feel threatened by that. people resist anything like that as a matter of course. people also hate changing their minds. they think it's a sign of weakness, that deciding they believe something else means they don't know what they believe. and people hate fear. and GW is definitely something fearsome. so people rationalize themselves right into denial.

some people still argue that smoking doesn't cause cancer. i suppose i have to blame the media, partly, for that skepticism. here's why. say a scientist conducts a study that suggests eggs may be bad for you. he publishes the results of his study. the media screams "eggs will kill you" for 4 days. then another scientist attempts to replicate the study and cannot replicate the results. so he/she publishes his/her own results and the media puts on the front page "eggs will make you live longer". they act as if every study gave proof beyond question. the average person doesn't know about replicating studies and all they hear is eggs are good, eggs are bad, eggs are neither or both. scientists contradicting each other all the time. they don't see a process of trial and error leading to a solution, they see a bunch of chickens running around with their heads cut off. so they hang on to the one study that says smoking won't cause cancer, and they tell themselves scientists are always changing their minds, and tomorrow they'll be saying GW is a great thing after all. also, a lot of people don't know the difference between "can't be proven" and "isn't real", or even the difference between proof and evidence.

i also believe resisting authority is a part of it. people tend to think authority is a threat. if someone is in a position of authority, it automatically makes them someone you can't trust. they must have their own agendas, or they are trying to manipulate others for their own purposes, or even just for kicks. anything they say is therefore wrong or a lie. i don't get that about people. it really hit home for me when Katrina hit New Orleans. I was talking to some people i know (near Las Vegas) and saying i couldn't understand why people would refuse to evacuate when everyone was saying Katrina was going to hit hard and do some serious damage. people around em responded with "why should they" and "i wouldn't leave because someone says i should". and when i asked why not, it was because "they might have other reasons for wanting me gone". i was so dumbfounded i kept asking "like what, you think they're waiting for you to walk out so they can send in a SWAT team to go through your drawers" (thinking i was saying something totally outrageous), but i was shocked when they answered yes.

Answer 2

Whatever... I know you are not aware, but your own clowns have said if we stopped 100%, it would have a minor effet on the atmosphere and would do nothing to slow glaobal warming. Why has the planet been warming for the last 10,000 years? Try getting informed. Try learning about ice ages. Try learning about the Sun. Try learning about scams. Cap and trade is an Enron scheme on steroids. Try learning about the Science Czar and "HIS" claim of the coming ice age 40 years ago. Unlike the leftest fool. The most thinking people want an honest debate and good science. If there is a problem, we should evaluate it and determining if it is capable of being corrected how to go about it. I am willing to bet anything, you have absolutely NO FACTS other than what you have been told. Yet you take the word of people that have something to gain without any facts to back it. Before you preach, you should learn the facts and be open minded to go where the facts lead. But you are closed minded and biased. You will not let the facts get in the way of you beliefs. That we call sheep. Fact - Maine was covered with over 1 mile of ice a few thousand years ago. That is an indication of a colder time. Maine is not covered with ice today that is an indication of warmer times. Question - Is man causing an appreciatable change to the climate? Needs unbiased research. If you want to trust people that have been discredited, go ahead, I want research that is verified by other research. Not peer reviewed by people that stand to win grants in their fields if the agree. Question - How much money will politicians mak if Cap and Trade goes through? Question - Is carbon credit going to reduce carbon or make people in the CCX rich? You can suck up to your politicians, but unless you have the COURAGE to be open minded, You will end up like other Jim Jones supporters.

Answer 3

Just a few things to put across.

Global Warming IS WAYYYY overdone in the media. Alright, we are pumping gases into the atmosphere at an alarming rate BUT it is also true that when the earth was nothing but a volcanic mass that these said volcanoes also pumped tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere worse than now. The earth balances itself out naturally. The earth (back then) created natural 'vents' in the earth to take up this CO2 (more stuff to show how clever the earth is)

Hmmm... I watched a good program called the 'Great Global Warming Swindle' which explained that they had run loads of tests - putting CO2 levels with industry (etc and man's impact) and then put CO2 with solar wave changes - it turns out that solar waves corralate much more with CO2 changes than industry. You should watch this program if you ever get the chance.

Also, as you said about global warming and cooling it IS true that the rates are alarmingly fast but the earth will adapt to sustain us (so reseachers say). Also the fact that we are due global cooling in a couple of thousand years (which if you think about in terms of the age of the earth isn't long)

In the 1960s and 70s they were more worried about global cooling than global warming.

But if anything drastic happens then I will gladly change my views. Chances are we are more likely to be hit by a meteor than something like in 'The Day After Tomorrow'

But as others previously said... it's true. It's just the causes that are argued over. Humans may not be able to stop it, but can help prevent it. Also... It is a very controversial issues so except some extreme views on this!

Another thought is that this is all particulary debatable! As who really know. Global Warming is happening so I'm not denying that - I'm just saying that it may not be happening in the way everyone may believe.

Answer 4

This is a key question of mine also, thanks for asking. It’s the curse of knowledge. The more you understand about a particular subject, the more you forget what it’s like to have never known.

When you confront the beliefs of the ignorant, the first reaction is violent denial. It is absolutely beyond the comprehension of the average person that their very way of life could be the source of the problem. The idea that everything you lived and believed has been a delusional folly; a wildly unsustainable flash in the pan. The sheer scale of our mass delusion is staggering. We are far, far beyond light bulbs and hybrid cars. We are talking about no more grid and no more cars.

Before you get bent out of shape, I’m not talking about a post-apocalyptic nightmare. I’m talking about a world where life is lived locally. Things are created and consumed locally. Growing your own food, creating your own energy, walking, public transport to get around, a more simple life with different priorities. A host of cultural benefits come when you step off the rat race treadmill and start living your life in the here and now. I’m talking about a change in worldview.

You spend your whole life is invested in a particular worldview. Like the one North Americans have now. But unexpectedly, new facts come along and confront it. You then have a choice. 1) The unbelievably difficult task of accepting that you were wrong, questioning and re-evaluating your worldview, picking up the pieces and starting again. 2) Denial, split-mind, extreme rationalization, aggression.

To have to accept that the bases for your beliefs are flawed is a convulsive experience. It is a crushing burden that will destroy people and societies. I personally went through a long period of depression when I realized that things are much worse than popularly believed. It’s like walking along close to a cliff. You know it's there but you don’t dare go over and look. Most people spend their entire lives keeping distracted with other concerns. Some have the strength to venture over and look into the abyss. If you have not quite enough strength, you may despair and leap. You may have the strength to bolster the divide in your mind and move back to your distractions. Those that I admire most return and dedicate their lives to a purpose.

Evolution dealt us a crappy hand. Most of us are followers unable to think much beyond our next meal, our family, what’s over the next hill. We got our first picture of Mother Earth from afar in 1968, almost 40 years ago. Can you explain the hierarchy from proton to universe? Do you care? Apologies to those who can and do. How can we care about something we can’t even conceptualize?

The choice we have is between accepting the changes that are coming and to prepare, or waiting and having the changes forced upon us.

Answer 5

I think the problem is too big for some peoples minds. They can't wrap thier minds around a global problem, so they take the easy way out and disbelieve it. They see that the world has had climat changes before, but refuse to see that its much worse this time. Many of these people may be very well educated, and intellegent, but they can't comprehend something on such a large scale.

Answer 6

I can see a major change in winters. I live in Minnesota and our winters are always very intense in March as the climate changes. It went from the 20s and 30s to the 70s in a week and a half? Are people that stupid not to realize that we have a major problem on our hands? Yes I agree with everything you said wholeheartedly. I think that where ever the majority comes from must be in some remote cave in the desert where its the same damn thing everyday. But for those of us in "reality" yes we can't possibly deny this. The summers here are more severe with a major thunderstorm at least once a week, and hail. Something needs to be done soon or who knows what it will be like in the future!

Answer 7

Many are conservatives who take their political beliefs to an extreme. If liberals, environmentalists, or, worst, Al Gore say something it simply must be wrong.

It's easier to believe propaganda from someone like Rush Limbaugh than it is to actually look at the science.

You can't change that, but it may change as more and more indisputable conservatives accept mostly man made global warming as real. Such as:

"Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich challenged fellow conservatives Tuesday to stop resisting scientific evidence of global warming"

“DuPont believes that action is warranted, not further debate." Charles O. Holliday, Jr., CEO, DuPont

"Pat Robertson (very conservative Christian leader)

“It is getting hotter and the ice caps are melting and there is a build up of carbon dioxide in the air. We really need to do something on fossil fuels.”

Clearly, those people didn't get that from Al Gore.

Answer 8

The reason I’m not convinced by the global warming argument is because, in a nutshell, I smell a rat.

It’s difficult to explain why, without going into details, and I don’t want to do that, because you’ve made it very plain that you’re not at all interested in having it explained to you, and I don’t wish to be “flagged as a spammer” (shudder!)

So all I can say, without going into detail, of course (this is bizarre!), is that the evidence that you believe is completely watertight, isn’t. For example, some of the things you quote in your question are “facts” that the Global Warming Alarmists regularly quote, but they’re simply not true (sorry, I’m not allowed to go into detail).

Many GWAs have produced “evidence” that has turned out to be flawed (sorry, I’m not allowed to give you details), extremely speculative (again, I’m not allowed to give you details), or simply unproved (I’d love to give you details, but I’m not allowed).

So, I consider that you have to be very closed minded (you know – as in, the kind of person who doesn’t want to hear details that might disprove their belief) to swallow completely the theory of AGW and the supposed harm that it will cause.

So, to answer your question:

No, it is not denial, there is some other reason people think Global Climate Change is a hoax (but I’m not allowed to go into the details of what that “other reason” is).

Happy with that answer are you? I know I wouldn’t be.

:::EDIT:::

BTW, I forgot to mention (I’m not sure whether this will be too much detail for you).

You’ve quoted what NASA believes about global warming, well, read here about what the *boss* of NASA thinks… http://ff.org/centers/csspp/library/co2weekly/20070615/20070615_08.html and many scientists agree with him. So, where does that leave your argument?

Answer 9

I don't think its a hoax per se. I do see the left over reacting to everything and screaming the sky is falling all of the time. So why would this be any different? I also don't believe the earth is as fragile as they say. We've blown up nukes on this planet and it didn't end the world. I also don't believe that everything is man's fault, either. We may be in a warming trend but I don't believe going out and buying a hybrid is going to make one tiny bit of difference.

Answer 10

In the 70's, everyone was told of the coming Ice Age. In the 80's it was the "Hole in the Ozone" that would end us all. Now we're supposed to believe that the earth is getting warmer....GREAT! I hate cold weather! And NASA doesn't' support Global Warming theories....a few of their employees do. I also don't need the same guy that told us he invented the Internet, that Global Warming is the greatest threat to man and the earth.

Do we polute too much...yes. Should we find other fuel sources....yes. Are we all going to need aluminum foil over-coats in 50 years...no. In 5-10 years, there will be another "Crisis" for those who need to worry about something to feel complete.

Sit back and enjoy the ride sister....it may get a little hot...but we'll have a great time roasting!


PS- "Flagged as a spammer". So you ask a question and will listen to any response that fits your thoughts. Let's not let facts get in the way of people making informed decisions!