Why do some people believe global warming is a hoax?

Answer 1

Why do people believe any conspiracy theory that requires large numbers of conspirators?

It is easier to be a victim than make personal change.

Answer 2

Because it is. At least as far as industry being a significant contributor, it is a hoax. Climate is always changing. Was the temperature at noon EDT 8/8/2007 higher or lower than it was one year ago? two? three? In Hartford? In Simsbury? In Alaska?

The use of global is misleading. The whole world does not change in temperature at a constant rate. Some places have cooled.

Have the ocean's risen? Prove it. And prove it was due to ice caps melting. The fact is, many glaciers including most of Antarctica are increasing, not decreasing. The NJ shoreline is in the same place. No one is building dikes in Southstreet in Manhattan to protect the city. New Orleans is sinking because it is a swamp, not because the Gulf of Mexico is filling up. Why don't we consider that countless ancient and forgotten buildings are being found deep under water off the coastlines of India and the Bahamas and Cuba to name but a few. Did man-made global warming cause these things 10,000 years ago?

I remember as a child in the 70s, when the papers were warning of the next Ice Age, that we had weeks of 100 degrees F plus, every summer in Putnam Valley, NY. I live in more or less the same area of the Northeast now and I rarely see two days in a row above 100. So where is the relative and steady increase for the last 35 years due to man-made conditions? We should be at 110 now, but we're not.

The geological record demonstrates cyclic warming and cooling trends. Astronomers are reporting that the Suns output has increased in nearly perfect alignment with Earth's temperature changes and that other ice bearing worlds in the Solar System including Mars, Titan and Pluto are all showing signs of warming.

I recommend the book below. If you think you've made up your mind, at least consult a book that disagrees.

Answer 3

That's a good question because there would literally have to be thousands of scientists in on it to all say they believe we're causing global warming, and all be lying....
The president doubted global warming for a while, and even made the IPCC weaken their report on global warming before it was published. The Bush Ad. made the IPCC say they were less certain than they really war that global warming is manmade, and even had them erase some of the possible effects. That could be why some people think it's a hoax.

Answer 4

Go with Brian W and his answer. Man has nothing to do with the scare tactic "global warming". It is always gloom and doom, and the republicans and capitalism are always to blame. How lame is it that algore is jet-hopping all around, buying "carbon credits" from his own company. This is a classic example why his democratic party has a jackass as a party mascot. Get real. The best way to make money is to create a condition and then sell the remedy. algore (mr. multiple mansions that consume 20x more energy than the average single family home) claims that co2 is causing this, well...breathing causes co2, so why doesn't he lead the way to fight this disaster by not breathing.

Answer 5

They're arguing over terminology. If you call it anything other than global warming they're fine with it. But if you call it global warming they attach all kinds of political arguments to it that really have no place in science. It's too bad, because the middle ground is much larger than the political extremes.

Answer 6

Because we are at the end of a mini ice age.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Ice_Age

Because sea levels have been rising for 20,000 years and the rate of increase has slowed in recent times.
http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/environment/sealevel.html

Because 17,000 scientists signed a petition saying there was no credible evidence for man-made global warming.
http://www.oism.org/pproject/

Because the global warming models are jokes that rely on "flux adjustments" that can be up to 25 times larger than doubling the current carbon dioxide output.
http://www.worldclimatereport.com/archive/previous_issues/vol3/v3n4/hot.htm

Because 5000-3000 BC, called the “climatic optimum,” was even warmer than this last millenium.
http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/7x.html

Because global warming propagandist only target capitalist, free market societies while ignoring or excusing China.
http://newsbusters.org/node/13650

Because Al Gore spends $30,000 in electricity per year.
http://www.tennesseepolicy.org/main/article.php?article_id=367

Because global warming propagandist see no problem with them owning a private jet or two, but I can't drive an SUV.
http://newsbusters.org/node/10951

Because Ted Kennedy can't disturb his view for a wind farm.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1756108/posts

I'll continue later.

Answer 7

Here are some charts. The first is Earth's temperature variation as a function of time over the last 20,000 years and the second shows variations over the last 740,000 years. It turns out that the temperature of the planet has changed a great deal over time and tends to plunge up and down for for reasons that we do not yet fully understand. Note that CO2 levels lag temperature levels by 700 to 2800 years.

http://www.socialtext.net/wired-mag/index.cgi?what_causes_ice_ages

Man has burned coal for the last 2000 years, burned oil for the last 150, raised cattle for 4000, and grown crops for 8000. Compare that to the time scale and temperature changes on the chart. For the last 4000 years we've been in a cooling trend (lower highs and lower lows). Also, note that the Earth changes temperature in the absence of human activity (we have been messing around for 8000 years and data goes back 740,000 years, temperature has gone wild along with sea level) . While I do believe that we should keep pollution to a minimum and that fuel efficiency should be a major goal, I also feel that man, at best, is only a minute part of the overall mechanism that drives the Earth's temperature. Clearly, Earth's orbit, water vapor in the atmosphere, Earth's albedo, solar output, vegetation, volcanoes, dust storms, and events such as asteroid or comet strikes are the major players.

The current global warming issue is a political one.

Notice that most of the folks that believe man is driving the temperature of the planet can't comprehend my chart, can't talk science, refuse to talk about temperature, submit no data, and resort only to potty mouth remarks regarding politics and religion. They call people stupid when, in fact, they are the most uneducated mindless noobs Earth has ever seen. It makes me laugh at how most of you "think", if one can even call it that!! I challenge the rocket scientist that gave me a thumbs down to disprove my data from Antarctic core samples and to prove that man is the major influence on Earth's average temperature (especially when Earth's temperature and sea levels have changed a great deal without our presence, for well over 99% of recorded time). I want you to explain what causes ice ages to occur and what causes them to fade. ts

Answer 8

Because global warming is a political, not scientific argument. Refer to Bob's answer. He does nothing to show warming is man made, he just launches into an attack on the political right. He should know. Politics is where people go who don't understand science.

Answer 9

I see a lot of people references the IPCC report. Do they realize that MANY of the scientists credited with the report have worked hard to get their names taken off it because the "science" it uses is so poorly done? It is a political document.. not a scientific one.

Answer 10

Many are conservatives who take political views to an extreme. They should listen to Newt and the National Review:

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

"National Review published a cover story this past week calling on conservatives to shake off denial and get into the climate policy debate"

Answer 11

Why don't enviromentalist wackos go protest China who is a major polluter? I never heard from any enviro wackos when Saddam had the oil fields burned and that was the most atrocious thing I have ever witnessed.