Losing the Public Debate On Global Warming 1181
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.'"
Re:What did we expect? (Score:5, Funny)
Actually, it's more like they all missed out on the events of Revelations and we're now in the phase where the devil rules the world and he's heating it up to comfy hell-like temperatures. :P
Re:Multi-trillion dollar oil industry vs... (Score:4, Funny)
that strikes fear in the blood-pumps (not hearts) of multi-trillion dollar industries
Now now, Cheney finally got a heart transplant.
Simply not true. (Score:4, Funny)
No one has come up with anything credible that GW is happening either. Score so far; 0-0.
This is simply not true. Go read the IPCC report.
Re:What did we expect? (Score:3, Funny)
There was a story we used to hear around the campfire in scouts, back when nobody would get too bent out of shape about a religious story.
A man is trekking through the jungle, when he suddenly realizes he's caught in quicksand. Keeping his cool, he says a prayer for god to save him.
Moments later, a local man passes, sees the man sinking into the pit, and quickly starts making vines into a rope to throw. The old man in the pit yells to him, "Please stop, my god will save me.", and refuses to take the rope.
Twice more, people come along and spring into action, hoping to get the poor guy out of his predicament. Each time he waves them off, saying "Don't worry about me, I know my god will save me."
Soon enough the guy is sucked in past his head and snuffs it.
Arriving in heaven, he stands before god and asks humbly, "I don't understand. I had all the faith in the world that you would come and save me. Why did you let me die like that?"
God replies, "You dumb shit, I sent three people to help you."
The lesson, of course, is a drawn-out version of the, "god helps those that help themselves" adage. So while I'm not religious, I'd think there's plenty of room for those that are to do the right thing here.
Re:What did we expect? (Score:5, Funny)
A government small enough to fit in your uterus.
Re:What did we expect? (Score:5, Funny)
How else do you explain self-professed Christians who love the rich and hate the poor and downtrodden?
You've got it all confused. They know that only poor will get into heaven (Matthew 19:24); therefore, they're working hard to ensure that as many people are poor as possible. Of course, all that cursed wealth has to go somewhere, so they're trying to aggregate it all in as few hands as possible - those guys who end up with it are the ultimate heroes, sacrificing their very eternal afterlife for the sake of fellow countrymen.