Is Global Warming Really Create Skepticism?

Climate change is the long term shift in global climate patterns attributed mainly to the use of fossil fuels. Many people are aware of this issue, however, there has been an increase in the amount of people who deny climate change. 23 percent of Americans (compared to last year’s 16 percent) believe that climate change is not a problem (Atkin). To conclude that people do not accept cli­mate change because they do not under­stand it or need to be educated about it, is reasonable. However, I believe that it isn’t skepticism driving this denial. Rather, it is the phenomenon of reaffirming one’s identity. Instead of analyzing the evidence, it is intentionally interpreted in such a way as to maintain a pre-existing belief.

Media coverage of climate change has effects on public attitude on the issue, as it mediates scientific opinion on climate change. The media uses interactions between climate science, policy, statistical scientific texts, data, scientific language and the appearances of scientific personalities. Such as work and stories from scientists that are personally known. It is clear that science and policy shape media reporting and public understanding. Whether people believe in it or not is their

The problem that the pro- global warming theorists have created is that of social standing and little else. While there may be scientific backing to support some of the theory, the media presents the problem with great sensationalism. Global warming and energy conservation has thus become a trend and losses some of its validity through this. The scare tactics used by the media to “promote awareness” are just that, a linguistic ploy to gain favor. “Awareness of this global threat reinforced public concern and environmental problems and thereby provided environmental activists, scientists, and policy makers with new momentum in their efforts to promote environmental protection.” (McCright, 2000) This statement draws line to the potential benefits that would be received if the pro-global warming theorists were to draw enough attention to the issue. Driven by social empowerment and conviction to environmental protection, these activists misrepresent the actual threat and paint it as being much more

Climate change has been a subject of discussion in the media for many years, supported with the use of arguments against oil polluting the environment and extreme scare tactics of Polar ice caps flooding civilians backyards. The issue has been ignored by the majority of lay people as seeming too complicated, and with all the conflicting information in the media in the past, who can blame them? However, scientifically, climate change and what perpetrates it is fairly simple to understand and society as a whole is beginning to come to a clear consensus on climate change. Thanks in part to more readily available forms of media and information, people have become cognizant of the fact that climate change is a legitimate problem which requires immediate amelioration. While this may seem melodramatic, society is realizing that climate change is an issue which can no longer be denied if the human race wishes to continue.

Matt Patterson argues in “Global Warming – The Great Delusion” that the alleged scientific consensus surrounding the theory of global warming is based not on fact, but rather on a web of mass hysteria and deceit. Patterson contends that “In fact, global warming is the most widespread mass hysteria in our species’ history”, and that the beliefs of global warming proponents are the result of their own delusional imaginations and a subconscious apocalyptic yearning toward which masses of people tend to subject themselves. While Patterson worries that what he perceives to be the

Climate scientists have come to the deduction that human activity is responsible for the Earth’s surface temperature rising at a very rapid rate over the past thirty years and the very serious implications that could result. The purpose of this paper is to answer why there are an astounding number of Americans that deny global warming despite the overwhelming consensus in the scientific community. The hypothesis of this paper is: due to America’s shift from a functionalist perspective to a postmodern perspective; the population is more susceptible to information released by self interest groups attempting to sway public opinion. The study was a compilation of diverse methods. Using qualitative as well as quantitative research, the author came

Climate change deniers will often search for stories on “how climate change is a myth”, “how scientists are wrong about climate change”, or “why climate change is not man made.” I know first-hand because I used to be one of those people. However, once I opened my mind to skepticism and debate with the purpose of learning, instead of confirming my own beliefs, I decided that the evidence accepting climate change held more merit, and was more pressing, than the evidence denying it. As I continue to research, however, I’m convinced that understanding confirmation bias will help me keep my mind open and pliable. Once a mind and heart are hardened and consumed with confirmation bias, there is little hope for learning, growth, and contributing to a better world.

The manner of psychological distance by people increases the challenge for Climate Scientists on communicating the science to a broad public. The psychological distance is defined as the extent of concern by people or the tendency they put the priority on a topic or event (Pollock, 2015). Generally, it involves thinking about if, when, where and to whom something is going to or might happen (Trope & Liberman, 2010). The four main dimensions of psychological distance are certainty, time, space and people (Trope & Liberman, 2010). A study of United States public opinion in 2014 by the Pew Research Center found that only 29% of Americans put climate change was the most important and urgent problem facing the country, with other issues such as terrorism taking precedence (Pollock, 2015). In the opinion, climate change is considered as

Statement of Purpose: Why the issue of global climate change is irrelevant to a large number of individuals.

Moving on from this, Miller helps discuss one of the side issues that leads to confusion; medias’ portrayal of events. Because the media (“New York Times,” “Los Angeles Times,” etc.) wants to “show both sides of the story,” they allow deniers of the issues, less reputable scientists, and advocates for non-environmental friendly companies to essentially blow off the issue of global warming, and publish their opinions, when in reality, the problem is only becoming ever more present. From the increasing amount of fossil fuels burned, deforestation taking place, and emission of pollution (from electricity generated, transportation, etc.) scientists and researchers have been able to collect data of the global climate’s rise, as well as

Climate change is hitting places at unequal effects. Not everyone is impacted as much of the people living in the arctic. Norgaard's study, the wide variety of people she interviewed all were pessimistic or felt helpless because of the large scale of cooperation between countries. Governments were unable to reach agreement. Norgaard looked at the silence around climate change and found climate change was a very disturbing topic. It generates a lot of negative emotions that people try to avoid. She ended up focusing on guilt, sense of helplessness, and fear about the future. people avoided these feelings she observed. The people she studied in the community changed the topic of conversation, tried to avoid talking about climate change, and kept it off the agenda of political meetings. Norgaard found that for the highly educated and politically residents of Bygdaby, knew about global warming was common and shocking. Norgaard believes this comes from emotions to cultural norms to political econom.Her study results exemplify that you don’t have to be educated and wealthy to care about climate change, and most people are oblivious to it or just don’t care. There are some limitations to her study. While she interviewed multiple people, there wasn’t enough data to fully get the opinion of everyone. I’m sure there were some people of Bygdaby, that did care about the warming temperatures. While Rikoon analyzes the conflict between the national park service and wild horses in Missouri, and how to properly manage the horses on the range. Rikoon explains that the national park system determined that the horses are feral and should be removed. However the horse league on the other hand believed that the horses

The causes of climate change are many, varied, and complex and documenting the many voices in the debate is an effective strategy. Montenegro understands that each writer speaks from a unique point-of-view which is influenced by their scientific work. Since each writer approaches global warming from a different perspective, each message reveals a different facet of the issue. Exposing the reader to multiple viewpoints broadens their access to information and increases the chance that the message will persuade them. This matters because a person’s response to an issue is unique, so exposing them to many sides of an argument is beneficial. In this example, the human response to climate change is critical. Our beliefs, attitudes and knowledge

As time goes by, Earth is becoming more at risk of climate change effects (Commoner, 1990, as cited in Schultz and Stone, 1994). Nearly all scientists agree that the change is caused by the acts of humans (Intergovernmental, 2007 as cited in Hakkinen and Akarami 2014). Though, with this being said, it seems that people are not that worried and it is not being discussed as much as it should be. (Maibach, Feinberg & Howe 2013, as cited in Hakkinen and Akarami 2014). Within this study I am going to be investigating the relationship between right wing authoritarianism and climate change beliefs. In previous studies such as Peterrson et all (1993), their data showed that with high levels of right wing authoritarianism can lead to negative social issues, but within the study there was nothing significant when it came to climate change beliefs. Following this was an investigation done by Shultz and Stone (1994). This study showed that there was data to suggest that there was a negative relationship between RWA and CC beliefs. In 2014, Hakkinen and Akrami’s study also found a negative relationship between the two but also found that when shown a news cast before answering can change a person’s answers about environmental issues. After looking over these readings, my hypothesis is that there will be a negative relationship between right wing authoritarianism and climate change beliefs. This

Climate change has undoubtedly become one of the most prominent debate topics in the world today. With that being said, there are multiple aspects of climate change currently being discussed; causes of climate change, the idea that climate change may be a hoax, and whether or not climate change affects human health are three of the many ongoing debates about climate change. Climate change is surrounded by negative connotations, but Jay Leno, former host of NBC’s The Tonight Show, shed some light on the darkness of climate change, saying "According to a new U.N. report, the global warming outlook is much worse than originally predicted. Which is pretty bad when they originally predicted it would destroy the planet.” Although his first statement is rather true, Leno manages to lighten its load with a less true, but hilarious, comment. His words force one to realize that climate change impacts everyone in any area of the health triangle, whether it be through a joke such as Leno’s, or directly through issues such as pollution and pollen; the areas of the health triangle include physical health, mental/emotional health, and social health. Therefore, climate change is a threat to all aspects of human health; social health, mental/emotional health, and physical health.

When one encounters the concept and idea of global warming, we inquire a wide range of opinions, facts, assumptions, and philosophies. As the general population of the world, the idea