John Perry Denial Strategy

Climate change is one of today’s most hotly debated topic. Scientists for many decades have made supposed claims that current energy creation and reliance on fossil fuels will lead to inevitable changes to the planet. Today, climate change denial is still a popular to most of the world despite the mounds of evidence to support that it exists. The climate change issue suffers from being mismanaged by various parties through focusing on the wrong issues and the lack of true commitment from the general public, according to Sandra Steingraber.

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.

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.

As a kid who has cared about nature his entire life, and an avid modern environmentalist for four years and counting, this issue has been at the center of my psyche for quite some time. I have seen public perspective on this issue change before my eyes. From the original rejection of Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth movie on “global warming” to personally marching alongside 300,000 people in our nation's capital to raise awareness on climate change. However, despite all of these avenues the issue is still spoken about as this distant idea that eventually will be a disaster. Many politicians and news networks speak of the need for slow implementation of policies and programs to right our environmental wrongs. The best way to paraphrase the common narrative of this issue would be to say, climate change is going to happen down the road, it will probably be bad and trying to fix it in the near future would be a good idea. That weak call to action shoves climate change onto the long to-do list of the leaders of our world. Not only does it not create the urgency needed to actually curb the effects of our environmental ignorance, but it does not accurately describe the threat of a changing climate. Treating this like a political issue will not allow for the rigorous changes needed to address such a problem in the timely manner that is required.

A fallacy or an ugly truth? The Global Warming debate has been circulating in the minds of everyone from the most qualified, knowledgeable scientists to the average layman. With the abrupt end of the last major ice age over 7000 years ago, the new climate era’s advance into the 21st century covers most of the time mankind has inhabited a planet with a mild and relatively stable and unchanging climate, is clearly compelling. From sea levels rising, to the melting of the glaciers, loss of fresh water and increase in natural disasters, this phenomenon is a threat advancing with tumultuous force, and little warning for those who cannot be bothered to notice the signs. The evidence that climate change is a naturally occurring consequence of human action is a fact that needs to be recognized, and recognized now. Global warming is a fact because weather has become more intense over time, a rise in sea level has occur and there has been a change in earth and water temperature.

Through looking at recorded snow fall totals, Lake Freeze overs, and agriculture impacts one is able to start seeing trends in environmental changes. By looking at record snow fall records we can get a sense of historical air temperature and see how a specific location has been warming. Lake Freeze over data also gives good indications of an average air temperature increase. But there are still many people in this world that doubt that climate change is real. Yes earth goes through different periods of time where the climate has changed drastically. Look at the Ice Age, there was a time where a huge glacier stretched all the way across Vermont and in some places that glacier was 2 miles thick. Take for example, former Texas governor Rick Perry, who is in charge of the Department of Energy stated in 2011 that, “Global warming was an unproven scientific theory.”(Sidahmed, M. (2016, December 15). To the new presidential administration the topic of climate change has been looked at as a joke or even as a false idea. What we now know with the amounts of glaciers residing and the rise in temperatures and sea levels I believe that this subject is a bigger topic than what they believe. This subject needs to be taken seriously and we as humans need to take responsibility for some of our actions that have impacted climate change. I strongly disagree with many different actions that our president has taken regarding the issue

Do you want your child to have a higher risk of skin cancer or other terrible diseases? Do you want your child to never be able to play outside with all their friends? Nobody wants their child to have an unhealthy life or be sad because they have no friends to play with. Everyone wants to hope for their child to have a happy and healthy life. Humans not thinking about how the world’s climate change is dramatically changing does not make the climate not change. There are many scientist that have proven that climate change is happening and it has been happening for many, many years. Understanding what is happening

Humans don't like being wrong. It's embarrassing, uncomfortable to believe something and then be confronted about it. So that's why there's still high percentage of people who don't believe in the change in climate. People who work with oil companies don't want to acknowledge it because it can ruin their business. Politicians ignore the problem because it costs money to fix our past mistakes. That fear, people being scared, it makes us shut down. But we can try ignoring the problem, but the thing about problems is, they can be ignored but they never truly disappear. Weather may feel the same as every other year, but The whole world is heating up, including our vast oceans.

For those individuals who doubt climate change is real, I would strongly recommend they watch this documentary; it just might change their perspective on climate change and how it has led to extreme weather changes. Research shows that "Eighty-eight percent of natural resource professionals in this study agree or strongly agree that the science indicates that our climate is changing" (Allred et al. 10). The problem is most people do not truly believe the facts that are discovered by scientist. President Donald Trump is one example, you hear it over news reports saying that us as people do

Climate change is not real. The ice caps are not melting. Animals are not becoming endangered. Food is abundant on the land and in the sea. These are the arguments by naysayers and climate change deniers. These are the people who refuse to listen to generations of history and scientific research. These are the political administrations that will stop scientific advancements.

People have become unconvinced about climate change due to the fact that people believe it is over exaggerated when talked about, when really it is reality. Being a unconvinced society prevents people from wanting to become more educated and aware of the issue. Some people believe that climate change is not real due to the stupidity of uneducated and opinionated members of our society.

Climate change is now at a point of being undeniable by anyone who gives it a serious look. Ten of the hottest years since they began keeping records of global temperatures in 1880 have occurred just since 1998. What's more, 2014 was the hottest year in the record books according to NASA and NOAA. These simple facts cannot be refuted by a simpleton Senator bringing a snowball onto the floor of the U.S. Senate and seemingly thinking that snow still exists therefore climate change must be a hoax. One area of serious study by climate scientists currently is the degree to which it is causing extremes in weather patterns around the world.

Reviewing the website above, I must say some people are extremely foolish and a vast majority of the claims they make are extremely ridiculous! Global Warming and Climate change are ever present and the effects are seen worldwide. The fact that there are so many people in denial and so many claims is just astonishing to me. I really don’t know how some of these people can look at their children and claim the scientific evidence out there regarding climate change is a bunch of bullshit, as Donald Trump would say. It really gets me angry and to know that the necessary changes that needed to happen years ago will be completely disregarded for many years due to political misconception and corruption is extremely frustrating.

The public has begun to believe that global warming, if it exists at all, is natural. The news, radio and magazines portray global warming as something you should not be afraid of. Why, you may ask is because there have been scares in the past that have resulted to extreme caution, death and catastrophe. So the media covers up the truth due to how they think the general public will respond. Since our country is one of the most censored societies out there it is easy to keep the public unaware of what may happen. Scientists on the other hand believe that global warming is a debacle that needs to be handled immediately.

The world is warming and we cannot deny it, the longer we deny the larger the problem it will become. Global warming is affecting the world economy, the overall health of the population, and most importantly the environment that surrounds us. Ignoring this problem will not just make it suddenly disappear; the world has to make an effort to stop it while it can still be maintained. Accepting the fact that it is happening is just the first step, the next step is taking action and becoming informed on the issue.