Global Warming: Not So Hot

Washington Post ^ | August 31, 2007 | Karlyn Bowman

[neverdem]

Americans think global warming is real and serious. Poll after poll shows that there are not many climate skeptics left. The issue has received an enormous amount of media attention over the past several years, but it still doesn't rank at or near the top of issues people want the president and Congress to address.

In January, when the Pew Research Center updated its yearly poll on priorities for the president and Congress, global warming ranked twentieth of twenty-three issues. Pew described concern about the issue as "lukewarm." The poll was taken before the latest wave of media attention to global warming, but other more recent polls show the same pattern. In a survey taken in late May and early June by The Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation,...

--snip--

Finally, there may be another reason Americans have not elevated the issue. Most politicians younger than 81-year old House Environment and Public Works chairman John Dingell grew up with the environmental movement. We're all environmentalists now, and it is hard to make a political issue out of a commitment shared by most of the population. George Bush's marks on virtually every aspect of his presidency are negative, including his handling of global warming, and Democrats lead the Republicans in every poll as the party better able to handle the issue. In a new Newsweek poll, 68 percent say Bush hasn't done enough, but in another question only 4 percent say they will vote on the basis of global warming. Nearly six in ten say the issue will be one of a number of issues that will be important to their vote. There is little evidence from the polls that taking on George Bush or the Republicans on the issue will make it a top-tier issue or increase its political weight.

[neverdem]

Karlyn Bowman is a senior fellow at AEI. where she studies public opinion.

An Inconvenient Solution (Carbon trading)

[goldstategop]

Its only important to the global doom and gloom crowd.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[NormsRevenge]

Upon hearing this, include among the ‘bummed=out’; econazis, hurricane forecasters and the Weather Channel...(and nudists too, well, some anyway, some do like it cold.)

[FlingWingFlyer]

If you repeat a lie often enough it will become “the truth.” As rightwing as I am, when I hear about a hurricane or a tornado, my first thought is “global warming.” Weird. I used to consider those things as the weather. It’s funny how brainwashing works. You can fight and continue to resist but if you are constantly and continually bombarded with the crap, it eventually starts sinking in. You really have to be on your guard at all times in this propaganda age.

[Edgerunner]

useless prattle...

[capt. norm]

Americans think global warming is real and serious. Poll after poll shows that there are not many climate skeptics left.

Exactly what polls?

Let's see the real numbers.

[Proud2BeRight]

Ok, that’s it. Where can I buy carbon credits?

[BigLittle]

One thing that came to mind recently, is the spread of Air Conditioning.
In the 50's it was a luxury to get AC in movie theaters. Since then it has become commonplace in homes, work, trains, planes and autos.
The process of heat exchange that air conditioners provide, move "inside" heat to the "outside" (where thermometers register the recorded temperatures), and add heat in the process.
Could it be that we have simply traded a warming atmospere for a cooler "innersphere".
As I said, it's just a thought, but one that I haven't seen voiced.

[Red_Devil 232]

Its only important to the global doom and gloom crowd.

It needed repeating!

[TChris]

If you repeat a lie often enough it will become “the truth.” As rightwing as I am, when I hear about a hurricane or a tornado, my first thought is “global warming.” Weird. I used to consider those things as the weather. It’s funny how brainwashing works. You can fight and continue to resist but if you are constantly and continually bombarded with the crap, it eventually starts sinking in. You really have to be on your guard at all times in this propaganda age.

Picard: There are four lights!

[Uncle Hal]

I ran into my aunt recently at a doctors office. All she could talk about were the perils of global warming and how concerned she was for the future. I could hardly keep a straight face. These people are out there folks and they firmly believe this stuff as if it is reality. If there are enough of them, it will put this nation on a disastrous course, possibly a dramatic decline in our standard of living. It will not effect me but it will my children and grandchildren. This is an important reason a Democrat should not be elected presidency in 08.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Picard: There are four lights!

1. CNN

2. DNCNBC

3. CBS

4. abc

[neverdem]

Exactly what polls?

Check the link in comment# 1. "Some 84 percent of Americans think that human beings are contributing to global warming, with 78 percent (and 60 percent of Republicans) saying that we should do something about it 'right away,' according to an April New York Times/CBS News poll."

IMHO, that's a good reason to be scared. Ignorance guiding public policy is something to fear.

[jmaroneps37]

“... 68 percent say Bush hasn’t done enough, but in another question only 4 percent say they will vote on the basis of global warming.”

The 68% want to appear as ‘caring’ individuals. The 4% is the number that actually give two shiites about this fraudulent gore invention. This piece doesn’t tell us how many people will vote FOR someone who has the courage to point to “global warming” and laugh like Jim Inhofe.

[Always Right]

Funny, when I hear about tooth decay I think of global warming.

[Tenacious 1]

I suspect that Karlyn is biased on the issue and less than completely objective.

Her reporting gives lots of excuses for why the “minority” of people absolutely believe all the hype about “Man Made Global Warming.”

Polls? If someone asked me, “Do you believe that there is Global Warming?” I answer yes. It translates into the poll that I answered yes to believing that Man Made Global Warming is a real problem.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Funny, when I hear about tooth decay I think of global warming.

You can bet there is some moron with a government "grant" out there right now doing a "study" on the connection. LOL!

[Normandy]

That’s an interesting thought. Thanks for bringing it up.

[Cooter]

AC's have contributed to the "problem", but not quite in the way you suggested. The problem is that a number of surface temperature measurement stations have been encroached upon by human activity - including AC units which dump their heat directly onto the sensors.

Take a look at this picture from the website Watts Up With That?

How not to measure temperature, part 25

This picture, taken by www.surfacestations.org volunteer Don Kostuch is the Detroit Lakes, MN USHCN climate station of record. The Stevenson Screen is sinking into the swamp and the MMTS sensor is kept at a comfortable temperature thanks to the nearby A/C units.

[The Great RJ]

Global warming is a religion and like any religion there are those who believe and those who do not. Despite the prophecy of St. Algore and the climate doomsayers, there is a skeptical public and a lack of anything approaching true scientific acceptance of man made global warming as hard fact.