A long time ago I was a climate change denier. I regurgitated all kinds of studies, quotes and facts from the internet to support my opinion that the world climate was not changing and if it were; well then by golly it was any number of other natural factors because clearly climate has been occurring since the Earth formed and will continue to do so long after man is extinct.
I've changed my mind 180 degrees and freely admit it and unlike other converts, don't pretend I've always felt this way. To be clear there was no brilliant scientific thesis or argument that had me writhing in the grasp of reason though I credit the old TPA Stony Tony with laying much of the foundation for my opening of the mind to scientific rather than political evidence.
I changed my opinion because of good old fashioned common sense which boils down to these three considerations:
1. Science, journalism and prit'near everything else is being drawn along political or religious lines these days. I don't like it but it is the way it is and this entrenching of camps and ideologies probably at least in part has something to do with the internet, the spread of information of all truths and falsehoods and the new found desire to protect our own truths over listening to others.
Having said that, when 97% of global eggheads proclaim anthropogenic climate change as certain fact how am I any less deliberately ignorant than the Pakistanis who murder polio vaccination workers because they know it is a plot to sterilise Muslims or the faked moon landing/911 was an inside job according to conspiracy theorists who know the government is misleading the people.
How can I chastise Holocaust deniers for ignoring or dismissing historical facts if I do it with climate change? How can I cite scientific reports when debating lefties on the safety of GMO foods when I dismiss the same government and university research centers while the liberals ironically in turn dismiss the 9 out of 10 scientific consensus of safety of the GMO food?
Am I seriously supposed to pretend it is fact that God plopped us down here in Her image and ignore the anthropological evidence to the contrary simply because so many people believe in Santa they want to kill you or condemn you to eternal damnation for suggesting otherwise?
I know enough now to know I don't know squat and need to rely on those who do due to research and not those who think they do due to political ideology. At 97% of the scientific community you'll never get a higher consensus period.
2. If you have even a rudimentary knowledge of science you are aware that most researchers believe we have entered the Anthropocene. This means that mankind now has the greatest impact on shaping the planet and this should scare the **** out of you if you care about anyone more than your own selfish ***.
From species extinction to changing the landscape with our bridges, mining, and dams to influencing evolution as we see urban rodents increase intelligence, spiders develop different vision and bird wingspans shorten to adapt to urban flight. We have taken whole forests and turned them to farmland. We have burned giant holes in the ozone layer and altered more than half the surface of the planet and the oceans soak up so much CO2 they are changing PH and becoming sterile while human activity accounts for 2x more soil movement than natural erosion, wind, earthquakes etc. We can bring back species from extinction and will create the next dominate species on this planet.
Few would dispute the above impact man has had on the environment yet large enough groups of people are so deliberately ignorant or ideologically blind they believe our effects on the planet end at it's climate. Well city boy, let me tell you it is 5-7 degrees colder at night outside the city in winter and about 1-3 degrees warmer in summer during the day in my neck of the woods so I don't need satellites and charts to know large groups of people impact the climate.
3. Things have changed. Weather has changed. Animals have changed. You see, if you put down your Xbox and talk with the elders they will tell you of periods of hot or cold that lasted decades or dry spells and wet spells that went on longer than normal. Decades with lots of snow and years with almost no snow so nothing unusual there agreed.
However, nowhere in the oral record of the elders, no where in the recent scientific record, no where in the record of the pioneers do we see the movement of animals to areas where those animals never existed before or plants and insects that were never seen in these latitudes ever suddenly now appearing. Things are changing and it's not just the loss of biodiversity I have witnessed in my own life. It's migratory patterns and fauna out of whack beyond the oral traditions of the elders.
Climate change denial seems to be a mostly conservative urban thing in my opinion. These folks live in sterile urban/suburban environments where changes in weather, animals and biodiversity have little impact on their lives. I've noticed most rural Conservatives, those closer to nature such as farmers and trappers are far more concerned about climate change and few of them believe it is part of a natural cycle or simply not occurring.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Climate Change Debate (HBO) - YouTube
I've changed my mind 180 degrees and freely admit it and unlike other converts, don't pretend I've always felt this way. To be clear there was no brilliant scientific thesis or argument that had me writhing in the grasp of reason though I credit the old TPA Stony Tony with laying much of the foundation for my opening of the mind to scientific rather than political evidence.
I changed my opinion because of good old fashioned common sense which boils down to these three considerations:
1. Science, journalism and prit'near everything else is being drawn along political or religious lines these days. I don't like it but it is the way it is and this entrenching of camps and ideologies probably at least in part has something to do with the internet, the spread of information of all truths and falsehoods and the new found desire to protect our own truths over listening to others.
Having said that, when 97% of global eggheads proclaim anthropogenic climate change as certain fact how am I any less deliberately ignorant than the Pakistanis who murder polio vaccination workers because they know it is a plot to sterilise Muslims or the faked moon landing/911 was an inside job according to conspiracy theorists who know the government is misleading the people.
How can I chastise Holocaust deniers for ignoring or dismissing historical facts if I do it with climate change? How can I cite scientific reports when debating lefties on the safety of GMO foods when I dismiss the same government and university research centers while the liberals ironically in turn dismiss the 9 out of 10 scientific consensus of safety of the GMO food?
Am I seriously supposed to pretend it is fact that God plopped us down here in Her image and ignore the anthropological evidence to the contrary simply because so many people believe in Santa they want to kill you or condemn you to eternal damnation for suggesting otherwise?
I know enough now to know I don't know squat and need to rely on those who do due to research and not those who think they do due to political ideology. At 97% of the scientific community you'll never get a higher consensus period.
2. If you have even a rudimentary knowledge of science you are aware that most researchers believe we have entered the Anthropocene. This means that mankind now has the greatest impact on shaping the planet and this should scare the **** out of you if you care about anyone more than your own selfish ***.
From species extinction to changing the landscape with our bridges, mining, and dams to influencing evolution as we see urban rodents increase intelligence, spiders develop different vision and bird wingspans shorten to adapt to urban flight. We have taken whole forests and turned them to farmland. We have burned giant holes in the ozone layer and altered more than half the surface of the planet and the oceans soak up so much CO2 they are changing PH and becoming sterile while human activity accounts for 2x more soil movement than natural erosion, wind, earthquakes etc. We can bring back species from extinction and will create the next dominate species on this planet.
Few would dispute the above impact man has had on the environment yet large enough groups of people are so deliberately ignorant or ideologically blind they believe our effects on the planet end at it's climate. Well city boy, let me tell you it is 5-7 degrees colder at night outside the city in winter and about 1-3 degrees warmer in summer during the day in my neck of the woods so I don't need satellites and charts to know large groups of people impact the climate.
3. Things have changed. Weather has changed. Animals have changed. You see, if you put down your Xbox and talk with the elders they will tell you of periods of hot or cold that lasted decades or dry spells and wet spells that went on longer than normal. Decades with lots of snow and years with almost no snow so nothing unusual there agreed.
However, nowhere in the oral record of the elders, no where in the recent scientific record, no where in the record of the pioneers do we see the movement of animals to areas where those animals never existed before or plants and insects that were never seen in these latitudes ever suddenly now appearing. Things are changing and it's not just the loss of biodiversity I have witnessed in my own life. It's migratory patterns and fauna out of whack beyond the oral traditions of the elders.
Climate change denial seems to be a mostly conservative urban thing in my opinion. These folks live in sterile urban/suburban environments where changes in weather, animals and biodiversity have little impact on their lives. I've noticed most rural Conservatives, those closer to nature such as farmers and trappers are far more concerned about climate change and few of them believe it is part of a natural cycle or simply not occurring.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Climate Change Debate (HBO) - YouTube
