From a press release by George Mason University:
American Opinion Cools on Global Warming
FAIRFAX, Va., January 27, 2010—Public concern about global warming has dropped sharply since the fall of 2008, according to the results of a national survey released today by researchers at Yale and George Mason universities.
The survey found:
• Only 50 percent of Americans now say they are “somewhat” or “very worried” about global warming, a 13-point decrease.
• The percentage of Americans who think global warming is happening has declined 14 points, to 57 percent.
• The percentage of Americans who think global warming is caused mostly by human activities dropped 10 points, to 47 percent.
In line with these shifting beliefs, there has been an increase in the number of Americans who think global warming will never harm people in the United States or elsewhere or other species.
“Despite growing scientific evidence that global warming will have serious impacts worldwide, public opinion is moving in the opposite direction,” said Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Project on Climate Change. “Over the past year the United States has experienced rising unemployment, public frustration with Washington and a divisive health care debate, largely pushing climate change out of the news. Meanwhile, a set of emails stolen from climate scientists and used by critics to allege scientific misconduct may have contributed to an erosion of public trust in climate science.”
The survey also found lower public trust in a variety of institutions and leaders, including scientists. For example, Americans’ trust in the mainstream news media as a reliable source of information about global warming declined by 11 percentage points, television weather reporters by 10 points and scientists by 8 points. They also distrust leaders on both sides of the political fence. Sixty-five percent distrust Republicans Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Palin as sources of information, while 53 percent distrust former Democratic Vice President Al Gore and 49 percent distrust President Barack Obama.
Finally, Americans who believe that most scientists think global warming is happening decreased 13 points, to 34 percent, while 40 percent of the public now believes there is a lot of disagreement among scientists over whether global warming is happening or not.
“The scientific evidence is clear that climate change is real, human-caused and a serious threat to communities across America,” said Edward Maibach, director of the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University. “The erosion in both public concern and public trust about global warming should be a clarion call for people and organizations trying to educate the public about this important issue.”
The results come from a nationally representative survey of 1,001 American adults, age 18 and older. The sample was weighted to correspond with U.S. Census Bureau parameters. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percent, with 95 percent confidence. The survey was designed by researchers at Yale and George Mason Universities and conducted from December 23, 2009, to January 3, 2010 by Knowledge Networks using an online research panel of American adults.
A copy of the report can be downloaded from:
http://www.climatechangecommunication.org/images/files/CC_in_the_American_Mind_Jan_2010.pdf
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What I love is these authoritative academicians who love to say that the evidence is overwhelming regarding GW and we are either not warming at all or even cooling.
Do these guys ever brush up on their general knowledge of the subject or do they just spout mindlessly the same drivel year after year? They must simply watch AIT for a review once a year and toast Al Gore.
Lucy Skywalker (12:02:33) :
Very much so, Lucy. Global Warming jokes are all the rage now.
“Cold enough for ya?”
Sören (12:02:36) :
“Great, but this is also the nation which allegedly hardly believes in evulution. How do we know it’s not kidding this time too?”
Because not believing in evolution doesn’t cost very much?
That study was conducted Dec 24 2009 to Jan 3 2010. I would hazard a guess that there is now a greater decline and growing.
Results: Climate science
Thanks for voting!
How much do you trust scientific projections concerning global warming?
* Completely 8.45% (491 votes)
* Somewhat 12% (697 votes)
* A little 15.1% (877 votes)
* Not at all 64.45% (3744 votes)
Total votes: 5809
Source The Australian Newspaper
Oliver K. Manuel (12:06:03) :
On the other hand, the public is studying with a lot more intensity what science is saying. That means they are now scrutinizing instead of simply parroting what they have previously been spoon-fed.
I would hope that the pretenders are blown off sooner rather than later.
And more importantly, they might put some pressure on an Administration that seems bent on funding poly-research at the expense of all other.
“The scientific evidence is clear that climate change is real, human-caused and a serious threat to communities across America,” said Edward Maibach, director of the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University. “The erosion in both public concern and public trust about global warming should be a clarion call for people and organizations trying to educate the public about this important issue.”
Just another parrot, though more vocal than the Norwegian Grey.
————
Henry chance (11:38:48) :
It will officially be over when Ruddles gives up.
You are causing serious confusion here in a Brit. Ruddles, from Rutland (the smallest county in England) make rather good beer, to our tastes anyway. We would hate to think of them giving up. Now you wouldn’t want to put a fellow sceptic off his beer, would you?
Whatever happened to KRudd747?
I wonder if the 47% who believe in man caused global warming is the same group (50%) who believe in alien abductions ?
http://www.cnn.com/US/9706/15/ufo.poll/
Perhaps it’s no coincidence that 50% of the population is below average intelligence ! (Median is almost identical to mean for IQ).
Neo (11:31:09) :
… but the science is “settled” .. like solids in a cesspool
That is not a Snickers bar.
Maurice Garoutte (12:17:08) :
That UN new tax money would go directly not to children but to pharmaceutical companies which will deliver dubious drugs for imaginary/invented diseases like the AH1N1 virus flue vaccine (recently found being made from active bird flu virus and not from its attenuated form)
http://www.masterjules.net/baxter.htm
Most probably the eventual beneficiaries from the Climate Change scam are the same ones and owners of these labs.
kwik (12:32:03) :
How about Ministry of Scientific Truth (MOST)?
The last two years have been cold in the US and Europe, and people have figured out that they are being misled.
I really hate to say this but G.W. Bush was right… even though this guy and his family deserve their day in court for their many sins…
Q: What about global warming?
BUSH: It’s an issue that we need to take very seriously. I don’t think we know the solution to global warming yet and I don’t think we’ve got all the facts before we make decisions.
GORE: But I disagree that we don’t know the cause of global warming. I think that we do. It’s pollution, carbon dioxide and other chemicals that are even more potent. Look, the world’s temperatures going up, weather patterns are changing, storms are getting more violent and unpredictable. And what are we going to tell our children?
BUSH: Yeah, I agree. Some of the scientists, I believe, haven’t they been changing their opinion a little bit on global warming? There’s a lot of differing opinions and before we react I think it’s best to have the full accounting, full understanding of what’s taking place.
Source: Presidential Debate at Wake Forest University Oct 11, 2000
Don’t the respondents know that the debate is over? Didn’t they get the memo?
Even “Nature” is less worried:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8483722.stm
“The most alarming forecasts of natural systems amplifying the human-induced greenhouse effect may be too high, according to a new report.
The study in Nature confirms that as the planet warms, oceans and forests will absorb proportionally less CO2.
It says this will increase the effects of man-made warming – but much less than recent research has suggested.
The authors warn, though, that their research will not reduce projections of future temperature rises.
Further, they say their concern about man-made climate change remains high. ”
I’m pretty sure their level of concern was hysterical until recently.
global warming causes global warming! what a convoluted piece this is.
27 Jan: Reuters: Alister Doyle: Global warming to trigger more warming-study
Mankind’s climate change frees CO2 from nature-study
Slightly reinforces global warming
But feedback less than in some recent studies
“We are confirming that the feedback exists and is positive. That’s bad news,” lead author David Frank of the Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL said of the study in Thursday’s edition of the journal Nature.
“But if we compare our results with some recent estimates (showing a bigger feedback effect) then it’s good news,” Frank, an American citizen, told Reuters of the report with other experts in Switzerland and Germany.
The data, based on natural swings in temperatures from 1050-1800, indicated that a rise of one degree Celsius (1.6 degree Fahrenheit) would increase carbon dioxide concentrations by about 7.7 parts per million in the atmosphere.
That is far below recent estimates of 40 ppm that would be a much stronger boost to feared climate changes such as floods, desertification, wildfires, rising sea levels and more powerful storm, they said.
Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have already risen to about 390 ppm from about 280 ppm before the Industrial Revolution. Only some models in the last major U.N. climate report, in 2007, included assessments of carbon cycle feedbacks.
Frank said the new study marks an advance by quantifying feedback over the past 1,000 years and will help refine computer models for predicting future temperatures…
“In a warmer climate, we should not expect pleasant surprises in the form of more efficient uptake of carbon by oceans and land,” Hugues Goosse of the Universite Catholique de Louvain, Belgium, wrote in a comment in Nature.
The experts made 220,000 comparisons of carbon dioxide levels — trapped in tiny bubbles in annual layers of Antarctic ice — against temperatures inferred from natural sources such as tree rings or lake sediments over the years 1050-1800.
Goosse said the study refined a general view that rising temperatures amplify warming from nature even though some impacts are likely to suck carbon dioxide from the air.
Carbon might be freed to the air by a projected shift to drier conditions in some areas, for instance in the east Amazon rainforest. But that could be partly offset if temperatures rise in the Arctic, allowing more plants to grow.
Warmer soils might accelerate the respiration of tiny organisms, releasing extra carbon dioxide to the air. Wetlands or oceans may also release carbon if temperatures rise.
Frank said it was hard to say how the new findings might have altered estimates in a report by the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007 that world temperatures could rise by between 1.1 and 6.4 Celsius by 2100.
“Of the models that did include the carbon cycle, our results suggests that those with slightly below average feedbacks might be more accurate,” he said. “But we can’t now say exactly what sort of temperature range that would imply.”
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE60Q261.htm
Tom G(ologist): Makes me wonder if the evolution-deniers is basically the same or the other crowd?
nigel jones: but then AGW-skepticism is a cheaper choice too!
Hey guys! Have you already forgotten we’re in a Maunder like minimum?
As told by many real scientists (not from Hollywood Boulevard) temps will keep getting lower until reaching a bottom around 2030-2050.
Ray (11:28:42) : CO2 is only dangerous when you put a plastic bag on your head. Should be Quote of the Week Great Ray, very funny!
Hi,
unrelated i know but look at
http://www.africancontent.com/?p=247
“MSU researchers study climate change, food production in East Africa”
Isn’t Africa a place that they cannot account for AGW in? On the surface it looks genuine but sure if it warrants closer attention.
The BBC’s alarmist Roger Harrabin is still denying reality. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8483722.stm
Baised quote from UEA. No balance to the article.
“The authors warn, though, that their research will not reduce projections of future temperature rises.”
The average global warming trend per least square trends for the past 150 years according to the[HADCRUT 3gl] data was 0.004/ year. The MET -OFFICE prediction is 0.08 /year [ based on 4C BY 2060]. This is 20 times faster than in the past 150 years. With a possible cooling spell coming over the next 20-30 years[ or until 2030/2040 ], the warming rate would have now have to rise to 0.2C/year between 2040 and 2060 or 50 times the past rate. Unless we get at least a couple more suns , the warming biased agw climate predictions have little credibilty in my judgement and continue to be an exaggeration to brainwash and falsely pressure the public for more research money.
I think it’s time for a poll question that really gets to the heart of the matter. I suggest the following
Do you believe that climate science knows enough about future changes in the global climate and exactly how detrimental they will be, that your government should be able to force you to surrender your personal freedom and thousands of dollars of yours and your children’s financial assets to them, to be dispersed to various kleptocrat Third World dictators, UN bureaucrats, and fatcat carbon traders, in a very likely futile effort to change that future?
Those polls guys should have used the “Nature Trick”.
(Sorry, couldn’t resist…)
It’s going down, down, down.
Knowledge is power.