Yet another indicator that interest in climate has fallen by the wayside – climate doesn't make it into the top ten science press releases for 2014

We’ve seen recent polls that show interest in “climate change” as being dead last with members of the public, now here’s yet another indicator. EurekAlert gauged the popularity of its science news releases, hundreds of which were about climate change during this past year, and not surprisingly, “climate change” didn’t win, place, or show.

http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/89094-boring.jpg?w=1110&h=203

EurekAlert! 2014 most popular news releases revealed

Wage disclosure, health science and new species got the most clicks

A news release about the unintended consequences of disclosing public officials’ wages drew nearly 180,000 visits to EurekAlert! in 2014, making it the most popular news release of the year.

Health science dominated the topics described in the 10 most-viewed news releases, with six releases covering research on the brain, sleep, intoxication, HIV and the impact of the environment on health.

News releases about identifying new species using genome sequencing technology took two spots, while an analysis of U.S. arrest rates rounded out this year’s 10 most popular releases, which received a total of more than 1.2 million views.

The annual list was compiled based on the number of public and reporter views of news releases received between 1 January and 5 December, 2014. EurekAlert! is a science-news service operated by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the nonprofit scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals.

More than 25,672 news releases were eligible for inclusion on EurekAlert! in 2014. All news releases were submitted by accredited research institutions and peer-reviewed journals worldwide, and made available to registered science reporters and the public.

The 10 most-visited EurekAlert! news releases of 2014 were:

  1. Wage disclosures for public officials lead to salary cuts, high turnover rates (179,434)

    Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs; National Bureau of Economic Research

  2. New research sheds light on how the body regulates fundamental neuro-hormone (177,830)

    University of Bristol; Nature Communications

  3. Virginia Tech scientist proposes revolutionary naming system for all life on Earth (168,019)

    Virginia Tech; PLOS ONE

  4. Study finds later school start times improve sleep and daytime functioning in adolescents (159,777)

    Lifespan; Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics

  5. Fukushima’s legacy (131,928)

    American Genetic Association; Journal of Heredity

  6. Mutation stops worms from getting drunk (105,515)

    University of Texas at Austin; The Journal of Neuroscience

  7. Green spaces deliver lasting mental health benefits (81,972)

    University of Exeter; Environmental Science & Technology

  8. New frog discovered inhabiting I-95 corridor from Connecticut to North Carolina (78,134)

    Rutgers University; PLOS ONE

  9. Study of antibody evolution charts course toward HIV vaccine (74,765)

    NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Nature

  10. Study: Half of black males, 40 percent of white males arrested by age 23 (66,971)

    University of South Carolina; Crime & Delinquency

Five Most-Shared Releases

The five most-shared news releases were circulated more than 36,000 times via EurekAlert! in 2014 through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Tumblr, and e-mail, as recorded by AddThis. Three of the most-shared releases were also among the most-viewed overall. The most-shared releases were:

  1. Study finds later school start times improve sleep and daytime functioning in adolescents (151)

    Lifespan; Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics

  2. New research sheds light on how the body regulates fundamental neuro-hormone (115)

    Bristol University; Nature Communications

  3. Why dark chocolate is good for your heart (104)

    Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology; FASEB Journal

  4. Study: Half of black males, 40 percent of white males arrested by age 23 (84)

    University of South Carolina; Crime & Delinquency

  5. No link found between movie, video game violence and societal violence (75)

    International Communication Association; Journal of Communication

EurekAlert! has more than 18.5K followers on Twitter via @EurekAlertAAAS and just reached 10K fans on Facebook.

Background

Three major themes emerged from this year’s 10 most popular news releases:

Transparency and criminal justice (1st, 10th)

2014’s No. 1 release illustrated the pitfalls of transparency : wages of California’s city managers were cut by eight percent on average after the information went public, and 75 percent of the public servants subsequently quit their jobs. The research team cautioned that cutting wages due to public opinion may not be a good policy, especially if the employees feel that their hard work warrants the original wage.

Discrimination in arrest and incarceration rates in the United States has attracted growing attention over the past year following several high-profile court cases. The 10th most-visited release broke down arrest rates by age, gender, and race in the country between 1997 and 2008. While the arrest rates remained comparable among all races over time for women, the gap in arrest rates among black, Hispanic and white males was wider and increased during the study.

Health and the environment (2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th)

The second most-trafficked release identified lactate as a double-duty chemical compound. Lactate is known for providing energy for long periods of exercise after oxygen depletion, and researchers recently found that it also acts as a signal between brain cells, causing them to release more norepinephrine, the neurotransmitter responsible for the “fight or flight” response. The discovery may lead to new medications.

The fourth most-visited release described a study showing that a 25-minute delay in school start times alleviated the ill-effects of sleep deprivation in high school students. The later start time resulted in an increase in the number of students who slept eight hours or more. On average, students were also happier and better prepared to learn.

A release about the ongoing biological effects of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant meltdown in 2011 took the No. 5 spot. It covered a set of research papers on the genetic effects of radiation on non-human animals exposed to radiation on site. The studies concluded that low-dose exposure to radiation at the power plant caused increased rates of genetic mutation and damage.

The sixth most-visited release showed that worms are good models for drunkenness. In this study, purported to be a first-of-its-kind, a neural molecule that binds alcohol in the human brain was modified and inserted into worms. Other than an inability to become intoxicated, no other physiological effects were reported in the mutant worms. The researchers hoped this work could be used to help treat alcohol abuse.

The seventh most widely read news release on EurekAlert! in 2014 reported lasting mental-health effects for people living in greener areas. Surprisingly, the benefits accrued over a five-year period continued for years after ¬- even if the study subjects moved away. The results reinforced the importance of using urban planning for public access green spaces, which could provide public health benefits such as combatting depression.

The ninth most-visited story focused on HIV vaccine research. This National Institutes of Health study analyzed blood samples from an HIV-positive volunteer who developed a natural protection against the virus – an antibody that blocks a particular site on the HIV virus. The researchers predicted that an HIV vaccine will need to include this antibody, and work is now under way to develop such components.

Big data and biological classification (3rd, 8th)

The third most-trafficked news release proposed a classification and naming system based on genetic information now available thanks to new genome sequencing tools and the enormous amounts of data deriving from them. This would allow researchers to readily name newly found organisms, or to see how closely related an organism is to a known relative.

The eighth most-visited release described how an unidentified frog species had been hiding in plain sight in New York along I-95, a major interstate highway. Commonly called the “Atlantic Coast Leopard Frog,” the species’ Latin namesake was ecologist Carl Kauffeld, who first claimed that this frog was a separate species back in the 1930’s. It took genetic and bioacoustic analyses – and about 80 years – to confirm that claim.

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David Schnare
December 25, 2014 2:27 pm

In an open ended survey (e.g.: what issues will sway your vote), environment never gains more than about two percent of registered voters and climate change doesn’t even show up on the list. Gallup offers survey results of this kind for those who want to look at this in greater depth.

Santa Baby
December 25, 2014 2:47 pm

GOOD!!!

michael hart
Reply to  Santa Baby
December 25, 2014 8:05 pm

“Big-chocolate” in at #3 ?

michael hart
Reply to  michael hart
December 25, 2014 8:09 pm

The quote I liked best was

“So the dark side of chocolate is a healthy one.”

Jimbo
Reply to  michael hart
December 26, 2014 2:27 am

It would be interesting to know exactly where ‘climate change’ comes in rankings. Is it 11th? 30th?

December 25, 2014 2:51 pm

Somehow people’s normal commonsense tells them that ‘Climate Change/Global Warming/CAGW” is not something that they really have to worry about. Millions of years of generational training has educated them to judge really serious dangers from pseudo-dangers and even total frauds. Only modern over-intellectualisation has the capability to make people take ‘Climate Change/Global Warming/CAGW’ as a serious threat to their well being.

sabretruthtiger
December 25, 2014 3:14 pm

There is zero evidence that HIV causes AIDS. Despite the fallacious smears against Duesberg, Montaigner (one of the people behind the HiV virus discovery) and Kary Mullis the Nobel prize winning scientist who discovered the PCR DNA process, ALL who question the HIV-AIDS hypothesis, there is no new evidence to confirm the hypothesis. The vast majority of ‘AIDS’ victims in the West are gay men who engage in a heavy drugs lifestyle involving poppers, heroin, antibiotics, cocaine etc that severely damage the immune system.
The deaths of any high profile HIV positive individuals always involve some form of suspicious government involvement and confusion, controversy and coverups with regard to autopsies and cause of death.
Kary Mullis of course asked the logical question, if the virus is causing the illness then it should be present in the millions, why would you need PCR to amplify the DNA in that case, why would the viral DNA be present in such small quantities?
AIDS in africa also manifests in different ways, whereas those in the West succumb to Karposi Sarcoma, pneumonia etc which are symptoms (not exclusively) of toxic drug lifestyle, those in africa succumb to illnesses symptomatic of malnutrition. In fact they constantly expand the list of ‘AIDS illnesses’ to create an unfalsifiable hypothesis, if HIV causes everything and everything happens also on it’s own is similar to saying:
“Global warming causes hot, global warming causes cold and everything in between”
I’m not claiming HIV does not cause AIDS because I’m not expert in the field, in fact not even a Doctor, but as with climate change we can follow the evidence and come to valid conclusions, always prepared to change our minds based on the data. Currently the evidence suggests it’s a scam.

Boulder Skeptic
Reply to  sabretruthtiger
December 25, 2014 5:49 pm

sabre…
/sarc on
Get with the program. You’re supposed to be living in fear of the AIDS epidemic that is coming soon to YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD! The media is constantly warning you that this is a huge threat to humanity. Are you not listening? You’re supposed to get mobilized to write your Congresspersons and Senators to step up the AIDS research and funding NOW! Put your hand in your pocket and start producing some money, dude. Why is the message not working on you?
/sarc off
Same with all the latest MSM causes: You are supposed to be feeling guilty of not doing enough and/or for being partially to blame. And if you don’t believe… you are a h e r e t i c and d e n i e r.
Bruce

Patrick bols
Reply to  sabretruthtiger
December 25, 2014 6:51 pm

I have to contradict you. The HIV virus is causing AIDS. Full stop. Clearly you are not a doctor and maybe you should make statements on stuff you really understand

Bill 2
Reply to  sabretruthtiger
December 25, 2014 7:55 pm

Ah, another government conspiracy…

Reply to  sabretruthtiger
December 26, 2014 2:03 am

Why shall anyone believe what you write. You have shown no evidence. None. OTOH,
here

1. Epidemiological association: the suspected cause must be strongly associated with the disease.
2. Isolation: the suspected pathogen can be isolated – and propagated – outside the host.
3. Transmission pathogenesis: transfer of the suspected pathogen to an uninfected host, man or animal, produces the disease in that host.

Postulate #3 has been fulfilled in tragic incidents involving three laboratory workers with no other risk factors who have developed AIDS or severe immunosuppression after accidental exposure to concentrated, cloned HIV in the laboratory. In all three cases, HIV was isolated from the infected individual, sequenced and shown to be the infecting strain of virus.

{Bold mine}
Go elsewhere with your drivel.

Khwarizmi
Reply to  sabretruthtiger
December 26, 2014 4:25 am

An HIV diagnosis used to mean almost certain death within ~3 years. Reverse transcriptase inhibitors, designed specifically to interrupt a crucial reproductive feature of the HIV virus, typically extend the average lifespan to ~20-30 years or more.
If HIV didn’t cause AIDS, the anti-retroviral drugs wouldn’t confer any therapeutic benefit. But they do.
Q.E.D.

December 25, 2014 3:19 pm

The BBC must award brownie points to its correspondents. It seems that somewhere within every ‘news’ story that has an ‘adverse’ effect, the writer blames ‘climate change’
From weedy things dying in the Antarctic to the supposed decline of Adélie penguins (that are actually prospering), Aunty’s writers accuse climate change of being the cause.

December 25, 2014 3:20 pm

The BBC made Lima one of its top ten “science” stories of 2014 – but they have got pensions investments to protect.

Adam Gallon
Reply to  Questing Vole
December 26, 2014 1:18 pm

That’s a bigger myth than CAGW is!
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/mypension/en/report_and_accounts_2014.pdf
Page 15 gives the top ten.
Shell’s at 3, BP at 4. Number 1’s a Chinese investment company, Rio Tinto at 9, the closest to a “Green” company is Whole Foods Market Inc who are at number 19!

Lawrie Ayres
Reply to  Adam Gallon
December 27, 2014 3:07 pm

They just left out the investment in wind-farms or they are included in the “Chinese Investment” company. The managers are worried because when the plebs find out their pensions are decimated they will surely be ANGRY.

Bubba Cow
December 25, 2014 3:37 pm

I wish it were a little “warmer” here in Vermont as our Dems are prepping to launch carbon taxes to fight the nasty climate change and invest in further devastating our mountains with industrial strength wind “farms” – of course not in the legislators’ view sheds.
I shall continue, but in the meantime:
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all who come here, comment here including trolls and drive-bys, and especially to all who make WUWT happen (finding you has been my best present)

BernardP
December 25, 2014 3:39 pm

But the Warmists are still winning: there is little to no discussion in the MSM about all the cracks in the AGW edifice; the UN-led talks about a new treaty are going on with seemingly all countries aboard, and it is most likely there will be a new treaty in Paris in 2015; even if it is non-binding, this treaty will keep the AGW meme alive and will guarantee continuing pressure of green lobbies on governments and businesses; even car companies and oil producers are touting their successes in lowering CO2 emissions, thus validating the Warmists point of view.
It’s seems the Skeptics have been mostly confined to their own ghetto, where they can discuss their ideas amongts themselves, while the Believers, who effectively control the decisions, can superficially dismiss any argument from Skeptics that pierces the ghetto’s fence by lumping them with flat-earthers, Holocaust deniers and religious fundamentalists.
The belief in AGW litterally permeates society. The Pause has not made a dent, as the general public is not aware of it. Any significant weather event, even cold waves and snowstorms, is attributed to Climate Change, hence to man-made CO2.

Jimbo
Reply to  BernardP
December 26, 2014 1:52 am

But they have lost the public. One reason is because

Any significant weather event, even cold waves and snowstorms, is attributed to Climate Change, hence to man-made CO2.

People with a good memory remember that this was not the story they were initially told. They remember global warming, warmer winters, oranges in southern England et al. 😊

IPCC – Climate Change 2001:
Working Group II: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
….Milder winter temperatures will decrease heavy snowstorms but could cause an increase in freezing rain if average daily temperatures fluctuate about the freezing point….
http://www.grida.no/publications/other/ipcc_tar/?src=/climate/ipcc_tar/wg2/569.htm
————-
IPCC – Working Group II: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
….Warmer winters and fewer cold spells, because of climate change, will decrease cold-related mortality in many temperate countries…..
ipcc.ch/ipccreports/tar/wg2/index.php?idp=674
————-
WalesOnline – 30 June 2007
“Snowlines are going up in altitude all over the world. The idea that we will get less snow is absolutely in line with what we expect from global warming.”
Sir John Houghton [atmospheric physicist] – lead editor of first three IPCC reports
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/snowless-winters-forecast-wales-world-2247457

December 25, 2014 4:05 pm

Re: #10 – Prohibition crimes.

schitzree
December 25, 2014 4:08 pm

If it wasn’t for skeptics looking into climate alarmist articles, nobody would be reading them.

luvthefacts
Reply to  schitzree
December 25, 2014 4:25 pm

Spot on!!! I read them only ensure that there isn’t any truth in them anyway.
You are absolutely correct, it is the climate skeptics that are probably the only ones reading their propaganda. Ha Ha.

Greg Woods
Reply to  luvthefacts
December 26, 2014 4:20 am

There are true believers out there. Just read the comments to any HuffPoo ‘article’ or opinion regarding CAGW (aka Climate Change).

December 25, 2014 4:30 pm

Merry Christmas, Anthony.
Congratulations on saving countless lives and instances of misery due to others’ bad science and motivated reasoning.

philjourdan
December 25, 2014 4:51 pm

WooHoo! Tech made the list.
But anecdotal evidence bolsters this survey. No one is talking about the climate, and fortunately few are doing anything about it.

PeterK
Reply to  philjourdan
December 25, 2014 7:55 pm

Unfortunately you are right phil, nobody is doing anything about it. However, the ecoloon greenblob, IPCC dimwits and most governments, are all slowly marching on to Paris. Unless something dramatic happens and MSM start writing about this scam, the public is oblivious and not interested. By not being able to get the message to the masses that they need to voice their opinions and very strongly, we may yet get saddled with something that will be more costly and wasteful. My only hope at this time is with the Republican Senate.

Jeff Cagle
December 25, 2014 5:03 pm

There is a small but inportant error in the description of the Princeton study on wage transparency. The OP states,
“…75 percent of the public servants subsequently quit their jobs.”
If true, that would be national news!
In the press release, it turns out that there was a 75% increase in the quit rate among mamagers. The actual quit rate wasn’t given, but it almost certainly wasn’t 75%.

Dan in California
Reply to  Jeff Cagle
December 25, 2014 8:53 pm

I followed the link only because of that obviously wrong statement. The rest of the article was interesting and informative.

Alx
December 25, 2014 5:19 pm

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Issues potentially affecting quality of life now is more important than unclear events that maybe, perhaps with an uncertain degree of certainty could possibly happen or not in one hundred years.
That global warming/climate change/climate disruption gained any traction at all is one those unexplained mysteries.

Alx
December 25, 2014 5:53 pm

Another thought, It seems the public is coming around and ignoring climate scare. The question is when will climate scientists come around? My guess is many will fall off as research funds dry up and come to understand how foolish they are starting to look. A zealous minority never will never change regardless of the evidence and simple logic, and will continue to babble incoherently of a doomed planet, while drinking heavily and reminiscing of the good old days when global warming was just the bomb.

Perth
Reply to  Alx
December 25, 2014 6:58 pm

Climate science is a legitimate field of study that has unfortunately attracted a lot of opportunists and charlatans. They need to be cleared out, then the others can research without the need to genuflect to the great goddess Gaia.
It is a great shame that such an interesting, valuable science has been turned up a blind alley. I am certain that it can and must get out of that blind alley, but it will not be easy to distinguish the charlatans from the real scientists who yielded to pressure.

JLC of Perth
Reply to  Perth
December 25, 2014 7:01 pm

Oops. I entered my name wrongly in the entry fields. It should be JLC of Perth.

rd50
December 25, 2014 7:12 pm

Not so fast. The last UN Conference in Peru had a huge impact.
Climate Change is now reported to have induced unusual cooling (yes, cooling) in remote regions in Peru and resulting in massacres of elders in uncontracted tribes.
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/12/24/peru-uncontactedtribe.html

csanborn
Reply to  rd50
December 25, 2014 8:43 pm

Global Warming, not Climate Change, Climate Disruption, or Climate Goal Posts for those that haven’t drunk the Kool-Aid. 🙂

Brian H
Reply to  rd50
December 26, 2014 10:09 pm

No contracts involved. Un-contact-ed. Say it slowly.

Dougal
December 25, 2014 10:00 pm

Just saw a report out from the Guardian. It appears a though “the ship of fools” research shows that Adele penguins are going to be wiped out and that there is an awful lot of plastic in the water! This research was based on all those measurements they took ….you know, the ones they took while they were trying to push the ship out of the ice.

pat
December 25, 2014 10:32 pm

no concern for any global warming in this either!
26 Dec: Accuweather: Michael Kuhne: Year in Review: The Most-Read Weather Stories of 2014
Record-Breaking Winter Storms Battered the Eastern U.S….
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/weather-most-read-year-review-2014/39487929

john robertson
December 25, 2014 11:28 pm

Yes Climate Change as a meme is boring.
As the manipulators say climate change but imply global warming.
The entertainment is yet to come, human nature has not changed, the taxpayers of most western countries have been stripped of opportunity and robbed of treasure by a concerted action by bureaucrats, that is public employees.
Ridiculous regulations and impositions have been piled upon the poor, this mass hysteria has cost multiple lives and delayed by at least a generation the rise out of poverty of approximately 1/3 of the worlds population.
Bills are piling up and the costs are being tallied, somebody is going to pay.
Some scapegoat will face the wrath of the mob.
You don’t need a wind farm to sense which way the winds are blowing, being plunged into poverty by the actions of fools and bandits, tends to bring out the best in the masses.
Who needs guillotines when you have otherwise useless windmills?
The retribution and punishment stages of the CAGW meme will renew public interest.
The alarmed ones are right, for the wrong reasons, a “climate change” is upon us.
Political climate .
The UN knows this hence their frantic negotiations for immunity from criminal prosecutions, way too funny.
We did nothing wrong, misappropriated no funds, lied to no one.. but we need immunity from national laws.
What desperation.

richard verney
Reply to  john robertson
December 26, 2014 2:48 am

No one should be above the law, especially not those who either make or influence the law.

philjourdan
Reply to  richard verney
December 26, 2014 5:13 pm

And yet Martha Stewart went to jail for doing the exact same thing as Bill Clinton who got slapped with a wet noodle.

David Cage
December 25, 2014 11:30 pm

Only modern over-intellectualisation has the capability to make people take ‘Climate Change/Global Warming/CAGW’ as a serious threat to their well being.
No it is under intellectualisation and the elimination of numerical skills among the entire political and media class allows the skilled use of indoctrination techniques to determine right from wrong.
In my era at eleven years old we could plot a graph and if it was called science expect a near perfect match between predictions and reality to accept the “science” as proven. That was well over half a century ago. The politicians who tell us they are underpaid can no longer match that average eleven year old grammar school boy’s ability.

Nigel S
December 25, 2014 11:44 pm

Thank godness this site is never Dull (Perthsire) or Bland (New South Wales) whilst fighting the good fight.
http://www.scotsman.com/news/odd/scots-town-dull-joins-forces-with-bland-and-boring-1-3185215

dp
December 26, 2014 12:14 am

Owing to an abundance of rocket science level research in climate change we can now say with a straight face the problem is squirrels all the way down, yes, displacing even turtles. If you could make this stuff up this would never make the cut – it is the result of hard science.
http://www.weather.com/series/great-outdoors/video/some-rodents-are-to-blame-for-climate-change
I’m reminded of Ahab’s whale.

December 26, 2014 1:34 am

In unrelated news, the drop in the water levels of the Great Lakes is now over and is at record levels. Previously the drop had been attributed to, you guessed it, AGW. However, that didn’t make the news, or if it did, just another sign of global warming.

Wu
December 26, 2014 4:28 am

Since “climate change” as we know it has been debunked by nature it really can;t be called science anymore.
As for top ten relligions, faiths and beliefs, I’m sure it’s fourth after the wrold’s three biggest relligions.

Bruce Cobb
December 26, 2014 7:50 am

Unfortunately, the powers-that-be do not care, in fact, they love the fact that “climate change” is off the public radar. It better allows the scaliwags to do their dirty work.

E.M.Smith
Editor
December 26, 2014 10:30 am

The Public has “moved on” in three groups. The True Believers, who don’t want to hear any more news as that might challenge their belief in The One True Religion. The Skeptics / D-ers (I’m a D-er as I flat out deny that any CO2 effect of warming exists, and have the rational basis for it – hint: the troposphere is not radiative, it’s convective, and the stratosphere where it is radiative is a cooling zone via enhanced CO2) we have “moved on” in that we know who have lied and cheated (we have their email…). Then there are the ‘great middle’ who think something fishy might be happening, but mostly need to know what Hot Celebrity is sleeping with whom, got busted for drugs, is having a sex change, or is divorcing what… and decided long ago that anything more complicated wasn’t as much fun…
The next phase is to assure that the greed, graft, and flat out theft of public monies end up juicy enough to land on The Sun, National Enquirer, etc. as something juicy enough to get the folks in the middle to grab their wallet and their politician by the short hairs… Basically, it needs to become un-trendy for the Gliterati and a bit unseemly to the D.A. ( preferably with some prosecutions…) Until then, the two edges are shouting at each other over a large middle that is listing to news about Bieber…

Gary Pearse
December 26, 2014 10:57 am

The ideologues eventually shoot themselves in the foot. Mainstream researchers believe in it to start with and intelligent outsiders start off believing that we are warming the planet. Why would be not believe the researchers are sincere. When nature doesn’t cooperate, instead of changing course and looking for other things that make climate work the way it does, they are trapped. They’ve sold themselves to the devil. Changing course is unthinkable for the entrenched ideologues who actually stepped in front of the parade early on as such opportunists know how to do.
Witness Canadian high school educated Maurice Strong, a very bright but idiosyncratic socialist who spent much of his personal development in the executive class of the mining industry and ultimately was Pres and CEO of PetroCanada (originally a government owned Corp) – he created the UNFCCC – the climate summit in Rio and “framed” the IPCC research objective as to show that man-made CO2 (i.e. from big industrialized countries) was going to lead to disaster for the planet. It was his idea to hook scientists and governments up using cash and fame that only the few could resist with the way universities’ funding systems, tenure, etc. have been set up (by the same ideologues). They don’t know how to get off the treadmill and so they are faced with reaching farther and farther into fantasy to explain the that what is happening is just as we should expect with climate change theory based on CO2 (what happened to global warming?). The public gets it when the crazy policies start to hit the individual’s bottom line and the economies are bleeding.
The committed who can’t let go now find themselves doing stuff they don’t believe in anymore. Pathetically showing yellowing slides from 2007, the locust plague of peer reviewed papers from them having dried up, sneering and smearing in op eds that are now open also to skeptics, giving talks with dwindling listeners, starring in busted low budget TV series and movies on TV with their medicine show, not getting any more ‘back-at-cha’ responses from Hollywood stars….they start to get the climate blues and actually become psychologically ill. The list of sufferers is growing and they are in denial, claiming they are down because they can see disaster looming and no one is listening – but they are getting it, too. They know there is nothing to listen to.

Interested
December 26, 2014 5:28 pm

In as much as the MSM is manipulated by the U.N. and its subsidiaries, the E.U. and the IPCC – and there can be no doubt that they ARE manipulated – a reduction in grandstanding always makes me nervous.
The only reason the press reduces the intensity of its climate propaganda is because it is DIRECTED and/or PERMITTED to do so.
As long as ‘the agenda’ is proceeding in the desired fashion, public opinion is neither required nor sought.
Barack Hussein Obama is the ultimate ‘mole’; a ‘plant’ of great importance to the Fabian Socialist group, which has global plans.
The Global Warming Scam has made it clear to me that an unelected ‘ruling elite’ is in the process of attempting to establish a global government based broadly on the principles of Soviet communism. I’m not normally a conspiracy theorist kind of person but the obvious lies and orchestration I see in the Climate Debate have convinced me that, in this case, a far-reaching conspiracy definitely does exist.
It is a tenet of the Left that democracy is the road to communism, since electorates come to realise they can vote themselves ‘free money’ from tax-payer funds, just as politicians come to realise they can buy themselves power with the same money.
Eventually everyone has welfare rights and no one has fiscal responsibilities, the financial system buckles under the strain, social cohesion breaks down, and political change ensues. And that change involves ‘strong government’. It’s totalitarianism by stealth – the modus operandi of Fabianism (look it up).
The desired control can be accelerated by the use of contrived catastrophes like ‘Climate Change’ – an ostensibly disastrous global problem requiring strong global control.
I once saw a black-and-white cowboy movie. One of the cowboys said to the old-timer next to him: “Listen! Did you hear that? Must be injuns?” The old-timer said: “Nawww! When you don’t hear nothin’, THAT’S when it’s injuns!!”
In the same way, when you don’t hear climate propaganda continually in the MSM, that’s when you really need to worry.

clipe
December 26, 2014 9:57 pm

Update on Dr. Viner’s “thing of the past”.
Climate change making white Christmases a thing of the past: UW prof

BallBounces
December 27, 2014 9:20 pm

What passes for “climate science” is more propaganda and advocacy than science. The public, with the exception of those with a vested emotional, intellectual, or financial stake in it, increasingly realizes this.

Mervyn
December 27, 2014 9:22 pm

Polls are irrelevant. The reality is that the dangerous man-mad global warming agenda has the support of most of the global media, backed by political propaganda, and the UN.
We can fool ourselves that peoples’ interest in climate change is at a low. But that’s totally irrelevant and very dangerous.
What matters is what is said by the UN, by its IPCC, and by governments around the world, for that is what gets reported in the mass media and what people get to hear. The army of skeptic realists have no equivalent support mechanism, which makes it truly a David versus Goliath scenario trying to fight the dangerous man-made global warming agenda.
In my view, the warmist agenda is winning the PR war. You just have to talk to the person next to you at a dinner party or whatever, and you’ll understand what I mean. Most people are ignorant about the topic of climate change, and all they have to go on is what they read or hear from the media or politicians, and assume that there is no way the media or politicians would lie to the public.
There is going to be one almighty blitz of ‘gloom and doom propaganda’ in 2015 leading up to the Paris Conference in December 2015. It is going to be far worse than the global warming propaganda leading up to the Copenhagen Conference in December 2009. My advice is that all climate realists soon band together, combine under a united banner, gather an army of as many eminent climatologists as possible, and with the engagement of professional strategists, come up with a plan to expose the greatest scientific fraud and deception ever imposed on the world.

Pkatt
December 28, 2014 12:07 pm

What they don’t seen to be getting is that WE DON’T BELIEVE THEM. The climate, warmer, colder chicken littles of this world have lost whatever credibility they ever had. They can whine, cry and gnash their teeth all day and no one believes them. They may as well be standing on a street corner with a sign that says: The End Is Near. 🙂

Interested
Reply to  Pkatt
December 28, 2014 2:28 pm

What I think most of us climate sceptics “don’t seem to be getting” is how well the Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming (CAGW) propaganda has done its job.
Pkatt, you and I and thousands of others who examine the facts carefully rather than accept what we’re fed in the MSM, certainly don’t believe the nonsense (non-science) of CAGW – that’s true.
But what Mervyn says is also very true.
Most of my ‘educated’ friends believe the Warmist hype and think I’m eccentric because I don’t. It doesn’t seem to matter how many times I point out the lack of hard data behind the CAGW scam, or the deliberate distortion and omission of data, I just can’t get through to them.
As Mervyn says, they “assume that there is no way the media or politicians would lie to the public”.
In this way, they are the epitome of the ‘useful idiots’ so necessary for scams such as this to survive and prosper.
Oh, they’re polite enough – not rude, as such – but they dismiss me with an air of quiet amusement just the same.
I also think Mervyn is absolutely correct that 2015 will see a maelstrom of CAGW misinformation and doomsday hype, leading up to Paris at the end of the year.
In my opinion, Barack Hussein Obama is working for people other than the American electorate. This is borne out by his current ‘rule-by-decree’ policy on the environment, through which he avoids the will of the people in Congress and the Senate by elaborating upon and enforcing laws which already exist in order to achieve his ends. He no longer seeks approval through normal channels and has become the closest thing to a dictator the U.S. has seen since 1776.
He is determined to obey his Fabian political masters at the U.N. (NOT the American people) and leave a legacy of economy-hobbling legislation in his wake, in the form of crippling environmental policies which will stifle U.S. economic recovery.
So no, I suggest you don’t misinterpret any current lull in CAGW publicity. I think it simply indicates that the U.N. plan for global political change and wealth redistribution is on track. And brace yourselves, because the upcoming pre-Paris propaganda blitz will truly be something to behold when it starts.

Graham
January 5, 2015 4:52 am

Yet another indicator:
Australia’s Opposition leader, Bill Shorten, made no reference to climate in his annual address to a yawning nation.
It’s a long way from his predecessor Kevin Rudd’s infantile waffle in 2010 that “climate change is the greatest moral and economic challenge of our time”. On the strength of that, Labor subsequently lumbered the nation with a ruinous carbon tax that essentially lost the election for them last year. PM Tony Abbott axed the tax this year but, in an act of stupefying stupidity, Bill Shorten has vowed to campaign on its reintroduction.