Fed up with climate change skeptics? Blame your weatherman
March 30th, 2010
Last month, a Gallup poll revealed that the number of Americans who doubt the existence of global warming seems to be increasing — from 31 percent to 48 percent since 1997. Since then, there’s been a lot of speculation as to why this is happening, especially in light of the overwhelming consensus among climatologists (97 percent) that man-made climate change is occurring before our very eyes.
How is it that a near-majority of Americans now hold the same point of view as a mere 3 percent of scientists? The numbers just don’t add up. Clearly, there is a disconnect between the hard scientific evidence and the information reaching the American public.
So, who’s to blame for this broken line of communication? Is it the Fox News talking heads, with their snowstorm-fueled attacks on global warming? Is it Sarah Palin, with her pronouncement that recent climate change evidence is nothing more than “snake oil science“?
None of the above. Unfortunately, we’re dealing with a much more benign, insidious force: the friendly TV weatherman.
According to The New York Times, climate change skepticism is rampant among TV weather forecasters, regardless of their affiliated news channel:
A study released on Monday by researchers at George Mason University and the University of Texas at Austin found that only about half of the 571 television weathercasters surveyed believed that global warming was occurring and less than a third believed that climate change was “caused mostly by human activities.”More than a quarter of the weathercasters in the survey agreed with the statement, “Global warming is a scam,” the researchers found.
This is a real problem, considering that the majority of Americans rely on their weather forecasters — not scientific journals — for their information about climate change.
Click here for the full article.
–Jennifer Grayson
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March 30th, 2010 at 1:19 pm
I also think that part of the problem lies with the name “global warming”. If they would call it “climate change” and point to the facts, people might start to think better. But, alas, the talking heads have put out so many falsities about global warming and how it’s “not real”. I just hope that the world wakes up to climate change and that it is REAL before it’s too late.
March 30th, 2010 at 3:06 pm
I agree, Kelly. The earth may actually be warming, but the effects that we’re seeing now and will increasingly see in the years ahead are, indeed, best described by the term “climate change.” Weather patterns will likely change dramatically — some areas of the earth may even get cooler. The truth is that we really don’t know for sure how the greenhouse gases we’re dumping into the atmosphere will impact life on this planet. It’s a giant gamble that I don’t really want to take.
April 30th, 2010 at 9:26 pm
Climate Change is really scary, now we have super typhoons and a lot of flooding going on some countries..,`”