Are believers in anthropogenic climate change more educated?

Question

I would expect that people that believe in AGW are more educated in math and science than those that deny it, since most scientifically literate people believe in AGW. However, I've also found that the AGW proponents also seem to be better spellers and write better questions, leading me to the hypothesis that they are more educated in general. What do other people think? Are AGW believers more educated?

Note that this does NOT necessarily mean that they are more intelligent, just that the circumstances of their lives have led them to have more education.

Answer 1

No.

Answer 2

No.  Well educated scientists comprise about 0.1% of the population.  With about half of the population in either camp, the fact that almost all scientists are in the AGW proponent camp is not enough to skew the averages much.  

Although your observation is valid within this YA forum, this YA forum  is not close to being a representative sample of the population. Some of the more articulate, albeit misinformed skeptics probably don't appreciate being grouped with the numerous academic under achievers in their ranks.  You can't extrapolate the observation that AGW proponents are better educated in this YA forum to the entire population.

Answer 3

Yes.  I think that's abundantly clear from the quality of arguments made by both sides, as well as the quality and quantity of scientific references (and lack thereof, in the case of deniers).

A Pew Research Center poll confirms it.

51% of college grads, 49% of those with some college, and just 43% of high school or less education think global warming is caused by human activity.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Plus of course the most educated on the subject (climate scientists) are almost all AGW proponents.

Answer 4

From my own personnel experiances it seems to be the younger less experianced people that I work with that are AGW believers (like graduates), the most educated senior staff dont even waste time talking about it as they think AGW is completely rediculous and refuse to allow for climate change in their designs. This may come from experiance as they remember the global cooling scam aswell and have learnt to let truth guide their opinion rather than guide the truth.

It should also be noted that some of the most respected scientists in their respective fields do not support AGW.

I dont thinks it about inteligence, but more about emotion, common sense, trust and nievity.

I believe if people researched both sides of the argument and applied some common sense they will come to realise AGW is only a un-proven theory that flies in the face of hard evidence and cannot be taken to seriously until there is actually some hard proof.

Answer 5

Do you know why engineers wear iron rings?

To remind them of all the structures they have built which have come crashing down on top of people due to their innate inability to carry the one.  

Education is not nearly as important as intelligence.  "Smart" is the ability to store knowledge, "intelligent" is the ability to use it!

No, people who accept the presence of AGW are not more educated, nor intelligent; just more accepting of ideas which fit their personal memes.

Answer 6

absolutely not, just the opposite.  If you truly understood randomness of processes, you'd get that you cannot declare a trend that was presented.  truly educated people that understand the works of Dr Juran they would not follow so sheepishly the likes of Uncle Al, the kiddies pal.

What you point out about spelling and writing furthers the argument against your case.  Right brained people are better at math and science and are not as good as left hand people in writing.  SO, people who know AGW is a scam are right handed science people.

Education?  You can be hold 3 PhD's and still stupid when it comes to applying what you learned.  In my field of work, engineering, there are no PhD's, and only a few MS.  Why because, those that can apply education can't do the job in engineering and they go back to school and become teachers and researchers.

Answer 7

No , I can say this for sure though . They are much more emotional .

Answer 8

Per Dana's cited source:

"51% of college grads, 49% of those with some college, and just 43% of high school or less education think global warming is caused by human activity."

Dana, Only 51% and 49% of the college folks buy into AGW??  The 43% of H.S. or less isn't that far away.  Seems that education is not a convincing indicator of AGW-buy-in.

Not much support for your 'inference'.

'Intelligence' is what counts.

Answer 9

Yo'all sure do have a mighty fine point. Them all AGW deniers sure dont know how to type, or talk. They ain't got no brain among them. Youns are so smart, youngs fngered it out all by youngselves. Course, sure would be mighty fine if yo'all started referencening the actually scientifical research done by all them brainy people. Yo'all know the ones Im referting to. The ones that show CO2 followering temp, not the other way around. Even us hillbilly yokels can finger this one out. Maybe if yo'all stepped out of Mom's basement into the sun every once inner while, yo'all might be able to finger this out like us.

Answer 10

The faithful seem to be more narrowly educated and this is where and why they are handicapped. Skeptics might not be as highly educated in one discipline as the faithful are but they have a much broader focus and thus are more able to see failures that are invisible to the truly faithful. As always it comes down to how the mind is genetically wired and socially trained. The faithful are true inductive minds while skeptics are programmed deductively.

Inductive minds automatically accept any data item presented in the manner they are conditioned to accept. Deductive minds will reject any data that can not be verified or does not match up with historically equivalent materials. If the data does not fit into the framework they will then work like mad to determine why. This is how the corrupted NASA data that the Mann/Hansen/Gore charts was based on and it had been deliberately altered to fit the Co2 graph within Mann's program!

Answer 11

Anyone believing global warming is caused by mankind, and can be stopped by mankind, may be more educated, but are still not correct, and are mostly politically biased and motivated.

The sun is causing global warming not mankind.

The largest sources of atmospheric C02 are volcanoes, forest fires and decaying organic matter.

3% of C02 is caused by mankind.

Plus the kicker higher levels of athomespheric C02 is a product of a warming global not a cause.

There was a time when 100% of highly educated scientists thought the world was flat too.

Answer 12

Yes.

Most seem to at least have a basic understanding of Physics,or other scientific knowledge. They also do not seem to be saddled with any mythological religious dogma.  

Answer 13

Nope.  They're just very gullible.  Lots of educated people don't believe in global warming, and science has nothing to do with it.