How will AGW deniers spin it when they realize they're wrong?

Question

It's already started to happen. Now they are on this kick that global warming will be good for the economy.

Lets build a list:

1. warming is good for the economy

2. I knew it all along, I just hate Al Gore

3. The scientists were wrong about little details therefore they were totally just as wrong as I was about everything.

4. Nobody really saw it coming.

Answer 1

As you mentioned, we're already starting to see their spin seedling.  It goes like this:

"Warmer is better".

Of course this is an absolutely absurd argument.  If warmer were always better, we would benefit from living on Venus or the Sun.  There is a point where it is no longer true that warmer is better.

However, deniers won't have to admit this obvious reality for a while.  Once it's clear that droughts and heat waves are becoming more and more prevalent, it will be pretty tough for the deniers to continue making this argument.

At that point we'll already have started to address global warming.  We'll almost certainly have a carbon cap and trade system, and the US president will be joining the international efforts to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  At that point, the deniers will resort to Lomborg-style economic arguments.  For example, it will cost more to mitigate global warming than it will to simply adapt to it.  Of course various studies will disprove this (several already have), but that never stopped the deniers.

Answer 2

The same way AGW believers are spinning the lie right now.

Answer 3

What will you say when you are proven wrong? I figure in another 10 to 20 years we will have a clearer picture of whether this was just a blip upward on the overall temperature data of our planet. Which I suspect that is what we have been experiencing. I also believe we are seeing the top of that blip upward and we will start to see it trending back downward again over the next dozen years.

Answer 4

What if they're not?  What if the world spends trillions to combat a non-existent problem, trillions that could have been spent on other, more beneficial things.  It works both ways.  Until the proponents can come up with some valid cause and effect data, accurately forecasting what will happen instead of just inventing various doomsday scenarios, then the skeptics will have a valid opinion.  

Facts don't lie.  Unfortunately, unlike something like math or physics, the proponents' version of 2 + 2 doesn't always equal 4.

Answer 5

Since they always have "it's just natural variability" to fall back on, they will never have to admit they were wrong.  Since we will never regulate CO2 emissions, it won't matter.  

lose-lose

win-win

depending on how you look at it.

Answer 6

In another 15-20 years once we have a long track record of SAT temperatures--------- then a judgment can be made. Until then it's just about a transfer of money globally.

Answer 7

I'm straiting a company to make sunscreen. I hope it doesn't go like the one I started for electric socks back in the 70's when I was assured by science that an ice age was coming.

Answer 8

they will probably never realize it

long after a scientific concept is proven, there are still deniers.

there is no evidence for another cause now - and still we have deniers - there is no reason to think people will change their mind on this issue.

Answer 9

They will say things like "the earth goes through climactic highs and lows and it is a natural process", "The same way AGW believers are spinning the lie right now"

They will try to confuse the issue by asking you to tell them "if it will be warmer or cooler this summer" or state "It snowed today in Jerusalem" and "None of this is science. Global warming is just an opinion."

Or maybe they will say "just a blip upward on the overall temperature data of our planet"

Or wonder if the world is worth saving. Or maybe just make up something like "70's when I was assured by science that an ice age was coming"

I may not be able to predict the exact weather this summer, but I think I can acurately predict the comments by the lobbyists for the oil and gas industry. These people would sell their souls. 20 years ago they would have been telling us how smoking was good for your health. Today, they settle for attacking anything good for America like the way they want to cut and run from defending the homeland from global warming. They are the reason why real Americans abhor Republicans and their propaganda machine.

Answer 10

The greenhouse heat up of the earth was so real till........

5. It snowed today in Jerusalem, 8' of the stuff, baby snowmen Jesus every where.

I hate to rain (or snow) on those foaming mouth Al lovers, but the gig is up.

Answer 11

There really just wasn't good enough proof until now to believe the signs.

The problem was simply too large, we couldn't have done anything about it anyway.  Now it's really too expensive.

We told the environmentalists that we could solve the problem with market mechanisms (carbon credits, cap and trade), but they didn't listen to us, so here we are in this mess.

If only (ExxonMobil, George Bush) hadn't supressed the information... but that was then... NOW that we acknowledge the problem you can completely trust us...  We promise.

We actually understood the nature of the problem all along, we studied the North American carbon cycle in detail under the Bush Administration, but it was important to maintain a strong economy so we could fund research and ensure that the United States could prevail in any conflicts caused by climate change in the trying times ahead.

Yeah, global warming's happening.  Forget it.  We'll all die before it gets too bad, so it's someone else's problem.  Let the party continue.

I don't have any children, so why should I care?

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What may be even more interesting will be the announcements and news articles of the time:

We've developed a package of $50B in incentives to ExxonMobil so they can research new fuels and carbon sequestration, and lead the way to energy independence (hooray!).

We've determined that young trees absorb more carbon than tired old trees, so the Department of Agriculture will assess all of its forest assets in the National Forest system and immediately begin to "upgrade" all forests older than 20 years to new young growth to assist in the fight against global warming.  We'll call it "Trees to Save the Bees."  The National Park Service has suggested that its old growth timber represents the best opportunity and should be the first to be upgraded.

America's Wild and Scenic Rivers represent a fine opportunity to provide clean, carbon-neutral hydro power and additional reservoir storage capacity to our drought-plagued regions.  We've already developed the plans in secret since global warming is a national security issue, but we're prepared to break ground on the first 20 dams next week.  With Los Angeles struggling due to drought in the Colorado River basis, Lake Yosemite Valley will be the first completed.  Like its sister reservoir in Yosemite National Park, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, it will provide an amazing scenic opportunity to Yosemite's visitors.  Recreation on the lake will of course be impossible because it will be a domestic water supply and it would upset Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein (NOBODY wants to to that!)  No onnen is quite sure how Diane survived to an age of somewhere over 125, but she continues to deny rumors of cloning and a brain transplant. The new reservoir is applauded for solving Yosemite's traffic problem and will save $10 million in administration and management costs.

Canada has agreed to become the 51st state to aid in America's northward migration.  There was some debate about whether to fight for its independence, but the citizens of Montreal prevailed and have scheduled wine and cheese receptions for the invading Yank refugees.  The new State of Canada has adopted French fries as its state vegetable, and the prickly pear as its state fruit.  One of the welcoming state residents was quote as saying, "Those fries are a great snack for when you're out and about, eh?"  

The residents of Arizona, New Mexico, and counties south of Dallas in Texas have voted to join their homeland of Mexico.  There is some concern that the ballots for the election were provided in Spanish only, but the states' official reply was,  "That's the majority language of our population.  If you're going to live here, you should learn our language.  Hasta la vista.  Don't let the puerto hit you on the way out."  The Great Wall of America is being rebuilt at the new northern boundary of Mexico to continue to provide the illusion that Mexico is an independent country rather than simply a domestic workforce with no voting rights or government services.  Tunnels are being provided under the wall and ladders placed at regular intervals so no one will be late for work.

As the island territory of Puerto Rico is evacuated, its residents are being moved to Boston as it develops a Carribean climate.  Cubans are being relocated to the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket so they can still enjoy their passtime of boating (no one wants that low lying land anyway).  Boston residents are moving to Montreal, some apparently so they can have a better hockey team.  

Minnesota residents prefer the Northern Territories, where they can mount their ice fishing huts on pontoon boats and pretend to be ice fishing.  Although the Arctic has warmed an average of 45 degrees, it's still cool enough in the winter for Northwest Minnesotans to wear their beloved snorkel jackets.  They prefer their fries topped with cheese, and call them freedom fries.

In the Pacific Northwest, due to increased ocean evaporation Portland and Seattle are in their 21,789th consecutive day of rain.  One resident lamented "Hey, where's that drought we were promised with global warming?  This PROVES that global warming doesn't exist!"  Another one chimed in "Yeah, and even if it did, rain is just local weather.  I've seen worse!"  Fortunately for the residents of Oregon and Washington, the Alaska Pipeline is being disassembled to provide drainage and to ship some of the excess water to fight the encroachment of desert sands into Denver.  The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, having been drained of oil decades ago, is being renamed the "Grand Arctic National Sinkhole," and visitor faciliities are being constructed.  "Isn't it amazing the natural beauty that man can create?" suggested retired Senator James Inhofe, who purchased an adjacent 156,342 acres from ExxonMobil.  "We really need to build more of these."  Sen. Inhofe denies rumors that he and Sen. Feinstein are actually the same person.  "The fact that we both love to see National Parks put to a productive use is purely a coincidence.  Just because I would look fabulous in her dresses doesn't mean that I like to wear them.  I maintain my assertion that those pictures were a hoax created in Photoshop."

The Fish and Wildlife Service is studying the alleged sighting of a subspecies of "Mountain Caribou" that has adapted to scale the sheer walls of the sinkhole during their annual migration.  The agency's new director offered, "It just goes to show you that preserving species often just prevents the new ones from developing.  We're developing a new charter to implement the agency's new "Evolution Challenge," which will bring 10,000 new species to the brink of extinction to encourage them to adapt as well.  If they don't, well then that was just their fate now wasn't it?"  To raise money for the program, a lottery has been established to take bets on which of the species will succumb first.  The proceeds will fund the employees of the program and to develop a media campaign and slogan contest.

Answer 12

One day I hope some warmer will prove us wrong.  All you have to do is tell us if it will be warmer or cooler this summer, and show the work on how you came to your conclusion.

If this can be done, than anyone would be foolish not to believe in global warming.

However this cannot be done today.  Today the best any warmer can do is

1) it warmed last year, it will be warmer this year.

2) Prestigious people say it's real, so it must be true.

3) I believe it's real, everyone should believe like me.

None of this is science.  Global warming is just an opinion.

Answer 13

Well since we don't live long enough to understand that the earth goes through climactic highs and lows and it is a natural process, they will be predicting global warming and ice ages to make sure that they keep the money rolling in.