Is living in the most carbon intensive society (U.S.) the real reason for resistance to AGW theory?

Question

I realize there are those that are skeptical based on the science, as they understand it, but based on the fact that the U.S. is the most carbon intensive country on the planet [Energy Consumption (Btu)], shouldn't we expect resistance to a necessary change in lifestyle? And, does this resistance affect how one views AGW theory?

http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/international/iealf/tablee1.xls

Answer 1

No, resistance to the global warming theory is based on knowledge.  There is no evidence that carbon increases temperatures...just some speculation that cannot be solidly proven by scientific means.  That said, the truth behind the AGW theory is not about science at all, it's about political control.  

You said "shouldn't we expect resistance to a necessary change in lifestyle?"  I ask, necessary for what reason?  Because of a theory that hasn't got much backing?  You've commited yourself to accepting a thesis that lacks credibility in the world of science and for which there is growing evidence against.  Not everyone in the world is left-minded politically, so not everyone will blindly do what 'certain people' want them to.

Answer 2

We are greener than china india and maylashia, so what is your point. That becasue we are in the cosshairs of the anti capitalist movment that we shoudl so how be ashamed out our great success as a country, the longest living true republic on the planet. Man the hitler gustapo is in full force recruting the young an impreshinalbe as fast as they can get them in the door....

People will search out any information to support what they be live in and in that they will always find what ever they see to make themselves feel more comfortable about the position they hold. Now if your in the minority you always going to be in a uphill battle no matter how factual your data is for example the sky is blue, we all know the sky is blue but if a large group gets the popular kids to believe that is it really yellow, and then you get the heard mentality going safety in number and all those folks cant be wrong type crowds, they you have it the sky is now reported to be yellow because so an so who is a popular figure said so.

The question I want to know bob is why do you believe some one because they have the all mighty PHD at the end of their name? Many so called the smart have been found out to be ultimately wrong on all counts due the fact they enjoyed their position of authority and the perks that came wit it. SO in the effort of self preservation these so called scholars say and backed up what ever they were told to do. The earth is flat because the scientist said so.

If we give up the freedom of discernment and doubt then we are selves are without freedom to be wrong or right.

Answer 3

I can live with any postulation. I just have a major conflict with speculations on natural variations, and the inference of negative scenarios that haven't been nor can ever be substantiated. Why do so many people promote negative outlooks, based on assumtion of a chaoic system? If it was that simple there would be no studies.  

Answer 4

I think it certainly plays a big role.  If we weren't dependent on fossil fuels, I doubt there would be much resistance to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.

For example, look at the hole in the ozone layer.  At the time there were people saying the science wasn't settled in associating CFC emissions with the hole in the ozone layer.  Yet Ronald Reagan, a Republican and fairly anti-environment president signed the Montreal Protocol to phase-out CFC production.  I think the reason he was able to do this was because we weren't highly dependent on CFCs.  If the hole in the ozone layer had been caused by greenhouse gas emissions, it would have been a different story.

Fossil fuels impact every aspect of our lives, so people are really afraid of having to make changes in the way we do things.  It's understandable, but of course pretending the problem doesn't exist won't make it go away.

Answer 5

You hit the nail on the head....

America is going ot resist the legislation needed and the changes needed to deal with the climate change crisis because for us it is the biggest dynamic shift in how we live

Of course if we use the most carbon intensive technologies and are the biggest emitters of GHG then its going to be the hardest for us to kick that very habit....It takes a big person to look at the science and trust it even though it goes against everything you have believed in the past.  A big luxurious SUV was always a good thing, until now and it takes a special kind of person to make the sacrafices needed to change what needs to be changed....

Unfortunatley most americans aren't capable of this.....I hope that when the science builds up (even more than it currently is) that more people will have to face the reality of the situation.  Until then people do not want to question there way of life nor do they want to change the status quo in which they live....

Answer 6

The real reason could be the temperature itself.  Since 1998 the temperature is actually trending down.  Don't you just hate it when facts get in the way of a popular Theory?

Answer 7

No Richard it is that the AGW rhetoric just does not fit the observed and documented facts historically recorded since the mid 1800s. To me it is just another case of that old line from a movie called Casablanca during the hottest period of the last 100 years. “Play it again SAM”, that one line says everything I have seen on the subject, I have lived through the cycle three times now from hot to cold and back to hot again. I was born in 1940 right in the middle of the warm period then that set all the heat records we have not yet reached, let alone exceeded during the current warm spell. What the AGW fanatics do not comprehend is that all the major warming occurred before the year 1940 and that since that date it has cycled up and down a couple of degrees around that point. But then profiteers, con men and other forms of hucksters will never miss a chance or opportunity to skim a few bucks out of the pockets of convenient suckers.

Answer 8

we are carbon based life forms, so is everything else on this planet!

every living thing on earth is made of the dirt, (carbon)

every organic compound we burn (bio fuel, oil, wood, charcoal) puts carbon in the air, but that ends up in the ground.

Answer 9

You word your question like a statistician.  We all know that there are three kinds of lies: Lies, d**n Lies,and Statistics.

You should actually look at total carbon output, as that is what the Greenies say is influencing climate.

In that view you have to go past China and India before you get to the US.

Answer 10

Actually the US does everything cleaner than developing nations.  No one produces the amount of energy we do at anywhere near the level of environmental protection that is going on here.  

Answer 11

no. its beacause awg is bs

Answer 12

there does seem to be a strong relationship, both within countries and world wide, between emissions per capita and resistance to the evidence for anthropogenic climate change.

i dont know if this is because the biggest users have the most to 'loose' in terms of changing their lives, or because they have the  least to 'loose' in terms of negative consequences of climate change.....

Answer 13

Generally the people who engage regularly in activities that others seek to ban, limit and/or tax will be the loudest protestors of such policies.

Certainly the staunchest advocates of g*y rights, for example, are homosexuals.

That is not unusual or unexpected.

There is also the fact that many of the radical environmental groups are American as well - and the fact that we've heard their shtick before and are unimpressed.

UCS, PIRG, Greenpeace, Sierra Club - - these are not groups that enjoy a strong reputation for credibility.

UCS in particular - if AGW is correct then the UCS shares a great deal of the blame, since they're the ones whose disingenuous activism killed off the advance of nuclear power in the US.   Nuclear emits zero CO2.

And these groups have been wrong about so many things ni the past.  Why should we believe them this time?

Is it because of some 20-something guy with a master's degree and minimal life experience who calls everyone who disagrees with him a "denier" and posts links to his own articles to support his position?

As for CFCs....... LOL...... Reagan signed the ban, and we all went along with it, because the environmentalists said that CFCs had caused the hole and that banning them would allow the ozone to repair itself.    The hole was at its largest in September 2006.    18 years after the CFC ban.  

And the hole hasn't repaired itself since.

So they WEREN'T right back then, and the stakes are larger now.

To quote the Big Show - you're proving my point!    If a guy gave you a tip on the fifth race and you bet on it and lost $100, why would you bet $10,000 on the same guy's tip on the seventh race?