Why do people deny global warming when it is proven?

Question

Why do people deny global warming when it is proven?

Answer 1

i thought Al Gore invented Global Warming

Answer 2

Why do people say global warming is proven when it hasn't been?

Ask that one next time.

As for your question, some people are not so easily convinced of things.  In fact, some people are smart enough to see through a business* like global warming.

*Its a business because people make tons of money off of it.  Like useless jobs that "study" global warming, and all those "green" products.

Answer 3

I'm personally not one of those people but...

a) They're afraid of things that are beyond their comprehension so think that by denying it they can make it disappear.

b) Their lack of understanding makes them belive that the proof is not absolutely solid so they deny it.

c) They have a preexisting belief that contradicts it and that is stonger than their belief in the evidence

d) Things can only be proved true according to current evidence. For example people used to not have anything to prove that the earth wasn't flat so that was what they accepted. People could just be saying that some evidence that has not yet been found could provide a complete turn around in the accepted version of the truth.

e) Obstinance?

Other than that I can't think of any reason why they wouldn't.

Answer 4

Show me proof.

Answer 5

Why do GW believers confuse GW with AGW, which is nonsensical poppycock? Crying 'wolf' and telling lies is hardly a great way to earn trust!!!

***coughhockeystickcough***

Answer 6

why do people believe in global warming when it has been debunked.

Answer 7

global systems, like the atmosphere and the oceans, are non-linear. Meaning you can't precisely gauge what will come out of them by what is put in. This is a complicated thing to explain, but the reality of this is that the nature of such systems will always leave detrators with an out. It's impossible to prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what is causing the current warming trend. It can be proven that raising atmospheric levels of CO2 warms the planet. It can be proven that they have risen sharply in the last 130 years. It can be proven that global mean temperatures are rising.

But it still can't be proven that something else isn't causing it. Could be hundreds of things. It "could" be a "natural global cycle" or some factor other than man made atmospheric alterations. But believing that it is roughly similar to taking the oil plug out of your car, then driving down the freeway till the engine heats up and siezes, and telling the insurance company that there are hundreds of things that could of caused your car to stop running. And they would likely tell you that while that is true, assigning a very high order of probability to anything besides the lack of oil is pretty poor science.

And for the folks that rattle on about how people get rich off this global warming "scam," you might do well to get your snoots out of the dirt and do a little research on who bankrolls those Donald Duck scientists you're always quoting and whose sites you are always posting links to, who, in pathetically small numbers, seek to discredit the vast majority of working scientists, because they are paid five times what their opponents are ( by certain special interests) to do so.

Wouldn't be Shell and Exxon and the other big boys, would it?

You really shouldn't listen to talk radio, either. Limbaugh's fulla c**p.

Answer 8

What has been proven? NOTHING. There is no scientific evidence which substantiates man made global warming.

Answer 9

people don't want to face the fact of how serious it really is they are trying to blow it off as if it doesn't concern them

Answer 10

Global cooling is proven too.  The globe cools--fact.  The globe warms--fact.  So what?

Answer 11

There are five stages one goes through, similar to news of a death...

Denial

Anger

Bargaining

Depression

Acceptance

Here's proof, not that anyone will bother to watch and listen anyhow:

http://ca.yahoo.com/s/620083

Answer 12

Is it proven? Are you sure? Have you looked for proof somewhere other than TV news, or Time magazine?

Answer 13

The impacts are editable.....and changes the histories in world......and no one like changes... do u ?

Answer 14

If it was proven like the speed of light, then I wouldn't deny it.

Read Some:

http://z4.invisionfree.com/Popular_Techn...

Answer 15

Who denies global warming? We are very certain that the Globe has in fact warmed.

And thanks louise for making such gross assumptions and stereotypes about people you don't even know. I bet you think all mexicans steal too.

Answer 16

It's not really "proven" as such, but there's a lot of evidence at the moment pointing in its general direction. Why don't people "believe" it? There are a lot of reasons for this. A few include:

1. Conspiracy Theorists (CTs).

There are people who always love a good conspiracy, no matter what the evidence - especially when it comes to science (eg, moon landings, artificial sweeteners, biological evolution). I don't know why this is, but I suspect that they just find a lot of science generally hard to understand, and so decide that scientists must just be making it up. Some CTs do it just to gain notoriety/fame.

They also love the idea that it's all a plot for money. This is the most bizarre of all, because scientists and researchers are VERY poorly paid in almost all countries. No-one ever got rich studying climatology. I even know a microbiology scientist who became an airline flight attendant because it was much better pay!

2. Politics.

Although global warming and climate has been studied for decades and the scientists doing it have worked under plenty of different Governments, as soon as Al Gore got involved, one side of politics suddenly got angry and decided it was all a plot from the other side. As silly as this is (like I just stated - the science has been around for decades and through many Governments), it has now taken on a life of its own.

3. Unwillingness to accept the unpalattable.

Another strange thing about human behaviour is when people feel they're being blamed personally for something. Some feel that scientists are saying they're personally responsible for global warming. This isn't quite correct. Scientists are just pointing out what the evidence suggests - that with rapid and exponential industrialisation and population growth, humanity is starting to upset the balance of nature in some areas. One of these is CO2 emissions and the consequences.

Nowhere is the human impact on nature's balance more apparent than places like the Northwest Atlantic cod fishery, which has been wiped out by overfishing and will probably never recover (there are no signs yet at least, and it has been 15 years!). Or the Aral Sea, a very large sea which was once full of water, fish, and life, but is now completely dead - all due to human activity.

4. Accepting dumbed-down/illogical arguments and intellectual laziness.

Some science is complex, and some people are inherently lazy. They will not take the time to research or learn or understand the science, and when someone else presents them with a simplified counter-argument, they default to what they think is easiest to understand - even if it's completely wrong or illogical!

A classic example is when the sceptics talk of what is happening on other planets, which is usually totally unrelated to what is happening on Earth! Or when they say it was a cold winter, so GW mustn't be happening, which is connecting two unrelated things (seasons due to the Earth's orbit and the tilt of its axis, and long-term global climate).

There are heaps more reasons, but it'd take too long!

Answer 17

because alot of the information contradicts it self, because as history has shown when ever temperatures get to hot we end up have an ice age. and with todays technology it wouldnt be to hard to survive a ice age.

Answer 18

I suppose for the same reasons people deny evolution. Many are interested in protecting a conservative political agenda, and are willing to distort the facts in order to preach to their choir (Rush Limbaugh et al). Some people just enjoy conspiracy theories or being different from the crowd.

Answer 19

Brisket,

You may not have read the collected responses to this question the other times it has been asked on Yahoo Answers.

There are three issues here:

1. The earth is warming. This is postulated by climatologists and is probably true. It is a short-term trend (far less than 1,000 years) within a long-term trend (more than 10,000 years) of global cooling, which the geologists have postulated. Most people agree that the earth is warming, few actually deny it.

2. The current warming trend is caused by man-made CO2 emissions. Many people believe this but the proof is inadequate. There are millions, perhaps billions, perhaps trillions, of influences on the global climate. CO2 emissions are but one of these influences. In the 1950s statisticians "proved" that the rainfall in Juneau, Alaska, directly influenced the birth rate in Alabama. They did this to make a point: in a complex system, there are so many influences at work that, if you look at only one without considering the others, you can probably prove anything you want to prove. I do not deny that man-made CO2 emissions affect the global climate. No one has proved that this influence is significant, or even what the effect is.

3. We have to act immediately to limit man-made CO2 emissions in Western countries to save the planet. We are still waiting for proof that CO2 emissions have any significant impact on the climate, so the urgency seems a bit misplaced. The Kyoto Protocols would accomplish this by transferring enormous amounts of wealth from Western countries, where scientific inquiry is encouraged, to other countries (China, Malaysia, Indonesia, etc) where scientific inquiry is discouraged. It seems a strange way to promote science to muzzle serious inquirers with "The scientific debate is over" and then take the resources that might actually lead to better understanding of the global climate and give them to those who use "science" as a branch of politics.

Few people deny global warming. Please do not confuse skeptcism about CO2 emissions' effects with denying global warming. Also, please do not confuse resistance to bankrupting Western democratics as denial of global warming.

Answer 20

i think it should be above 60 all yaer all around th eworld,., and about 115 in the peak of summer who else thinks that

Answer 21

because they dont want to give up anything

Answer 22

because its not proven...beware manbearpig

read the sources and tell me you still believe global warming is real